My criticism of the Steam Deck

[Kamiyama]

A 1tb m.2 drive costs about $100

But there is a $250 difference between the 64gb and 512gb steam deck?

IMO this is clear price gouging. Valve even went so far as to make a video explaining why you shouldn't take your Steam Deck apart because they made it easy to break by doing so.

https://youtu.be/Dxnr2FAADAs

I would love to have this, but tthey would need to make a gen 2 version with an easy to access m.2 card slot. Not being able to change the SSD or clean the buttons and thumbstick is a major design flaw.

Anyone who has owned a Game Boy knows you eventually have to clean the buttons. Even if you treat it with kid gloves after 5 or 10 years it needs a cleaning.

[Omega]

Actually the base models are way cheap than they should be. Quoting Gabe Newell who called meeting the final price of the Deck "Painful". Valve likely makes barely if any profit on the base models.

[Kamiyama]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Omega:

Actually the base models are way cheap than they should be. Quoting Gabe Newell who called meeting the final price of the Deck "Painful". Valve likely makes barely if any profit on the base models.

Ease of maintenance and repair is important. I've had to deal with nightmarish innards in electronics before and I have no respect for manufacturers who make devices which are difficult to tear down.

So I will be waiting for Gen 2 and hoping that this improves.

I'm not saying the Steam Deck is bad, just that this aspect of it is bad. Don't take this as a smear campaign. I hope my criticism was constructive.

[Haruspex]

The Steam Deck's M.2 slot is an M.2 2230, which are much less common than the full sized SSD slots you find in laptops and such. I just now tried to search for examples of a 1TB drive in the 2230 form factor, and only found an out-of-stock Dell OEM SSD for about $320, and another in-stock Dell OEM for about $351.

So even if you get the $400 Deck and get yourself one of these OEM cards, assuming it works, you're now in possession of a $750 Steam Deck. Even if you get a 512 GB card instead, you're roughly in-line with the price increase for the actual 512 GB model. Maybe you'll save a bit by upgrading yourself, but not much. $25 - $50 or so.

If you'll check Youtube, you'll find several reputable channels have done full teardowns, and they are impressed with ease of access to the SSD and thumbsticks for replacement.

Edit: One worthy upgrade for those buying the 64 GB model is to get a cheap 128 GB SSD. Those seems to be plentiful and super inexpensive.

[Illusion of Progress]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Omega:

Actually the base models are way cheap than they should be. Quoting Gabe Newell who called meeting the final price of the Deck "Painful". Valve likely makes barely if any profit on the base models.

I was going to mention this as a likely reason too.

You see the same thing with OEM PCs on storage and RAM as well. Going up in capacity on one and/or the other will often cost an additional amount that is greater than on the individual parts market will.

Profits on a lot of hardware, especially at the lower end, are razer thin or sometimes even sold at losses at times.

This is also forgoing the mention that the capacity change is not the only difference between the models you are comparing, even if it's probably the largest one. The top model also comes with a carrying case, anti-glare etched glass, and some virtual goods (a keyboard theme and profile banner on Steam).

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Omega:

Actually the base models are way cheap than they should be. Quoting Gabe Newell who called meeting the final price of the Deck "Painful". Valve likely makes barely if any profit on the base models.

Ease of maintenance and repair is important. I've had to deal with nightmarish innards in electronics before and I have no respect for manufacturers who make devices which are difficult to tear down.

So I will be waiting for Gen 2 and hoping that this improves.

I'm not saying the Steam Deck is bad, just that this aspect of it is bad. Don't take this as a smear campaign. I hope my criticism was constructive.

Omega was only addressing your comments about price differences, not the lack of ease of repairing.

And, I wouldn't say Valve is totally taking an anti-self repair stance.

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-is-partnering-with-ifixit-to-sell-steam-deck-replacement-parts/

[ZeekAncient]

The differences between the different versions of the Steam Deck is more than just the type of storage and the amount of storage they have.

The top tier 512GB Deck also comes with an anti-glare screen and some other stuff like a carrying case. Maybe a few other things.

Also, you can add storage to the Steam Deck by purchasing a mircoSD card. Even get a 1TB version. And apparently, from the bench that Linus(i believe it was Linus) did with the microSD, you are hardly losing any performance at all. Games installed on the microSD loaded just as fast as games on the internal SSD.

Honestly, the base model of 64GB seems way too low to really do much with. Especially considering how big games can be.

