Everything Really should Be As Simple to Up grade As the Steam Deck (2023)

When I bought the Steam Deck a several many years in the past, I was skeptical. I was ready to chance shopping for only the most economical model possible—a $400 handheld with a measly 64 GB of storage. Now, I know I really like it. I’ve used it for hundreds of hrs previously, stuck with confined, slower storage. If I were being to rectify this blunder, I might have to purchase a full new console. Or at minimum, that is what other gadgets have skilled me to imagine. Not this time.

I have a lengthy historical past of upgrading my products myself, when I can. The desktop Computer system I use on a everyday basis has been ship-of-Theseus’d from the exact personal computer I built more than 20 yrs ago—never absolutely changed, but upgraded, piece by piece, over the years. During that time, it is significantly grow to be the exception to the rule. Right until the Steam Deck arrived alongside.

Elusive Upgrades

I utilised to replace the battery in my early smartphones when they got previous, respiration new life into dated components. Now, several telephones allow for this with out cracking open the complete issue. My 1st MacBook experienced room on the bottom to up grade its RAM. Now it’s baked ideal into the M-collection processors. I would not be ready to improve it, even if it weren’t tough to entry.

Which is maybe why I felt so satisfied to understand that my Steam Deck is, in fact, incredibly simple to upgrade. Sources like iFixit, which advocate for a user’s proper to restore their very own devices, have guides that display how to do precise upgrades on unique gadgets.

The tutorial for upgrading the Steam Deck’s storage is refreshingly simple. Unscrew and clear away the back panel, take away the board defend, pop out a cable, and unscrew the outdated storage. Put your new SSD in its spot and reverse the procedure. Finished. 

It is not rather as easy as changing the battery on your TV’s remote, but it was quicker to add extra storage than it was to reinstall Steam OS. All instructed, the method took probably an hour. In its place of shelling out $130 further for a various Steam Deck—or even worse, obtaining a whole new a person for $530—I compensated $20 for a cheap SSD on eBay. Minus the charge of a good hamburger and 50 percent the duration of a normal video essay on YouTube later, I can now put in extra game titles on my Steam Deck, in less time and with shorter loading screens than I had right before. This does not have to be a novel practical experience.

Repair on the Horizon

It also might not be, for substantially lengthier. Before this 12 months, the European Union voted to move new laws that will have to have smartphones to arrive equipped with person-replaceable batteries. Currently, trying to replace a battery on a current Iphone involves specialty resources and specialized know-how, and can continue to end result in warnings that you’re not working with “genuine” pieces, even when utilizing formal Apple batteries.

By 2027, that form of barrier to changing a battery will not be lawful in the EU, though the knock-on outcome will most likely direct to producers complying globally. We by now saw a related influence happen when the EU handed a legislation necessitating all phones, tablets, and cameras bought in the region to have a USB-C port. It’s just additional economical to make one particular design that the enterprise can promote in all places.