Make the Steam Deck Waterproof

[awen]

And at least have the fans on the bottom underside so if it rains it doesnt fry the deck... if you have to have speakers on the top make them waterproof.

[Gwarsbane]

Because of the cooling needed I very much doubt the deck will ever be water proof or even water resistant.

Its always going to have to have the fan inside drawing air into it and expelling it out. Don't use it in the rain or in a tub or shower or anywhere else it will get wet.

[𒐪⎝ Epylector ⎠𒐪]

+1

You'd have to make a Steam Deck Mini with iPhone-style insulation to achieve that end.

This is possible if the Steam Deck has a miniature version designed, though, albeit would require a fair deal of engineering work to achieve.

The present larger size is not reasonably possible to waterproof, it'd be like asking for a waterproof laptop.

[[N]ebsun]

I need it both water proof and oil proof.... my dirty fingers and coke spillage would ruin it instantly otherwise
They could make the casing out of heat conductive metals like aluminium or magnesium-alloy to help heat dissipation (if not already)

[Pierce Dalton]

No console ever made is waterproof. It's simply not doable because you need some airflow, you can't encapsulate the thing.

[Haruspex]

I'm thinking a future Steam Deck mini, with a newer, lower TDP, more efficient chip. The same performance at lower power consumption. Low enough to be passively cooled in fact.

Water resistant? Sure! Pocket sized? Absolutely!

This would be sold along side a new, full-fat Steam Deck with more performance. This would necessitate a cooling fan of course, and it wouldn't be pocket sized.

But I'm just dreaming.

[Gwarsbane]

So basically you don't want it to be able to run any games on steam because thats what it would take to make it that small, with little to no heat.

Basically you want a phone without all the phone bits, cameras, a decent screen, but you also won't have the thumb controllers. So just get a decent phone and use Parsec. Thats about the only way you will be able to do that...

Oh but you want it cheaper... well you need to pick... cheaper but bigger, super expensive but smaller.

[Jessie]

Can it be used as a phone though? if not why ? that's how the iphone started out - a music player with phone functionality added on... why doesn't Valve just tack on a cheap cell module ? (would be a tiny module, it doesn't need much these days)

[Washell]

It might be possible to waterproof all the conductive parts inside so it doesn't matter that (a bit of) water gets in.

[awen]

Whats the point of a portable console that you can't take anywhere due to the weather, steam should have just made a non portable non handheld console.
Though I want a waterproof or at least water resistant console with clever design principles like having the fan on the underside and other anti weather features.

[Brian9824]

awen lähetti viestin:

Whats the point of a portable console that you can't take anywhere due to the weather, steam should have just made a non portable non handheld console.
Though I want a waterproof or at least water resistant console with clever design principles like having the fan on the underside and other anti weather features.

I mean its not like people fly, are in cars, take trains, buses, travel where they don't want to lug around a $2000+ gaming laptop, etc.......

You can take it wherever you want, you just don't play it in the rain, just like your not going to use your laptop in the rain...

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

This thread is a joke right?

[Satoru]

Ok so like lets think this through

If you want something to be water proof to any appreciable degree it has to be functionally sealed off

For example I too could make your computer water proof. By bascially taking all the ports, intake and any holes and sealing it in silicone

You might see where there could be a 'slight' problem here

The APU generates heat, its not a lot but it still generates heat. If your system is sealed WHERE DOES THIS HEAT GO. Unless you have magically found a way to passively cool an APU without exhaust, you might consider where any of this heat is supposed to go?

ALso again how are you going to direct your airflow DOWN out of the unit? Air really really really hates to make 90 degree turns. Meaning your cooling efficiency drops just so you can direct the air down. Or you're mounting the fins on top of the fan to blow down. Congrats you've now made the steamdeck about 1 inch thicker to do this.

So you want the fan to blow down? Do you really want the fans blowing air TOWARDS you? Again this is going to feel pretty bad from a user experience perspective. Do I need my steam deck to be trying to steam my bellybutton lint while I'm playing? This would seem like a terrifyingly bad industrial design decision.

Like maybe you should consider that making the device water tight was not a priority becasue of all the other design constraints around it.

[Satoru]

awen lähetti viestin:

Whats the point of a portable console that you can't take anywhere due to the weather, steam should have just made a non portable non handheld console.
Though I want a waterproof or at least water resistant console with clever design principles like having the fan on the underside and other anti weather features.

Nintendo, a company that literally has dominated the handheld console market since it has ever existed, has never made a water resistant gaming console. Like ever. There's a reason why water damaged switches litter the ebay marketplace. I mean shouldn't you be yelling at Nintendo, a company that has literally decades of experience making handheld devices, that they do not have a water resistant device? If you take your switch out in the rain, you are going to fry the thing. The nintendo switch has on the top of the device

1) ventilation for their GPU/APU
2) headphone jack
3) gaming card slot

At what point are you taking your switch out in the rain and not literally either drowning the APU or shorting the gaming card slot which has no gasket seals around it, or shorting the headphone jack

The Steamdeck has 1 less port to fry on the top of the unit (only the APU vent and the heaphone jack are at the top) so its better than basically the gold standard for hand held devices currently

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Satoru lähetti viestin:

awen lähetti viestin:

Whats the point of a portable console that you can't take anywhere due to the weather, steam should have just made a non portable non handheld console.
Though I want a waterproof or at least water resistant console with clever design principles like having the fan on the underside and other anti weather features.

Nintendo, a company that literally has dominated the handheld console market since it has ever existed, has never made a water resistant gaming console. Like ever. There's a reason why water damaged switches litter the ebay marketplace. I mean shouldn't you be yelling at Nintendo, a company that has literally decades of experience making handheld devices, that they do not have a water resistant device? If you take your switch out in the rain, you are going to fry the thing. The nintendo switch has on the top of the device

1) ventilation for their GPU/APU
2) headphone jack
3) gaming card slot

At what point are you taking your switch out in the rain and not literally either drowning the APU or shorting the gaming card slot which has no gasket seals around it, or shorting the headphone jack

I'm pretty sure OP has never owned/purchased a portable platform before. They just are not designed for diddling around in inclement weather. Why one would even be trying to do so is beyond me.

[Satoru]

Big Bridge.mp4 lähetti viestin:

I'm pretty sure OP has never owned/purchased a portable platform before. They just are not designed for diddling around in inclement weather. Why one would even be trying to do so is beyond me.

I will say that Nintendo while not making a water resistant device, has anecdotally understood its Japanese market well. There's a story that one of the original prototypes for the 3DS was rejected because Iwata dropped it from a specific height and it destroyed it. He demanded it be addressed because he knew Japanese kids would put their console in the basket at the front of their bicycles and the device had to survive a potential drop from that basket. Its kind of a weirdly Japanese specific drop test scenario knowing kids generally take the bike to the train station on the way to school.