Valve has just expanded its certified refurbished lineup to include the Steam Deck OLED, offering a great deal for gamers who want to get their hands on these enhanced devices without breaking the bank. With prices slashed by 20% compared to brand-new units, getting the OLED variants refurbished directly from Valve is a steal.
The refurbished program now features both the 1TB OLED and 512GB Steam Deck OLED models. The 1TB option is attractively priced at $519, while the 512GB model is available for $439. For perspective, these same models would set you back $649 and $549 if bought new, meaning you save $120 on the 1TB model and $110 on the 512GB model. In fact, you can now snag a refurbished 1TB OLED for $30 less than a brand-new 512GB OLED model.
In the current lineup, the only model priced lower than these refurbished OLED decks is the older 256GB LCD variant, still offered new at $399. Valve also sells refurbished LCD models; however, the 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB versions are currently sold out. Notably, the 512GB and 64GB LCD models are no longer available fresh off the line.
When you think of the Steam Deck OLED upgrade, it might not seem massive just from the name, but it’s more significant than expected. Beyond switching from an LCD to an OLED screen, this new version also sports a 90Hz refresh rate, a larger 7.4-inch display with HDR support, 400 nits of brightness, and can hit up to 1000 nits in HDR mode. This is quite an improvement over the 7-inch LCD model, which was limited to 60Hz and didn’t support HDR.
Internally, there are some notable enhancements as well. The battery has been bumped from 40Whr to a more robust 50Whr. According to Valve, this upgrade extends your gaming time on the OLED Deck to anywhere between 3 to 12 hours, depending on the game, as opposed to the 2-8 hours offered by the LCD version. The RAM has also seen an upgrade, moving from 5500MT/s LPDDR5 to a faster 6400 MT/s LPDDR5. Furthermore, there’s a minor yet significant shift in the AMD APU’s process node from 7nm to 6nm.
For those interested, refurbished Steam Deck OLEDs are available in certain areas including Canada, the EU, the UK, and the US. Buyers will be pleased to know these refurbished units carry the same one-year warranty as new ones, although in some countries the warranty could be extended.
