Life with a Steam Deck OLED - HONEST Review (2025)

Summary

In this engaging video, Andres Vidoza shares his honest review of the Steam Deck OLED over a 45-day period. He discusses its appeal as a convenient handheld gaming console, ideal for short, casual sessions and nostalgic emulation. Vidoza finds the OLED screen impressive for gaming visuals, especially for titles like Spider-Man, although he notes the console's faster battery drain with demanding games. Despite minor drawbacks like a fingerprint-prone screen and yellowing analog sticks, he appreciates the Steam Deck's versatility and compact size, recommending it for those seeking a blend of convenience and nostalgia in gaming.

Highlights

• Andres finds the Steam Deck OLED perfect for his gaming needs, fitting seamlessly into his lifestyle. 🎮
• The device supports easy pick-up-and-play gaming, ideal for short sessions. ⏰
• OLED screen brings games like Spider-Man to life with stunning visuals. 🌟
• Vidoza enjoys the nostalgia of playing older titles via emulation. 🕹️
• The console's battery life is generally good, though more power-intensive games drain it faster. 🔋
• The lightweight and compact design makes it a great travel companion. ✈️
• Minor drawbacks include screen smudges and the tendency of the analog sticks to yellow. 📍

Key Takeaways

• The Steam Deck OLED is perfect for quick, casual gaming sessions. 🎮
• OLED screen enhances visual experience, especially for older titles. 🌟
• The console offers great battery life, but demanding games like Spider-Man can drain it faster. 🔋
• Emulation capabilities make it a portable treasure trove of nostalgia. 🕹️
• Minor issues include faster battery drain on high settings and fingerprint smudging on the screen. 📱
• A great option for gamers looking to balance life and gaming conveniently. 🕰️
• The device is user-friendly with its simple interface compared to other consoles. 😌

Overview

Remember being a kid and dreaming of handheld gaming consoles? Well, Andres Vidoza takes us on a ride with the Steam Deck OLED, and it seems maturity isn’t so far off those childhood dreams after all. 🎮 This compact device is Andres' new favorite, fitting perfectly into his lifestyle with its easy access and nostalgic gaming options, focusing more on casual gaming than demanding AAA titles.

A standout feature of the Steam Deck is its OLED screen, which Andres praises for bringing games, especially older nostalgic titles, to vibrant life. The touch of nostalgia with games like FIFA Street and emulated classics is a big hit for him. Though OLED brings stunning visuals, the battery tends to drain quicker with more demanding games like Spider-Man. Still, Andres finds the balance just right as he travels and games on the go. 🌟

While the Steam Deck is close to perfect, Andres notes minor inconveniences like faster battery depletion during high-res gaming and a display prone to fingerprints. He also comments on the slight yellowing of analog sticks. Despite these, the Steam Deck remains a trusty companion for his gaming and travel needs, marrying functionality with a sleek form. It's an ideal pick for those heading into adulthood who still want to capture the essence of gaming fun. ✈️