[_I_]

the deck is fine for what it is
its not nearly a desktop replacement

its a great device to play older less demanding games, or stream games from a capable host pc

[Bee🐝]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Omega:

Actually the base models are way cheap than they should be. Quoting Gabe Newell who called meeting the final price of the Deck "Painful". Valve likely makes barely if any profit on the base models.

Ease of maintenance and repair is important. I've had to deal with nightmarish innards in electronics before and I have no respect for manufacturers who make devices which are difficult to tear down.

Uhm, iFixit gave the Deck an overall favourable review during their teardown and so did Linus. The main sticking point is with how solidly the battery is glued in; it's still removable and replaceable, it's just won't be an easy process for the average person. Both videos are easy to find with a Youtube quick search.

Is there another reason you believe it's difficult to repair?

[Jackie Daytona]

Your criticism is warranted, but may be due to being uninformed.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

A 1tb m.2 drive costs about $100

But there is a $250 difference between the 64gb and 512gb steam deck?

As another user pointed out, it's not just the storage capacity. It's the physical size.

Also, the SSD is placed next to the wireless antenna. So, it's important that it has an EMI shield.

It should also be noted that Steam Deck can run games directly off a micro SD card. (You just have to be sure to get a fast one.) Theoretically, this makes storage limited only by the number of SD cards you own.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

IMO this is clear price gouging.

I disagree.

Steam Deck is (probably) the most advanced and feature-rich portable gaming PC that has ever been made. And it costs about half as much as it's competitors.

The graphics are said to be equivalent to that of a Rx 6600. The processing power is slightly less than that of a Ryzen 3 3100. (The APU is basically a Ryzen 3 4300GE underclocked to run at a lower wattage.)

Building a desktop, with that amount of power, at today's prices, would be well over $1000.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

Valve even went so far as to make a video explaining why you shouldn't take your Steam Deck apart because they made it easy to break by doing so.

https://youtu.be/Dxnr2FAADAs

There's been about 100 preview devices sent out to media and YouTubers. There's been tear-downs done. None have reported any trouble in reassembling the device.

Further, Valve partnered with "iFixit" a DIY repair site that has instructions and parts. So, they clearly expect people to be working on these things themselves.

Also, it's mentioned in the video that he's using a "development version" or something like that. The retail version might not have self-tapping screws. However, that last bit is merely speculation, on my part.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

I would love to have this, but tthey would need to make a gen 2 version with an easy to access m.2 card slot.

I'm sure they will. In like... two to seven years. Be prepared to wait.

Valve is going to be shipping these things out for the rest of the year. Then well into next year. (If estimated sales and demand is any indication.) Sales aren't even open to South America or Asia, yet.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

Not being able to change the SSD or clean the buttons and thumbstick is a major design flaw.

Anyone who has owned a Game Boy knows you eventually have to clean the buttons. Even if you treat it with kid gloves after 5 or 10 years it needs a cleaning.

I own an original gray GameBoy, a GameBoy Pocket, a GameBoy Color, two GBAs, two DS Lites, and a 3DS XL.

I have never needed to take any of them apart to clean the buttons. Not once. Ever.

[{ИЯm} Keith]

I reserved the base model. I do want to pull it apart and insert an SSD. I'm hoping people make SSDs in the form factor due the demand that steam will generate. My biggest fear is issues with Installing the OS on the SSD because the EMAC is still there.

[Kamiyama]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von {ИЯm} Keith:

I reserved the base model. I do want to pull it apart and insert an SSD. I'm hoping people make SSDs in the form factor due the demand that steam will generate. My biggest fear is issues with Installing the OS on the SSD because the EMAC is still there.

Why can't they use all one size screw?

Why not have a compartment on the back to access the SSD and battery? Remove only one or two screws, open the compartment, and now you can swap the SSD and battery if you need to. Instead of taking the whole thing apart.

My guess is it would require a bigger plastic shell? But I would be cool with that. If they made this and sold one model as Steam Deck OEM without an SSD and required you to install an SSD and install the OS, I would love that.

A little more work on my part, but saves me hundreds of dollars.

[PopinFRESH]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

A 1tb m.2 drive costs about $100

But there is a $250 difference between the 64gb and 512gb steam deck?

IMO this is clear price gouging. Valve even went so far as to make a video explaining why you shouldn't take your Steam Deck apart because they made it easy to break by doing so.
...

What a braindead take.

If you think this is price gouging you are welcome to go spend more than twice as much for an Aya Neo. You are presenting a false equivalency in your SSD price assumption. You are comparing a low-end 1TB 2280 form factor SSD to a 2230 SSD. You clearly don't understand the difference (specifically in cost) between eMMC storage and NVMe NAND SSDs. You are also ignoring the cost of the nano-etched anti-glare display on the top-end model as well as the "other perks" such as the exclusive profile/keyboard skin and the exclusive Deck case. While many people may not put as much value in those, they are value included in that $250 difference.

