The Nintendo Switch OLED and the Steam Deck, the two recently unveiled portable consoles are also the most anticipated of the year. While Big N’s will be officially released on October 8, 2021, Valve’s Steam Deck is scheduled for December 2021. We invite you to see together what the differences are, between the two portable consoles, so that you can do the right thing. better your choice.
If 2020 marked the arrival of next-gen consoles with Sony’s PS5 or Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S Series, 2021 will likely be the year of portable consoles: Nintendo with its new OLED Switch and recently, the surprise announcement from Valve that no one expected with the Steam Deck, the most powerful portable console ever.
In this article, we list the differences between the two consoles so that you can get a little idea and choose the one that best meets your expectations.
Steam Deck VS Nintendo Switch OLED: which is the best console?
The Steam Deck is equipped with a 7 ″ IPS LCD panel in 1280 x 800 pixels and 60 HZ, an AMD Zen 2 processor, an RDNA GPU, 16 GB of RAM and a 64 GB eMMC storage or an NVMe SSD of 256 or more 512 GB depending on the model chosen.
Regarding the Nintendo Switch OLED, it incorporates an NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip made up of an ARM Cortex A57 CPU and a Maxwell GPU. Nintendo’s hybrid console therefore offers a theoretical gross power of 0.5 FP32 Tflops, or three times less than the Steam Deck. That said, it has the advantage of being delivered with its docking station which allows it to be transformed into a living room console.
The Steam Deck should also be entitled to its docking station but it will be necessary to put the hand in the wallet to equip it since it will be sold separately. For now, we do not know the price of the Steam Deck docking station. Anyway, it’s an expense that adds to the already very steep price of the portable console from Valve.
As with the Switch, the docking station therefore allows hybrid use of the console, with the possibility of playing on a monitor or television. But in this case, the living room solution is much less delivered “turnkey” than at Nintendo.
Steam Deck vs OLED Switch datasheet
| Steam Deck | Nintendo Switch OLED | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | Touchscreen LCD, 7 inches 1280 × 800 px, 60 Hz | 7 inch OLED touch screen 1280 x 720 px |
| Processor | Zen 2 4 c / 8 t; 2.4-3.5 GHz (up to 448 Gflops FP32) | Octa-core (4xARM Cortex-A57 + 4xARM Cortex-A53) @ 1020 MHz |
| Expandable memory | Yes | Yes |
| Internal memory | 64 GB HDD / 256 or 512 GB SSD | 64 GB |
| Amount of RAM | 16 GB | 4GB |
| Graphic architecture | 8 RDNA 2: 1 CPUs at 1.6 GHz (up to 1.6 Tflops FP32) | 256 NVIDIA Tegra @ 768 MHz Maxwell cores |
| Operating system | Steam OS 3.0 | Horizon OS |
| Battery and autonomy | 40 Wh, between 2 and 8 hours of autonomy | 4310 mA, between 4.5 and 9 hours |
| Weight | 669 grams | 420 grams |
| Dimensions | 117 mm × 298 mm × 49 mm | 101.6mm x 241.3mm x 13.97mm |
| Release date | December 2021 | October 8, 2021 |
| Price | Between 419 and 679 € | € 349 |
OLED Switch and Steam Deck: release date and price
If your budget is limited and you don’t have more than 350 euros to put in a portable game console, then you will prefer the OLED Switch to the Steam Deck. The starting price of 349 € for the Big N console will obviously suit the tightest budgets. Regarding the portable console from Valve, it is priced between 419 and 679 €.
It exists 3 Steam Deck models. Here are the prices announced for each available configuration:
- 419 euros with 64 GB eMMC storage and carrying case
- 549 euros with 256 GB NVMe SSD storage, carrying case and exclusive Steam Community Profile Bundle
- 679 euros with 512GB NVMe SSD storage, carrying case, exclusive Steam community profile bundle, premium anti-reflective glass and exclusive virtual keyboard theme.
Nintendo Switch OLED pre-orders are already open. You can reserve it now with all online merchants such as Fnac Darty, Amazon, Boulanger, Cultura …
Regarding the Steam Deck, the console was quickly a victim of its success during the opening of pre-orders on July 16 : from the first seconds allowing the console to be reserved, Valve’s servers encountered major problems, preventing a large number of players from acquiring the machine.
If many players could not order their copy, the scalpers had a blast. The console is now trading around $ 2,500 on eBay, even though it is still not available for sale.
Steam Deck vs OLED Switch: which one to choose?
While Nintendo’s OLED Switch broadly resumes the technical sheet of the 2019 version, if not more storage space, a screen that uses OLED technology and an improvement in the sound part, the differences with the future console from Valve are obvious.
the Steam Deck is geared towards gamers looking for portability and performance in games. while Nintendo’s OLED Switch is more family-friendly. So same use but a different audience for the two future portable consoles. The very complete catalog of titles, whether on the side of Steam or Nintendo, however with exclusive licenses that have made the success of the Japanese manufacturer such as Mario, Zelda, Pokémon … Switch OLED or Steam Deck, for which are you going crack? Do not hesitate to leave your opinions in the comments.
Nintendo Switch OLED
The Nintendo Switch (OLED model) has dimensions close to those of the Nintendo Switch Elle …
These prices were updated on 01/12/2022 by All4affiliates. They are listed in ascending order and excluding delivery costs. Only the prices displayed at the merchants are valid.