Although it wasn’t the first device of its kind, the rise of Windows handheld gaming consoles truly began with the Steam Deck. Since its launch, Valve hasn’t made any major hardware changes, except for releasing a model with an OLED display. However, the company continues to improve its SteamOS operating system, which is now also available on other devices outside the Steam Deck.
Valve will soon allow you to download and update games even when the screen is turned off.
Low-Power Downloads Coming to Steam Deck
This new low-power download mode is being introduced to Steam Deck consoles. It lets your games finish downloading and updating even when the screen is off. Until now, you had to keep the console fully on, which was inconvenient — especially for users of the OLED version, since static interface elements could cause screen burn-in.
To enable this mode, simply press the power button while a download is running. The system will ask if you want to continue with the screen off, and it will go into sleep mode once the download is done. If you leave a download active, the console will automatically switch to low-power mode after some time.
To return to normal mode, just press any button and choose the option to go back to the main SteamOS menu. While this mode is helpful for all users, OLED model owners will especially benefit, as it helps protect the screen from burn-in and saves energy.
In other news, a new report claims the Steam Deck 2 will be released in 2028 and use an AMD Zen 6 CPU and RDNA 5 GPU for a major performance upgrade.
