I have both a glossy Samsung OLED and a BOE LE.

The glossy OLED has better colors even in pitch dark. Not worlds better, but better.

I can’t say whether it’s due to the panel or the etching.

Either way, my LE has a much mushier dpad so it’s going back.

THANK YOU!

I was going insane. Why in the world would the LE dpad be different??

Ah well, my glossy looks better anyway.

I ordered both instead of trusting the internet’s opinion.

My etched BOE panel looks slightly faded compared to my glossy Samsung panel.

Could be because of the panel manufacturer, could be because of the etched.

Unrelated but annoying: my LE’s dpad is mushier than my 512 OLED’s. So even if the screen looked the same, the LE would go back. It’s immediately noticeable.

The cost of making a thing sets the minimum price.

The actual price is set by demand.

If you make a thing that costs $3 to make and can sell 4 of them at $6 or 3 of them at $9, you sell them for $9.

Presumably, yes, people are paying this much for the cases so that’s why they cost so much.

The boutique manufacturers cost more but offer tech unavailable in the mainstream.

If that tech is successful, it’s then adopted by the mainstream for cheaper.

It’s a system that benefits everyone: people who want cool experimental features before everyone else, and people who want mainstream units with that same tech cheaper from a larger manufacturer.

What we don’t want is boutique brands effectively just making another Ally or steam deck. That doesn’t push the industry forward.

It was $139 for the Black Friday preview sale a couple weeks ago.

Guess the preview was better than the reality.