[Kamiyama]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von PopinFRESH:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

A 1tb m.2 drive costs about $100

But there is a $250 difference between the 64gb and 512gb steam deck?

IMO this is clear price gouging. Valve even went so far as to make a video explaining why you shouldn't take your Steam Deck apart because they made it easy to break by doing so.
...

What a braindead take.

If you think this is price gouging you are welcome to go spend more than twice as much for an Aya Neo. You are presenting a false equivalency in your SSD price assumption. You are comparing a low-end 1TB 2280 form factor SSD to a 2230 SSD. You clearly don't understand the difference (specifically in cost) between eMMC storage and NVMe NAND SSDs. You are also ignoring the cost of the nano-etched anti-glare display on the top-end model as well as the "other perks" such as the exclusive profile/keyboard skin and the exclusive Deck case. While many people may not put as much value in those, they are value included in that $250 difference.

I think it's completely fair. It uses a low form factor SSD because of size constraints. But giving it a larger plastic shell with more room for components would cost less than the smaller shell and highly miniaturized SSD they use in these models.

I don't care about the nano-etched anti-glare display. Give me Gorilla Glass 3.The same stuff that has been used on cell phones for years. My guess is Gorilla Glass would offer better scratch resistance and be cheaper. Even if the nano-etched stuff is completely superior, you know what? Gorilla Glass is good enough.

[PopinFRESH]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von {ИЯm} Keith:

I reserved the base model. I do want to pull it apart and insert an SSD. I'm hoping people make SSDs in the form factor due the demand that steam will generate. My biggest fear is issues with Installing the OS on the SSD because the EMAC is still there.

Are you meaning the 64GB eMMC when you say "EMAC"? If so you would be replacing the 64GB eMMC when you install an NVMe M.2 2230 form factor SSD. There won't be any issue in regards to re-installing SteamOS. Valve does have the controller and NAND under an EMI shield which is suspected to be due to the proximity to the WiFi/Bluetooth module/antenna connections.

[PopinFRESH]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von PopinFRESH:

What a braindead take.

If you think this is price gouging you are welcome to go spend more than twice as much for an Aya Neo. You are presenting a false equivalency in your SSD price assumption. You are comparing a low-end 1TB 2280 form factor SSD to a 2230 SSD. You clearly don't understand the difference (specifically in cost) between eMMC storage and NVMe NAND SSDs. You are also ignoring the cost of the nano-etched anti-glare display on the top-end model as well as the "other perks" such as the exclusive profile/keyboard skin and the exclusive Deck case. While many people may not put as much value in those, they are value included in that $250 difference.

I think it's completely fair. It uses a low form factor SSD because of size constraints. But giving it a larger plastic shell with more room for components would cost less than the smaller shell and highly miniaturized SSD they use in these models.

I don't care about the nano-etched anti-glare display. Give me Gorilla Glass 3.The same stuff that has been used on cell phones for years. My guess is Gorilla Glass would offer better scratch resistance and be cheaper. Even if the nano-etched stuff is completely superior, you know what? Gorilla Glass is good enough.

Again, just because you don't value those things doesn't negate that they are factors in the cost difference between the devices. If you don't value it, get the base model. If you think its price gouging, you are free to spend twice as much for a closest comparable device in a similar form factor.

You're OP complaints with the Steam Deck are out of touch with reality.

[Kamiyama]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von PopinFRESH:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kamiyama:

I think it's completely fair. It uses a low form factor SSD because of size constraints. But giving it a larger plastic shell with more room for components would cost less than the smaller shell and highly miniaturized SSD they use in these models.

I don't care about the nano-etched anti-glare display. Give me Gorilla Glass 3.The same stuff that has been used on cell phones for years. My guess is Gorilla Glass would offer better scratch resistance and be cheaper. Even if the nano-etched stuff is completely superior, you know what? Gorilla Glass is good enough.

Again, just because you don't value those things doesn't negate that they are factors in the cost difference between the devices. If you don't value it, get the base model. If you think its price gouging, you are free to spend twice as much for a closest comparable device in a similar form factor.

You're OP complaints with the Steam Deck are out of touch with reality.

https://youtu.be/pWdd6_ZxX8c

I think if they took my criticism to heart it would result in a more cost effective and more popular console.

So I'll agree to disagree. =)