Steam Deck OLED Deep Dive - 1TB vs. 512GB (Anti-Glare / Glossy Screen) 

I'm glad to finally be able to address one of the biggest questions I've received. Hope this helps! Steam Deck OLED Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PL9lafQPiMYh6-tBRxhU2Q4BX5kSbT8oQy *Featured Games* Gunfire Reborn Half-Life Alyx Sanabi Final Fantasy 7 Reborn Stray Metroid (NES / Mesen) Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion Windbound Kena and the Bridge of Spirits Amid Evil Cloudpunk

Just dropping my summary here that I made somewhere else: The etched screen on an OLED is an issue that needs to be looked at in three different uses cases: - dark room - low light - high (direct) light In addition the effect of the etched screen needs to be clarified: It disperses light. That means that a strong light the hits the screen from one side is not reflected off of it to the other side without the user noticing. Instead the entire screen reflects some part of each light into the user's eye. This is good for things that would reflect the light into the users eye anyway, because this light is lessed. But it means that all light is in part reflected into the users eye. So what the user sees at any part of the screen is a mixture of the dispersed light, AND the light coming from the screen at this part. And if you want to enjoy OLED blacks (where the screen is basically turned off) that's BAD, isn't it? But is it? Let's look at dark room usage first. There is no light to disperse. The etched screen will not look any different from the non-etched screen, aside from some minor loss in sharpness. And that would be really hard to notice, especially if we are still talking about an 800p screen. You'll basically loose sharpness to see distinct pixels. Low light will be the most important one, because it's the use case most will encounter. This can be a lit room, but it can also be outside, where you have light in the environment, but nothing that casts tons of light directly at the screen. Here things get interesting, because we have two different things to look at: Bright parts of the screen, and dark parts of the screen. The environment will have a lot of dim to medium lit objeckts behind the user, there is no way to avoid this. The oled screen is very bright, so the bright parts will overcome the direct reflections on the non-etched screen of those pretty well, BUT they will also overcome the etched screen's light dispersement even better than the single highlights. Now for the dark parts of the image. These will show the dreaded light dispersement of the etched screen. The OLED's black, but also dark colors can go very very dark, and there will not be any light, by design, to overcome the dispersed light. But let's look at what that means for the non etched screen. Turn on your phone, and hold it right up, so that your face is reflected in it. Do you see many reflections? No, too much light coming from the display that overcome the very low light direct reflections on the glass. Turn it off. Now you see EVERYTHING, reflected like a mirror, because no light is coming from the device to overcome these veeery slight direct reflections. This is what all dark parts of the OLED image would look like, and this is the real difference to the LCD deck: The LCD deck ALWAYS emits light that overcomes these slight reflections, so on the non-etched LCD screen, these aren't that noticable. Now turn to the OLED screen, which is OFF in black parts, and even the smallest of reflections return. This means that no matter how low light the objects in your environment are, the black pixels will NEVER overcome their reflections. Black parts of the screen will always reflect everything, no matter how low light you go. It might even happen in total darkness, when parts of the screen light up your face, while the black parts then perfectly reflect your face. And this could NOT have happened on the LCD deck. Now for high (direct) light conditions. This is basically studio light, like in youtube videos. A very bright light shines directly on the screen, leading to tons of dispersed light being reflected into the eye/camera. In the worst case scenario, there are also no other objects but the deck being lit, so the non-edged screen shows just a small amount of reflections, while the etched screen is overall BRIGHT. This is not likely to happen in real life, where a very bright light in the environment would usually lead to an overall bright environment. That means the non-etched screen would likely be showing reflections that cannot be overcome even by the bright OLED screen. Black parts of the screen would reflect even more heavily here as well, leading to a more realistic tradeoff between OLED black levels and reflections. Again, the bright parts of the screen will overcome the dispersed light, those are not a problem here. So TLDR: If you hated reflections on then LCD, you are likely to LOATH them on the OLED. If you want true blacks on your etched OLED screen, you are still going to get them in low light environments.

