The era of self repairing digital products is slowly coming, and valve's steam deck handheld game computer may be setting the best example. It not only provides a convenient maintenance design, but now almost every part will be sold separately in ifixit Tonight, ifixit disclosed in advance on its website that it has a large number of deck repair parts. We were surprised to see that the motherboard including AMD Aerith chip will be provided soon. Of course, the price is $350.
In fact, ifixit will even sell what may be considered an upgrade to the existing steam deck. If you decide that you have an anti glare screen only available in the 512gb model, or a supposedly quieter Huaying fan, you will be able to buy it for $95 and $25, respectively. You can also buy a "repair kit" with everything you need to make these repairs for an extra $5. In the other tools section, the screen kit is equipped with an iopower microwave heating tool to loosen the adhesive of the existing screen.
The US regional price list provided by ifixit shows each part sold in the first wave, with a total of 23 different parts.
Gamingonlinux also has a partial list of UK prices:
However, one accessory that won't be seen immediately is the steam deck battery. For a battery powered game console, it is obviously a key wear part, which can be easily consumed in two hours.
Kyle Wiens, chief executive of ifixit, said:
We are building a solution to repair steam deck, including all the step instructions and parts of the deck you need to repair. The original version included parts and tools to complete most repairs. Although we did not provide solutions for battery maintenance on the first day, we are committed to working with valve to maintain these devices when they are aging. Battery replacement will be the key to making steam deck stand the test of time.
He said he couldn't sell them except when they would be available soon.
There are no touch pads, d-pads or buttons in the accessories list, although ifixit will sell the rubber film under them. There are no internal metal frames, electromagnetic shielding, or flexible ribbon cables. Therefore, you cannot build a complete deck with the parts provided here. However, if you crack the plastic front panel, you can repair it for $25, which is almost impossible for most digital products.