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Handheld Gaming The chapter discusses the author's nostalgic experiences with handheld gaming devices from their childhood, mentioning the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and various games they played. The author reflects on the joy and challenges of gaming, including emulation and legal game downloads, recounting specific games like Spider-Man, Cyberpunk, GTA San Andreas, and Red Dead Redemption. The chapter also humorously touches on the author's fear of breaking their console.
• 01:01 - 02:00: Initial Impressions and Experience The narrator reflects on their changing gaming habits, emphasizing convenience and quick sessions. They discuss their shift from using PlayStation 5 and custom PC to a more accessible gaming setup, highlighting 45 days of enjoyable gaming experience. The chapter reveals a sense of relief and satisfaction with the new approach, despite initial stress over the decision.
• 02:01 - 03:00: Emulation and Gaming Sessions The narrator discusses their early adoption of a gaming device, which they describe as having been purchased and unboxed on December 5th. They emphasize the importance of the sleep function for managing their gaming sessions. The narrator mentions that their gaming sessions are typically limited to 30 minutes to an hour due to boredom and indicates a dislike for the process of closing software and updating GPUs.
• 03:01 - 05:00: Travel Experience with Steam Deck The chapter explores the personal journey and experience of using the Steam Deck while traveling. Initially attracted to the convenience of resuming games seamlessly, the user spends 45 days exploring its capabilities. The unexpected attachment to the device, particularly the limited edition with OLED screen, exceeds initial expectations, turning the Steam Deck into more than just a gaming console.
• 05:01 - 07:00: OLED Screen and Battery Performance The chapter delves into the speaker's enthusiasm about experimenting with modifications on a device, particularly enjoying its design and features. As of December 5th, the speaker is uncertain about the video's direction. The device is noted for emulation capabilities, particularly due to its simple console interface, large OLED screen, haptic feedback touchpads, and button layout, making it compatible with various gaming titles such as Game Boy, GameCube, PSP, and PS2.
• 07:01 - 11:00: Steam Deck vs Rog Ally X The chapter discusses the personal gaming preferences of the speaker, who favors the Steam Deck over the Rog Ally X due to its quick start-up and suitability for playing older games rather than the latest AAA titles. The speaker mentions getting caught up in playing FIFA Street and plans to use legally obtained emulators on the Steam Deck to explore its capabilities further.
• 11:01 - 14:00: Asus Updates at CES 2025 The chapter titled 'Asus Updates at CES 2025' discusses the presenter’s personal experience with a new Asus device. Initially, the presenter was not fond of the device because of its dual parallel thumb sticks. However, over time, they adapted to its design. The device is described as highly portable and comfortable to travel with. Its thin middle section and larger grips make it easier to hold and sit with comfortably, highlighting the convenience and ease of use that come with the device after getting accustomed to its features.
• 14:01 - 18:00: Emulation and Bug Experiences The chapter titled 'Emulation and Bug Experiences' discusses using a console in different scenarios, such as on a plane or when traveling abroad. Despite its larger size compared to most handheld devices, it conveniently fits in the plane's storage pouch and is easy to use during travel. The author reflects on their experience using the console over three days, specifically mentioning playing 'GTA San Andreas', which evokes nostalgia. The narrative highlights the potential and versatility of the console in various situations.
• 18:01 - 23:00: Final Thoughts and Recommendations In this chapter, the speaker reflects on their experience with a certain portable device they have been using during their travels. They have found it particularly useful and commend its remarkable battery life, noting that it lasted throughout their plane journey and subsequent activities. The speaker mentions taking the device to a conference in Toronto and expresses enthusiasm about continuing to use it. Overall, they describe the device as an excellent portable solution.

