This is a really great refresh IMO. It doesn't change the specs in a way that matters to game developers so they can continue targeting the platform as one system but it improves the system in just about every other way, the battery life improvements looks especially nice and since a chunk of it comes from a more efficient APU that means the system will likely run quieter too.

and they even IMPROVED the repairability of a system that is already really nice to repair. I know the dangers of giving any one corp power but as long as gaben stays in charge they seem to be really killing it.

I follow tech pretty avidly, my wife has a steam deck on her christmas+birthday list (they're close so it's a combo). I've intentionally not told her about the refresh and all the goodness it brings, so that I can surprise her with a 1TB Steam Deck that surpasses everything she expected! I've got the whole family pitching in to get it, Valve's timing couldn't have been better!

Whew. Finally.

Now I can buy the older much cheaper (now) 64GB model and slap a 1TB m.2 drive in it.

*edit: We’ll have to see if they were good enough to have switched to PCIe 4.0 m.2 slots; that would make it a definite buy on the new models.

If I had the money, a 1TB OLED model is what I'd love to get in the future. I doubt in the next few years that we'll see competitors come out with something as reasonably priced, good quality, and as self-repair friendly as the Steam Deck.