Where did it say 90Hz? That sounds like a HUGE upgrade. The OLED image quality will be nice but higher refresh rate is something I've really wanted, though unfortunately I haven't seen anything regarding VRR.
90hz is mentioned on the linked page, under 'other updates to Steam Deck OLED'. but yes, no VRR support for this display unfortunately. A bit confusing because the software supports VRR and it still works with external displays.
Even without VRR there are noticeable improvements on the LCD deck from running at 60hz even when frame rates dip heavily, just because the frame timing is shorter so the new frames can be showed sooner.
A ~30% increase in battery life plus 90 Hz screen is such a massive upgrade.
Though LTT claims the panel is probably sourced from the same manufacturer and technology as the Switch OLED... and the Switch OLED is the second-worst OLED panel I've tested in a handheld (losing only to the original PlayStation Vita, a 2012 device). I hope they're wrong on that, because we have significantly better panels available in 2023 than what the Switch delivered.
Yeah... I wouldn't trust ltt with much of anything at this point, especially especially when they're "speculating" on something. Imo ltt is now "tech top gear" except nowhere near as funny. You watch it to be entertained, not because you're going to get good reviews for stuff.
The biggest metric is, by far, panel uniformity: boot up a grey (#A1A1A1) image and you'll see how subpixels misbehave greatly, with a lot of extra green activity creating almost a "snow" or "digital noise" to the image. If you reduce panel brightness to around 35% and move around in a dark scene in a game, the fixed points of extra green actually become distracting once you know about them. You can also find little pockets with bad brightness or otherwise weird artifacts all around.
Still in the panel uniformity category, the Switch OLED panel struggles with horizontal uniformity, it's extremely common for the left side of the screen to have a different white point to the right side, and by a great margin.
Nintendo also doesn't calibrate panels individually at the factory, they load a "default interpolation curve" for brightness that means in all units I tested colors only look correct at 100%, 50% and 25% brightness. If you deviate from that, the screen keeps flip-flopping between too much green and too little green. If you test this in a dark room and with small increments of the brightness slider, you'll be shocked at how bad it actually is.
Not as noticeable, but still relevant, is the fact that if you have a portion of the screen with an absolute black element, everything in that vertical space will get around ~5% darker. For instance, if you go to the main menu in the dark mode and move your cursor to a game with a mostly black icon, and pay attention to the colors right above it, you'll see that entire section of the display being darker.
There are things it does quite well compared to earlier OLED panels though, like black to color transitions and having an actual RGB subpixel layout. Still, even a mid range phone from 4 years ago will offer better quality than this panel. But keep in mind, I'm only talking about the Switch - I naturally do not have a Steam Deck OLED to compare.
Very, very good. Pricing seems okay as well. Glad the specs are the same so games will work on both versions. Saving straight performance upgrades for the next version seems like the right move.
Very interested in upgrading but I can't justify it to my wallet. I love my Steam Deck as is and often use a portable external screen with it anyhow.
Sure! Seems my screen isn't up for sale anymore. This is the closest I could find without diving too deep: https://a.co/d/01D6h52
Portable, built in battery, plug into the deck with USB-C and you even get touch. Chose if the screen should charge the Deck while plugged in or not. Mostly just plug it with hdmi though and play Mario Kart and Kirby with my son. Has Samsung Dex-support so with one of those phones plugged in you get a laptop like experience. Truly a great buy. Can't recommend enough.
Do some research though. Make sure you get a screen with touch and battery to get the most out of the screen (touch isn't good enough to play mobile games but good enough to navigate menus, use YouTube, etc). Stay in the range of 14-16" for it to be portable. And check that your phone is compatible with the screen you buy. Also check the ms so the game experience is good.
I'm guessing no. Driving an LCD vs an OLED is a totally different thing, and the electronics for it are all built into one motherboard. There are other internal changes on top of that, like the bumper circuit boards and the SoC being on a smaller process node, so I don't expect you can just swap motherboards, either.
I need that limited edition, it looks EPIC! I already have two Decks but man I need that one. The only complaint I have is they didn't upgrade to a VRR screen, but OLED will be a nice upgrade in the image quality.
And the account has to have prior purchases older than the notice of this release. So only the most forward thinking scalpers who made hundreds of accounts after last release will be able to compete.
Unfortunately, Lawrence Yang on Twitter said they aren't compatible, as the internals on the OLED have been moved around to accommodate the new battery.
Ahh that's a bummer... I was hopeful we'd actually see PC-Like compatibility with future upgrades and improvements. But makes sense that each revision will probably require some internal redesigns