Life with a Steam Deck OLED - HONEST Review (2025) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 you know when I was a kid all I wanted were handheld devices in fact if I was a kid nowadays I would probably wait for that Nintendo switch too but maturing is realizing that all you need in your life is a steam deck don't don't come at me like I spent like hours okay trying to emulate games on this thing I legally downloaded all the games I played Spider-Man on this thing too cyber Punk man I missed GTA San Andreas and then I went out of my way to play Red Dead Redemption then I thought I broke my console well I've never seen this to the point that I just went to go grab an R
• 00:30 - 01:00 Alli X and I started gaming on that it's great don't get me wrong but I came back to the steam you see I'm getting old I barely play on my PlayStation 5 I barely play on my custom PC just want to grab something turn it on and game right away and then when I'm bored 30 minutes later just put it down and this my friend is exactly what it's for it's been a great 45 days I don't know why I stress so much about buying this let me show you guys oh my God this room's a mess yeah okay this is it
• 01:00 - 01:30 I swear I think I was probably like one of the first people to literally buy this December 5th the day I unboxed this and set it up you want to know why I got this sleep function I buil a habit of keeping my gaming sessions to no longer than 30 minutes to an hour at a time mainly because I get bored easily now and so that's why I got this like look I hate closing all my software making sure the gpus is up to date because I barely
• 01:30 - 02:00 game then loading the game it only makes me want to do that if I know I'm gaming with friends and so with the deck knowing that people were able to hop on and off from where they left off that really made me want to give this a try and so for the past like 45 days that's what I've been doing but from the day I unboxed this I never imagined it would become so much more than just that this is limited edition White theme deck with an OLED screen I want by model not cheap
• 02:00 - 02:30 eh I'm like more excited to see what kind of mods I can do to this thing and to spend some time with it play with it today is December 5th and to be honest I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this video look second reason I got this emulation not that other consoles like the RX can do it but the simple console style interface ol Leed with a bigger screen the touchpads with haptic feedback the button layout that directly translates into Game Boy GameCube PSP and PS two titles and the fact that
• 02:30 - 03:00 again I can get up and running extremely quickly was a huge Plus for me so knowing that playing the latest AAA games wasn't a priority for me the steam deck is what suits me the most yeah just a quick update I I just got carried away I started a career mode on FIFA Street man that I missed that game but uh what I'm going to do is that I'm going to put all my legally obtain emulators okay into my steam deck and just give it a try for a week yeah obviously I went a
• 03:00 - 03:30 lot longer than just a week why well this became like a drug to me it's like so accessible I actually traveled with it and the first time I did I realized how comfortable it is at hand but it it took a bit of time to get used to it I'm not going to lie because this has two parallel thumb sticks and I wasn't a fan at first but I got used to it it eventually made me realize that since the middle of the device is thinner and the grips are larger it became easier to sit more comfortable like easier to hold
• 03:30 - 04:00 in any position like in a plane for example with a trade table or in bed when I was traveling abroad and even though this is larger than most handhelds out there it fits nicely within the plane's storage pouch traveling to Toronto for our precs event really made me realize just how much potential this had in my L I guess we can say that today's like officially my third day with the console I just used it on the plane for a while man I missed GTA San Andreas I used to play like game
• 04:00 - 04:30 so much no but honestly this is one of the coolest things you can bring around with you when traveling literally I used it for the whole plane ride the departure everything and this thing is still really good on battery life amazing I just brought it with me to Toronto because I'm here for an Asus conference but yeah just want to just keep playing with it and see how how it [Music] goes today's uh it's I think it's been a week since I've had the steam deck been more than a week it's a great portable
• 04:30 - 05:00 console I have to keep reminding myself that yes although it feels big for me I come from a PSP that was the last time I had a portable console and I was using it all the time on the plane it was absolutely amazing to have this is like your best friend I've been using it with the emulators aot I have to admit that I still need to dive into steam and actually use it as a a steam deck and the one thing that really surprises me is just the battery life it's absolutely insane I often just put it like in sleep mode and it chills in sleep mode all the