We ordered a 512gb and an LE. I just spent 2 hours playing and comparing, and Taki is completely correct. Both screens are brilliant and no matter which one you choose you will love it. I can barely see any difference, aside from the etched handling reflections better. If there is any difference it’s like 1% or something. Seriously, Valve hit a home run with the SD OLED. Nuff said, time to go play more. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The screen comparison video I’ve been waiting for!👍

Dude thank you for calming my tits about this issue. Bought the limited edition and have been second guessing it since reading about all the screen drama online. Thank you for comparing the two and being so thorough about it.

Lights off: both look the same. Inside the house: Glossy wins. Outside the house: Etched wins.

I've bought the 1 TB OLED model, mostly because I wanted the extra SSD storage from the off but also because I know how annoying reflections can be on a glossy OLED display from using my LG B9 TV. I will likely use the Steam Deck for 50% of the time during the day and the rest at night so I feel the etched glass is the preferred option anyway for me. Good video though. No-one else has done this kind of comparison as far as I am aware so this is useful information. Thanks.

For those curious, I have the 512gb MATTE finish on my old Steam Deck. Even when I would have light on the screen, I would move my hands slightly to remove the light completely just like I would with a glossy finish. So even though the matte diffuses better, I always remove that annoying light from view completely anyway so it makes no difference which OLED I'd get.

OMG! Thank you so damn much for THIS great comparison. I was so confused witch one i should order. You explained all the details and differences! Thank you 1000 times. Best vid on YT for the Display comparison! 👍👍👍

I have been watching videos on this topic all day, and you just so happened to come out with this, you are the goat man

I'm getting the glossy one so I can have a screen protector on. I have refrained from having a screen protector on my etched LCD because a glossy protector on an etched screen isn't 100% the same as glossy on glossy and etched on matte would be even worse. And it have been a point of worry ever since I got it. With the glossy OLED I can throw any screen protector on, matte or glossy, and it won't be worse than the ethched without a protector.

Thanks for this comparison! I had the OG 512GB Etched Glass Deck (also with a glossy screen protector as a etched one wasn't available at it's launch). I was thinking about all the recent comments from people stating that the standard glossy screen was better. Good to know the etched glass still has some good advantages in brighter environments like in a vehicle or outside.

Thanks for uploading this! Honestly made me much calmer about the etched display, I think I will keep it without a glossy screen protector as the OLED will seemingly still look phenomenal even with the anti-glare. Although very afraid of receiving a BOE Panel as I have never had a good experience with their displays in the past on standard LCD monitors...

Looks like either one is fine. I prefer glossy myself but you can't go wrong either way.

Amazing video with incredible detail and real world scenarios, this is exactly the type of video I’ve been looking for to justify purchasing the LE OLED Steam Deck.

This is exactly the breakdown i was hoping to see. Thank you!

Great video, well thought out commentary and pros and cons of each. Someone on the Steam Deck reddit was basically insulting anyone who got the etched version this week.

Thanks for the info on the shell swap, I was very curious about it. I’m keeping my launch 512 GB Deck; I did an Extreme Rate shell swap to trans black and I’m super proud of the work. I nearly got the limited edition but I can make that again with the proper shell when it’s available

I'm pretty happy I went with the 512GB. I do prefer the screen coating and I also saved $100 that I spent on games. Win, win, win.

First of all, I have to say that your comparison and analysis were so good that it was worth watching the first half of the video, which was more focused on providing context. To be honest, I almost skipped your video when no comparison was being made in the first 9 minutes. Second of all, and most importantly, I truly appreciate all the work invested. Now I have a clear idea of both versions. Subscribed. :)

Thank you for clearing it up for everyone. great review been waiting for this since release

I don't expect I will be upgrading to the OLED as I don't use my steam deck a ton, but it's good to know there isn't a huge difference. I personally would go with etched every time as it makes the deck more usable in all conditions and you really aren't losing much detail.

Super helpful comparison here! Glad I went with the limited edition. Was worried that some vibrancy would be lost but its really just a difference of how to handle non-ideal lighting environments.

After watching tons of videos and being unsure, this is finally the one to relax me and make me sure of my purchase. Thank you!!!

