Valve’s Steam Deck has been a hit to date, its (comparatively) modest specs probably not a difficulty when weighed in opposition to the scale of the display and the actual fact you may play it on the bus. However as a result of it’s basically a small PC, the temptation is at all times there to enhance it.
Which is precisely what Linus Tech Ideas has carried out of their newest video, taking Valve’s humble handheld and juicing it in some key areas. Whereas they clearly don’t change the Steam Deck’s CPU or GPU, they might make some key additions/replacements elsewhere in an try to enhance the gadget’s efficiency.
That features eradicating the Steam Deck’s potentiometer-based joysticks and changing them with some electromagnetic ones. These have a number of benefits, together with higher sturdiness (they gained’t drift) and a smaller “deadzone”.
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Elgato Stream Deck XL
32 customizable keys
Immediately set off limitless actions with a faucet Highly effective integrations: Elgato sport seize, OBS, Streamlabs, Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, mixer, Spotify, Philips HUE, vMix, voice mod, and extra.
Additionally improved is the hand held’s storage, with an experimental 2TB SSD unit slotting neatly into the gadget in a means that circumvents the entire problem individuals can have—problem that Valve has warned explicitly in opposition to—when putting in bigger, extra heat-intensive options. This offers this explicit Steam Deck 3TB of storage, a ridiculous quantity for such a small pc.
There’s additionally an additional fan serving to an monumental heatsink (that protrudes straight out the again of the unit), a tempered glass display protector and an exterior battery improve that isn’t probably the most elegant means of prolonging the Steam Deck’s display time, however is extremely satisfying because it attaches to the again of the hand held through magnets.
The tip result’s a tool that appears much less like a gaming handheld and extra like one thing a 90s sci-fi film would have actors hacking a locked door with, however as you may see within the video under, the outcomes—targeted principally as they’re on sturdiness, longevity and calmness—on the finish communicate for themselves.