• 05:00 - 05:30 time as you guys can see I'm I'm still playing GTA on on sleep mode it does eat a bit of battery like battery dissipates a tiny little bit every day if you just leave it like so I've realized that um other than that great console the week I changed to the Vivo X200 Pro as my daily that was the last day I only played emulator games on this by the way because this is OLED emulator games can look a tiny bit off nothing major but they just look like they are trying to
• 05:30 - 06:00 be upscaled and it can deliver that to you up until that point though my favorite things were sleep mode the color of this thing I learned to love the layout I love the olded because it is plenty bright but I felt like because I wasn't playing demanding titles with the fans not kicking at all up until that point I wasn't really taking advantage of having a steam Deck with an OLED screen look a few days passed by and I had finally started playing some recent games and this
• 06:00 - 06:30 this is where I fell in love with the battery life and OLED off the bat I want to point out that the accuracy with this display while using it as a touchcreen is a 10 out of 10 now OLED on a game like Spider-Man for example is absolutely incredible I remember a few weeks ago I was at like 90% battery life at around 6:45 p.m. I game for almost an hour or so by the time I put this down I was at like 63% by 7:38 p.m. that is an hour of spider man on an OLED screen
• 06:30 - 07:00 looking this damn gorgeous with battery life dissipating for a total of like 27% I remember I had pretty much stopped playing that day right then and there and while I had put it in sleep mode a few days later I had picked it up and it was at like 38% that day I kept gaming for like 45 minutes and Battery did go from 38% to 9% so this is the type of battery life you can expect while playing a game like Spider-Man with emulators it totally depends what you
• 07:00 - 07:30 are playing but till this day when playing games like FIFA Street or San Andreas I do find myself actually getting around 5 hourish of play time on a single charge literally up until that day nothing has changed Red Dead seems to deliver a bit more than 2 hours of play time but I'll talk about that later right now I want to talk about this screen because when I started playing Spider-Man on this I was hella impressed look my First theme deck had an LCD
• 07:30 - 08:00 display to be honest I barely used it but with this a few weeks ago when I started installing AAA games on it I realized how insane this OLED screen is from my own perspective it's got a 7.4 in 800p 90 HZ display with HDR support for enhanced visuals it's really bright capable of to a th000 nit has great contrast no backl bleed and low latency compared to the LCD model okay it has a
• 08:00 - 08:30 larger screen with thinner bezels for a sleeker design and combined with the OLED screen efficient so SOC and larger battery the battery life is now at least 50% longer it's also a more responsive and precise touchcreen for smoother interactions paired with upgraded trackpads with improved accuracy enhanced haptic feedback and a much better click mechanism but up until that point to be honest I hadn't used them that much the one thing thing I still
• 08:30 - 09:00 have yet to properly use are these trackpads which are amazing they feel so nice there's like this little tingling sensation I don't know if you guys can hear it very very clean I I like that it really helps when you're like actually navigating Steam OS and what I mean about that is that well you actually have a switch to desktop mode that goes a bit into the actual OS of steam and then you can control a lot of the things right in here steam de OLED has better speakers compared to the LCD version
• 09:00 - 09:30 with like clearer sound quality of course the new chip also lowers heat generation I can at least a test to that and because of it it runs quieter thanks to its improved fan overall this thing is like 60 G lighter now look Steam OS is great it really feels like a console I can be playing a steam deck game one moment and then emulator game the next but up until that point with all the days and progression I had done in multiple games using the steam deck I
• 09:30 - 10:00 wondered how this would compare to the r Alx so I actually ended up getting one it's almost like Christmas came a few hours early for me so this my friends is the Rog Ali x correct me if I'm wrong but for the past 3 weeks I've been using my steam deck and it's been absolutely amazing but it does seem like a lot of people like to compare both of these to see which one is the best and that my friends is what we're going to do in this video I just got to unbox this set it up installed my emulators and uh all that cool stuff a few days before
• 10:00 - 10:30 leaving to CES that's what I did okay I set this up exactly the same way I had set up my steam deck of course this being Windows based the steps are quite a bit different however I was able to transfer my RS and my save data to my Rog Ali X without a single hiccup no that's actually not true I did run into a few hiccups trying to locate these folders in Steam OS but because the community for Steam OS is so damn big I was easily able to find the answers yeah yes sir it works thank you Lord but
• 10:30 - 11:00 turned out that my button layout didn't really work RG allyx of the bat doesn't directly translate my buttons for all the emulated devices so I had to spend some time trying to find the solution for that click the r i like command center button make sure the control mode is sent on game pad R game pad oh it works I love the internet overall though on my way to CS I spent