Been waiting for this! Thanks

Great video taki. Been waiting on someone to do this, but I still prefer the gloss it has nothing to do with my finances.

I get why someone would get the more premium deck model, but as a casual user here's my take: I see and respect the benefits of the 1tb version, but I'm probably going for the base model OLED because I can see myself upgrading the storage myself if I need to. And I'll probably get an anti-glare screen protector sense I'm buying one either way.

Great video! Thank you for making an informative test

came here just to see the screens compared - ended with disassembling my deck following instructions! 😁👍 good deep content

If the etched glass was that bad, there's no way valve would have put it on the top model.

Thanks but I wish you would've done the test with half of the etched screen being under a glass screen protector to see if there are any differences and also compare it to the fully glossy version. That would've been the ultimate end goal.

Best comparison I've seen!! Excellent job!!

You’re the man. Thanks for being so comprehensive. Also definitely gonna play Metroid on it !

Its really nice to know that you can just swap the SSDs. It would make it a lot easier to transfer my data and pass down my current one to a sibling when I eventually upgrade.

Thanks for the video - my final question is, if we put a matte protector on the etched - does it give the same picture quality as putting a matte on the normal glass, or does it infact give it 'twice as much haze'

This is the video that everyone was waiting for. Amazing job on the presentation! And incredible work by Valve. My 12 year old brain would never be able to wrap my head around the idea of something like the Steam OLEDeck!

Finally someone does this comparison on video. Great video, it’s perfect.

I dont know man, 13 min 20 second mark, there is something valid to the argument as to how the etched glass destroys the OLED blacks. Also, either way you can still see the reflections and no-one, etched or glossy, would try to use said device with that kind of light source behind them. What Im worries about is low level ambient from say a lamp in the living space or light from an open window bouncing light around the room, how that would destroy the blacks on the screen because of the diffusive behavior of the etched display. At the end of the day, neither glossy nor etched eliminates reflections, one mitigates it by diffision and im not entirely sure thats the best combination with OLED. Its nice to see they the etched display performs as well as glossy with no light whatsoever. Also, i dont know how you didnt capture it but over on r/SteamDeck all of the glossy vs etched show the glossy having more vibrant colors. Love your content, thanks for the comparison! I have a 512GB glossy arriving Saturday.

I would love to see a deep dive video comparing the Samsung vs. BOE panel. Hopefully this isn't another panel lottery game where 1 version is clearly superior to the other. The fact that you received both Samsung panel Decks makes me think that Valve are cherry-picking the "best" versions to send out to reviewers, but that's just a conjecture.

Thanks for this! I almost thought about returning my 1tb but now that I see these tests, I will keep it (when it arrives). I play mostly at night so I am glad I wont be impacted much.

yes dude thanks for making this vid I really wanted to see the diference between these!

Thank you so much for considering how non-light sources reflect on the screen (14:57), and for actually taking them outside and comparing them in natural light (15:28). Seemingly every other video is just someone aiming a light directly at the screen in a controlled studio which does not reflect real world usage. I'm not so much concerned about how the screen looks with a light shining directly on it since I will make every possible effort to position the device to avoid that kind of direct light exposure. It's going to be distracting and have a significantly adverse effect on the viewing experience no matter which type of screen you get, and it's relatively easy to avoid in most scenarios by just sitting/holding the device a little differently. I also expect that the environments I play in will likely not be anywhere near as "clean" or controlled as a studio, so those kinds of demonstrations aren't actually very helpful to me as they are effectively a non-factor. Rather, I'm concerned with how reflective the surface is in general and how much things are going to show up on the screen when light is bouncing off other things in the environment around or behind you. You can avoid having a light shining directly on the screen, but in a brightly lit environment (like the waiting room at a doctor's office, or as a passenger in a vehicle) with a lot more things around you, there's still going to be a ton of light reflecting off of different surfaces that can still show up on the screen if it's extremely reflective. That's when I want to know how the screen looks just reflecting the environment around you, which in real world applications are going to be vastly "busier" with more chaotic light than in a studio test where the device is sitting flat on a table looking up at flat, empty ceiling with nothing else to possibly reflect on screen except for the test light. Your video comparisons suggest to me that the etched screen is the superior option, speaking as someone who would only intend to use the Steam Deck as an actual portable gaming device while away from home. I'm sure the glossy screen is technically better and probably looks better under ideal conditions, but those reflections you showed of your hand and the tree canopy really stood out in comparison to the etched screen where they were far less noticeable.

