Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsChallenging and Fun Install!
Reviewed in Canada on June 28, 2024
Before I write my review here are my thoughts.
This install was hella fun and challenging, as someone that loves taking apart electronics and putting them back together I had an absolute BLAST doing this, seeing all the components and just how the Steam Deck was put together was a uniquely fun experience.
Now to the review:
Taking apart the steamdeck is not difficult, eXtremeRate has a video guide for removing all the components and reassembling the steam deck with your new shell, which is INCREDIBLY helpful, 100% you should be watching that video.
Like I mentioned taking apart the steam deck isnt difficult you just need to be cautious and attentive as to not damage any of the components. While disassembling my steam deck I noticed that naturally the screws internally are screwed on incredibly tight and I was worried about putting too much pressure on the components initially and later on when I'd need to screw them back in again.
But the components that gave me problems were the:
- Touch pads
- Screen
- And the battery (weird I know but Ill get into that later)
Touchpads:
The touch pads arent difficult to remove but reassembling them was a challenge. (I didnt swap out my touch pads, not because it was tedious, but because I like the contrast of the black with the Atomic purple) The touch pads are screwed in to a certain amount so that they are functional, my first time screwing them in I tightened them too much and the touch pad wouldnt even click or move, and when too lose they just shake around like crazy, so finding that balance is key. Also remember how your touch pads "feel" so that you can refer to that when re-assembling.
Screen:
The screen was the ONLY component I was initially worried about, my best advice is TAKE YOUR TIME, and be VERY gentle when prying it out from original shell, even with the screen heated up it is difficult to pry apart, so repetitively heating up one or two sides of the scree and inserting the plastic pick they give you and running it throughout the screen is basically your best friend, you'll be doing that a lot.
However I did encounter a problem, I didnt heat up the screen to the ideal temperature and bent one of the ends of the tip which scratched away the paint on the outer area of the screen which left it being see-through. If this happens to you I found using a sharpie helped a lot in filling in scratched paint.
The battery:
Im not sure if this a universal Steam Deck problem, but at the end of my install my Steam Deck wouldnt boot, I took everything apart and put it back together thinking it was a lose connection or something, and the same thing happened. I ended up plugging my steamdeck to its charger and it booted after 5 minutes and proceeded to do that EVERY SINGLE TIME, I took apart the steam deck one last time and noticed that there is a "sweet" spot for the cable from the battery that connects to the motherboard. So when reassembling either take note of how your power cable to the motherboard is connected, or when reassembling plug in the cable slowly until your power LED light turns on, when I did this method, the steam deck booted up instantly, being the anxious dude I am, I ended up plugging the power cable till it barley touched the end, and it still functioned as normal.
Now that we have the install out of the way lets get to the actual shell.
- The feel - The plastic of the shell feels premium, its definitely different from the original case in terms of feel, but if you've had any old nintendo device it feels very similar.
- Build quality - the shell is a little flimsy without any components in it, but once you have it assembled it feels solid. (This was not intentional but I dropped my steam deck over 5 feet and the it survived with barley any scuffs, so I can attest that it can hold up.)
- Build Accuracy:
Now I have some complaints about the shell but this is more of me being a perfectionist.
While assembling the steam deck with its new shell, I noticed that the Power Button, LED, Volume Button's did not align perfectly.
Now this doesn't interfere with performance, nor did I force anything into place, but the LED is slightly off center, while the power button and volume buttons are a little wobbly, I hardly notice it while im playing, I cant even hear them moving around but they do.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this project was incredibly fun! I loved every bit of it, and felt very rewarded at the end. I would say anyone can do this, you just need to be steady enough to remove the screws without damaging the components with the screwdriver.
This entire install took me 5 hours, this includes the dissasembly, organizing components, cleaning all the components, re-applying new thermal paste, assembling everything into the new case and trouble shooting at the end.