• 11:00 - 11:30 some time with the r Alx it is phenomenal I absolutely love the design and off the bat it has a very comfortable grip very similar to like an Xbox controller the console also delivers so many different ways you can tweak its performance just to make gamep playay smoother I did run a quick battery test on this and playing Spider-Man within my flight here's what I noticed from 100% at 11:00 a.m. to 87%
• 11:30 - 12:00 at 11:34 a.m. all the way to 45% at 12:24 p.m. this lasted about an hour and a half the rate at which battery on the arog GX dissipates seems a bit faster and it definitely seems to get hotter than the steam deck but this this is an IPS 7 in 1080P at 120 HZ with vrr screen and vrr on this is absolutely great lost on the plane I did have my B earbuds
• 12:00 - 12:30 connected to it I'm sure that played a role in battery dissipation look the r Ali X is a total different story in my opinion if you want to play the latest AAA games this does it for you Call of Duty can be played with this the Alli X is also slightly redesigned compared to the original Alli they moved the SD card reader because it was causing some heat issues they added a second USBC Port that supports egpus which is nuts fingerprint reader actually works it
• 12:30 - 13:00 also has a better grip compared to the previous version compared to steam deck though the fact that you can install anti cheat software to play things like cod and play AAA games use Game Pass natively without dual booting it's also got a proper chip the AMD ryzen C1 extreme equipped with 24 GB of lddr 5 Ram at 7500 mahz it's just like very hard to beat but I feel like even though the Alx has impressive specs the main
• 13:00 - 13:30 thing holding it back is Windows OS Steam OS is far more efficient than Windows it's got that console like Simplicity like going back and forth between games and browsing the library is far easier performance optimization is great it's a lightweight Linux based operating system usually faster boot times although I did run a test between the Rog Alli X and the steam deck and the Rog beat it from a fresh boot um
• 13:30 - 14:00 look overall those steam deck is amazing but if you want more power more performance and play proper AAA games the Rog Alli X really wins for that note that when it comes to gaming that's not the only thing Asus makes you see when I went to CES Asus invited us to check out their latest gaming laptops and work Focus Machines of course two laptops that really stood out for me were the r STX car1 16 and the Zep G14 however Asus
• 14:00 - 14:30 recently announced the RG flows z13 and abber from Hardware connu actually talked about it in one of his most recent videos this is essentially a high performance gaming tablet designed with versatility in mind so basically Asus built a gaming device that you can literally use for productivity and gaming wherever you go I also just love how you can see the motherboard through the RGB glass panel when it's powered on it also feat features a thunderbolt Port
• 14:30 - 15:00 allowing you to connect it to the Rog XG mobile basically a 1590 GPU to be used as an e GPU since it's powered by an AMD ryzen AI Max 395 wat processor and a Radeon 8605 it offers a very different experience compared to the strix scar speaking of the strix scar 16 it's just on another level this thing is equipped with an RTX 90 64 GB of RAM R and an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor the back
• 15:00 - 15:30 lit logo on the lid is incredible lighting up the cover beautifully it also has a ton of ports an RGB underlow along the buttom a proper keyboard with a fantastic trackpad and what might be the best mechanism I've ever seen for opening it up to upgrade components for work Asus had the latest Zenbook A14 I had the chance to try it a couple of weeks ago and it's powered by the latest snapdragon Elite chip the chassis has
• 15:30 - 16:00 been carefully redesigned for this year featuring a material they call cuminum cuminum is a material they develop to make it light and fingerprint as well as scratch resistant so from the keyboard to the cover plate and back plate the entire build uses this material it's lightweight portable and premium it's literally one of the lightest laptops ever weighing just about 899 G and because it's powered by a Snapdragon chip you guys all know how power
• 16:00 - 16:30 efficient this can be with Aces claiming up to 32 hours of video playback on a single charge plus it's packed with plenty of ports making it perfect for work on the go or at home look at the end of the day if you are also looking for something lightweight for gaming you can't go wrong with the sephr G14 or even the r GX CES 2025 with Asus was absolutely incredible if there's anything you like for me to review drop a comment with a # ases and the model
• 16:30 - 17:00 name and will make it happen look as I've been spending time with this I think I can give you guys a solid review of my emulation experience if you're willing to invest the time and effort into a one-time setup with muud deck the steam deck's capabilities truly become Limitless you can play any game from any console as long as you own these ROMs am deck also has this beautiful way to integrate the steam library from the emulation station although I did realize not all cover Arts are available but