I’d be more concerned about the LE BOE screens versus the Samsung on the lower models. As a LE purchaser I came to the realization I have a dead pixel. The BOE panels seem to have more flaws versus the Samsung models and it’s disappointing but it’s time to start the RMA process.

Great review of this topic. Thanks!

Outstanding analysis brother. Thank you!

I’ve tried to explain this exact trade off to people who talk bad about the etched screen. Thanks for taking the time to make a video showing it off. The reflection issue was not really about direct light sources, but about the mirror effect. I prefer matte screens because of this, I rather lose a little perceived vibrancy and not be able to see myself looking back at me in the screen.

sadly glossy is also fingerprinty... thanks for the vid, very helpfull

You earn my subscription, amazing video!

Great video. Super comparison. Thank you.

I'm partial to the glossy, especially on OLEDs but honestly I'm impressed with Samsung here, they did a great job on both. I always play in a room with dim lights so never have reflection problems and almost never use the touchscreen, I prefere typing with the trackpads so I'll go with the least expensive option for sure.

I bought the limited edition steam deck OLED and had a little bit of FOMO with not having the glossy screen. After this video I feel way more confident with my purchase. I use my deck in a lot of uncontrolled lighting situations and I am happy to know there is not as much quality difference in controlled lighting.

Super helpful comparison. Thanks!

thank you Taki... im thinking about getting the Steam Deck OLED... more likely the 512GB... i appreciate your detailed and thorough feedback on both the new and original Steam Deck... i appreciate you man... thanks again! 👍🏽👍🏽

If you would slap a screen protector on the etched, would it match the non-etched one? Just curious.

I’m glad I went with the limited edition etched. Minor differences but if I’m ever in a well lit room or outside I’ll be glad I have the etched. Plus more on board storage and special case / colors

OMG, the screen looks soooo goood, even in this filming-with-a-camera-and-uploading-to-RU-vid situation!

loved the video , thank you keep up the good work

Mainly its about the blacks vs both. Id be more curious about etched with screen protector vs non etched with screen protector and if there is ANY noticeable differences whatsoever.

Didn't know they had two different suppliers for the display, thanks. What game are you playing @8:45?

Wow. What a video! Thank you for your hard work :)

This was just excellent, thank you!!

Yea i assumed the ppl who were saying the etched glass "ruins" the colors were full of shit

I got etched glass on the first model and regretted it. Seemed like it was harder to clean the screen than my other device screens and looked gross when my daughter got ahold of it. Also I was always jealous when seeing someone else with the glossy screen because it just looked better to me. If I could go back I’d have gotten the 64 and upgraded ssd. At the time though 2230 ssd were not widely available. This time I went for the 512 just for the glossy screen and giving my old one to my husband.

Whew i was feeling a wee bit worried cause i impulsively bought the limited edition. Wonderful breakdown, cant wait till it comes in the mail.

Incredibly detailed vid, thank you!

This is interesting to watch, but something to consider is this; don’t worry about the screen, if you plan on getting a screen protector (you should) then you can pick and choose what you want. You want 1Tb model but not the glass? Get a clear screen protector. You want the 512gb but want etched glass? Get an etched glass screen protector. That should remove some of the choice

My Special Edition arrived yesterday. I was worried about the glossy vs matte and in person that OLED panel is so much of an upgrade from the LCD I am in love with it. Couldn’t care less that I don’t have the glossy panel. For everyone that was on the fence it’s personal taste for sure and to each their own. I love it.

first video of your i see. very good descriptions and presentation. thanks a bunch *subbed and liked for reasons

I was team glossy before saw this video. I think you addressed everything the community discuss, well done!

