Steam Deck OLED Is More Repair-Friendly Than Launch Model

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DIY repair enthusiasts and gamers alike have reason to celebrate as Valve touts the just-announced Steam Deck OLED, which is much more repair-friendly than the original model.

As part of the product reveal, Valve makes note of the Steam Deck OLED’s repairability. Promising those who buy the model will have fewer steps to follow if they need to make a common repair on the device. While Valve did not go into the specifics on what constitutes a common repair to them, a few likely examples include issues with the action button or replacing the thumbsticks.

According to Valve, bumper buttons are now located on the joystick board, making it easier to repair than before and improving bumper shock reliability. Changes to the screws have also been made, with a lower number of screw types, a switch to machine screws on the back of the system to make disabling and reassembling more reliable, and the include of Torx screws to reduce the probability of head stripping when taking the device apart.

Yet the biggest improvement to repairability would be that the Steam Deck OLED will no longer require you to remove the backplate if you need to replace the screen display. As iFixit’s screen replacement guide points out, users will need to open the back of the original Steam Deck and remove things such as the motherboard and the heatsink just to remove the gadget’s display properly.

The original Steam Deck was repairable with things like the thumbstick and upgrading the SSD possible; repairability for the device could have been better. iFixit’s Steam Deck teardown revealed how difficult it was to repair the battery but praised that you only needed one Philips screwdriver to repair everything, with the device earning a 7 out of 10 on its repairability score.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.