• 17:00 - 17:30 there are ways to find these online to make it all look nice honestly I feel like most people will play their own purchased emulated games on their decks more than actual Steam games up to now I've only had a few weird bugs like this one a few weeks ago I just ran into a little bit of a bug because of my emulator um I was on deskt mode and then when I entered a game I couldn't press these buttons like every time I would press these buttons nothing would happen so I didn't have a way to go back into like desktop mode or or even the
• 17:30 - 18:00 Steam OS mode so I had to literally just restart the whole console that and the fact that my FIFA Street title for some reason bugs weirdly but it plays totally fine I absolutely love and miss this game but other than that um input latency has been totally fine you do feel it a tiny little bit on some more demanding titles but it really isn't anything that ruins my experience if it really bothers you you can always go on Reddit cuz there are all kinds of people trying to help out to make the
• 18:00 - 18:30 experience even better go ahead and click that launer La app yeah I was about to give up but I literally just spent the whole day today trying to make Red Dead Redemption work on the steam deck and I finally got it done I've been playing for quite a bit absolutely amazing I spent a good amount of time that day trying to make this whole thing work I made it all work thanks to proton um whenever I do stuff like this especially when I dive deep into the desktop I'm honestly amazed at how good the of the touch screen is anyways
• 18:30 - 19:00 throughout this I really thought I messed up my console well I've never seen this I hope I don't break my steam lag I was trying to install the Rockstar launcher Jesus uh okay eventually I got it to work again honestly I'm glad but I ran into a few bugs because the launcher wasn't letting me type I thought connecting the steam deck through the app with my phone would work but I couldn't access all the characters within the keyboard I did find a solution all I needed to do was run the app from the actual game launcher and
• 19:00 - 19:30 then everything worked I legit spent like the next hour and a half playing Red Dead Redemption about 30 minutes into the game I've realized this was the hottest I've ever seen my steam deck get the fans were actually spinning faster than ever before and know that I was playing with a brightness level above 85% at all times I think you can expect to get like a solid 2 hours on a game like this the game looks AB absolutely stunning on the deck I was averaging
• 19:30 - 20:00 anywhere between low 40s to high 50s in frames per second input latency really is non-existent from what I'm used to if you are a hardcore firsters shooter gamer I don't know maybe you'll be able to tell but on my end it was all good after playing 2 hours okay with tiny little breaks here and there battery went from 74% to 37% know that I was running medium to low settings with textures set to ultra
• 20:00 - 20:30 I also gave cyberpunk a try and this game looks so freaking good on OLED although it doesn't output high and stable frames per second like on the r Alx but again the game looks absolutely stunning on the deck you can get away with a decent gaming experience and this this was running at high to medium settings you know I've been thinking about it I've been trying to find things that I
• 20:30 - 21:00 don't like about this because it's white the the analog sticks are already sort of yellow so that kind of sucks but other than that maybe I do find that the OLED screen gets uh very finger printy like it gets dirty quite fast I have to be cleaning it often compared to maybe like an LCD and I've got already some little tiny scratches that don't go away which is kind of weird not sure how that happened but as a whole I'm not sure if I would like more battery life I think
• 21:00 - 21:30 it's amazing if you guys could give us more battery life than steam by all means but other than that you've made such a great little console this is literally like my baby I think that you know if you're going into your 30s you're in your 40s you want to maybe maximize family time because you don't have too much time to game this is 100% my recommendation I absolutely recommend this if you want to get into compeitive gaming and you like crazy
• 21:30 - 22:00 graphics and and all that then maybe an rgx is more for you something Windows based Legion goto apparently also is really really good I definitely recommend that for you I have a PlayStation 5 uh a PC but I've gotten bored of of gaming cuz I'm always trying to game with friends and all that we can't really match our times and synchronize Our Lives it's kind of hard but with this I love story mode games it's just so phenomenal that being said
• 22:00 - 22:30 I will leave you guys with this it's been an amazing 45 days I absolutely had so much fun with this I'm going to keep using it for the trips this year we have a lot of trips this year coming for the channel I'm so excited um make sure you give it a like give this a like make sure you give this video a like subscribe to the channel cuz we're trying to hit a Millie baby and I will see you guys all soon I promise you the Vivo Video is coming out soon I promise you maybe in 2 weeks weeks we'll see I'm cooking it
• 22:30 - 23:00 [Music]