Glad i bought the limited edition one. Just as I thought, the etched glass is still great. A slight loss in black levels, but certainly worth getting rid of mirror like reflections

At the very least I don't feel too bad for getting the cheaper option. I hate to miss out on that case though..

Thank you so much. You've cleared up many of my concerns. :)

Man, what a video, thanks a lot, that was very useful! ❤

Bought a 512 simply because I use screen protectors and I probably will upgrade to 2tb if easy windows support comes.

The issue I had with the etched screen is putting a screen protector on it did no favours. If you put a matte screen protector on the etched screen it looked blury, and putting a glossy SP on it defeated the purpose of the etched screen.

This really calms my anxiety. I ordered the anti-glare 1TB version for the extra stuff it comes with + the storage and then started reading comments about how the screen sucked and got really worried. Now I'm just excited :D

Great video, thanks man!

My LE has the BOE panel. It also has 3 dead pixels so I reached out to valve for a replacement. Curious to see if all LE decks have BOE panels

I'll take an itty bit less brightness rather than a lot more glare and reflections.

Excellent video, thank you 🙏

great comparison! I was on the fence for sure!! I'm assuming also, using things like Decky and the 'vibrancy' options that were made available for the LCD Deck, those could also help the etched screen pop "as normal"?

Thanks for making this video! I ordered a 512 oled so my mind was already made up but this was a great overview. In the future it would be awesome if you included game titles on screen for the games you are playing. Some of them look really fun but I wasn't sure what all of them were.

Here's my question... why would you be playing your Steam Deck OLED in a bright setting to even need the etched glass? Overall I think the glossy clear OLED screen is superior.

Great video. Many thanks. What was the first game you were playing? Looked like a fast-paced platformer shootem-up.

You are the hero we need. Those reddit forum discussions were cracy.

So glad I went for the glossy version. Etched looks ass.

Thanks for this! Just a small note of feedback: I’d love to know what game you are playing. Maybe a small note at the bottom of the screen to point it out as you are playing would be great.

Every reviewer got 1TB etched model and they were all astonished. Maybe except for one youtuber, who didn't like "fuzziness" that apparently was introduced by etched screen. Anyone who believed the etched screen would "ruin the display" was very strange for me. Even if there was noticeable difference - 1TB is still getting you the display everyone loved. But it's nice to see decent tests of everything. Good job!

Samsung vs BOE Steam Deck OLED video coming soon??

12:10 Great explanation and visual. Gave a like

Thank you for showing the SSD swap in full

I'm sure Dave2D had good intentions when he compared the etched screen vs a glossy screen protector, but imo, that was a lousy comparison. It gave the impression that the etched glass downgraded the OLED quality. I and many others ended up getting the glossy screen for that reason. I'm still glad I managed to get an OLED, but I would've certainly gotten etched like I did with LCD

Great review, your findings match my own experiences with the 1TB System. With how big this blew up online I was expecting more. I do think some of the people who are complaining about the higher priced model are being disingenuous and are trying to justify buying the more affordable product because they can’t afford the higher end one.

Thanks for this review, after ordering my 1TB oled SD I started to read the same as you, the screen is trash and I got really worried then your review just took that out of my mind

I was waiting for an in-depth comparison of the two screens. Thanks a lot for this :)

seems like madnes to me to put an etched screen in front of an OLED panel. Glossy 100%

I'm ugly as hell so I'm buying etched glass 💀

Nice test ! I bought the 1to 🎉

Bro you just earned yourself a sub, ty for being real

I’m at 7:34 in the video, just ran the command, I have 04 30. Hopefully that is good :) edit: I originally had the 256gb LCD deck, so I was super nervous ordering the etched glass screen. I don’t know what causes this, but on camera, it looks horrible. Every single video I’ve watched has made me question my decision. Now that my etched glass OLED is actually here, it’s like night and day. I dunno what’s going on with the videos I’m watching, but I can attest that the etched glass looks truly fantastic. It has none of that weird greasy smearing look that it gets under studio lighting on camera. Don’t panic if you’re waiting on your etched glass version and questioning your life’s choices