The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming PC that ships with a Linux-based operating system called SteamOS. And that operating system is something of a mixed blessing: on the one hand, it's designed from the ground up for handhelds, which has led many to conclude that the SteamOS offers a better user experience than Windows on handhelds that have small screens and lack physical keyboards. But despite Valve's best efforts, there are still some PC games that don't run well on Linux.

So while Valve doesn't officially support Windows on the Steam Deck, the company has offered Windows drivers since 2022, allowing folks who want to install Microsoft's operating system a way to ensure that things like WiFi, Bluetooth, and audio work properly. Now Valve has updated its Windows Resources page with drivers for the Steam Deck OLED.

The Steam Deck OLED first launched in November, 2023 and features a larger, brighter display with a higher screen refresh rate, upgraded memory, WiFi, and Bluetooth, and a bigger battery. The processor has also received a slight update and, of course, the screen is an OLED display rather than LCD.

Those changes are significant enough that the Windows drivers for the Steam Deck LCD don't work for the Steam Deck OLED. But it's interesting to note that it took Valve 10 months to release Windows drivers for the new model: Windows is still very much a second-class citizen.

In fact, Valve's website still has a message stating that dual-booting Windows and SteamOS still isn't officially supported by the SteamOS installer yet, and that the feature "will ship alongside SteamOS 3 once it's complete," even though SteamOS 3 has been out for several years at this point.

Fortunately there are some third-party tools like SteamDeck_rEFInd and Clover that make it relatively easy to set up a dual-boot Steam Deck that has both Windows and SteamOS installed, allowing users to choose an operating system when they boot the handheld computer.

One other thing to keep in mind before installing Windows on a Steam Deck OLED is that Valve notes your device will need to have the latest BIOS in order for Bluetooth to work in Windows. That means you'll want to install SteamOS Beta 3.6.9 or later in order to update the BIOS before installing Windows.

Steam Deck 256GB LCD Steam Deck 512GB OLED Steam Deck 1TB OLED Storage 256GB NVMe SSD 512GB NVMe SSD 1TB NVMe SSD Display 7 inches1280 x 800 pixelsOptically bonded LCD60 Hz400 nits typical brightness 7.4 inches1280 x 800 pixelsHDR OLED90 Hz1000 nits peak brightness (HDR)600 nits (SDR)110% P3 color gamut<0.1ms response CPU 7nm AMD "Aerith"4 Zen 2 CPU cores / 8 threads2.4 GHz – 3.5 GHz4-15 watts 6nm AMD "Sepiroth"4 Zen 2 CPU cores / 8 threads2.4 GHz – 3.5 GHz4-15 watts Graphics 8 RDNA 2 Compute units1 – 1.6 GHz RAM 16GBLPDDR5-5500 16GBLPDDR5-6400 Wireless WiFi 5Bluetooth 5.0 WiFi 6EBluetooth 5.3 Battery & charging 40 Wh1.5 meter charging cable 50 Wh2.5 meter charging cable Ports USB Type-C3.5mm audiomicroSD card reader Dimensions 298 x 117 x 49mm 298 x 117 x 50mm Weight 669 grams 640 grams Price $399 $549 $649

via Neowin and @OnDeck

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal * If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it. Join 9,575 other subscribers