I keep forgetting mods also mean physical modifications of hardware and I was really confused how Valve can support upping resolution on a screen.
Idea of modding hardware in general feels risky af to me. But I’m glad it’s possible, worthwile, and apparently quietly supported by Valve.
They make a lot of good decisions with it.
While replacing the display is quite complex in comparison to other repairs on the Deck, you may as well get this display should yours break for some reason.
Its higher resolution 1200p vs 800p makes it less of a good idea to me. The few pixel more doesn’t make it much better looking, but much worse performance (less fps and battery life). There might be old games and emulation where you could take advantage of, but otherwise I would not recommend this as the default replacement if you don’t have a good reason for higher resolution. It would have been a real shocker if they made a bigger screen with less or no bezels. Maybe if they have good touch screen, it would be worth it too. Because the touch screen element of original Steam Deck is not good.
When the Deck screen breaks and one want to replace it, I would still recommend the original screen as default and tell about the alternative.
I don’t think the Deck HD is ideal as UI scaling is also off with the Deck’s UI (unless Valve also supports 150% fractional scaling with their update), but battery life would only be affected in a meaningful way when the game is actually rendered in a higher resolution.
Having a higher resolution target for upscaling with FSR(2) can lead to (slightly) improved image quality even with the same internal resolution and obviously sharper UI. 2D games should look great with the higher pixel density (though at the cost of battery life in this case).
From their own FAQ:
We ran both SD’s on GTA V single player mode with a FPS cap at 30 starting from 100% charge. Both SD’s had the same brightness level and resolution (800p). The testing duration lasted just under 3 hours when DeckHD’s SD turned off when the original SD had 3% battery left.
So just having more pixels to render the UI with or whatever doesn’t really change much. 3% is within margin of error.
I doubt it’s possible to fit a smaller-bezel screen in the LCD’s case.
The touch screen is supposedly a lot better and the color reproduction obviously is as well.
If you need a replacement anyway, I don’t see why you shouldn’t get a better replacement for a similar price to the original anti-glare screen, especially now that Valve starts “officially” supporting it. If you’re looking for a bigger upgrade instead of a replacement because you need a repair, selling your working LCD Deck and upgrading to the OLED model is probably the better option.
I meant more as a replacement option if your original screen is already broken.
Exactly. It’s not like you’d be playing a ton of stuff on the Deck at 1200p if you had this screen… but it’d be nice to have the option for older games that don’t need a ton of power at that resolution. And this screen barely costs more than the 800p LCD replacement screen.
