- A user has an issue with the Steam Deck’s bulk
- He creates the ‘Steam Brick,’ a stripped down version
- He successfully creates a portable one-third the size
The Steam Deck, since its initial launch, has taken the gaming handheld market by storm. It manages to play the best PC games in a much smaller and more portable form factor. However, one person decided that his OLED Steam Deck wasn’t portable enough and decided to take it into his own hands.
User crastinator-pro’s disclaimer on the GitHub page reads “I am not a smart man,” after he describes his thought process behind the massive modification process, which involved striping down the portable’s screen and controller. According to the post, he only found himself using the Deck with either AR Glasses or a TV and, more often than not, leaving it at home due to it being too bulky for his taste.
He first started by testing whether everything but the fan could be stripped from the Deck and still run, which was successful. According to the guide, it “will boot output display over USB and accept peripherals via an external dock.” After more tearing down, he then made a basic case to house the brick-like ‘console.’ The biggest obstacle here was ensuring the case wouldn’t melt from any heat generated by gaming sessions.
The final result is truly a marvel of engineering. The ‘brick’ is roughly one-third the size of the Steam Deck, four times smaller than its OEM case, and 24% lighter. The ‘brick’s’ dimensions are 193.5 x 126.5 x 21mm (7.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches) with a weight of 474g (16.7oz), compared with the original OLED Steam Deck’s 4.6 x 11.7 x 1.9 inches and a weight of 1.41 lbs.
In other words, there’s a significant difference, so this experiment has been deemed successful. There are a couple of downsides to this build, however.
The first one is that “accessing the BIOS by holding down the + button while powered up is impossible, as that button isn’t included in the build.” The second is it’s difficult to determine whether the modified system is turned on since the indicator light doesn’t indicate power.
What makes the Steam Deck so special?
The Steam Deck is a fascinating machine — not only does it offer comparable PC gaming functionality without the bulk of either a desktop or laptop, but you can also endlessly modify the machine to suit your software or hardware needs. Projects like the ‘Steam Brick’ truly should well-built and flexible this portable is.
Even simply using the handheld as intended can be a changing experience for gamers. As one writer puts it, the freedom of being able to play plenty of the best Steam Deck games without being tethered to a dedicated PC is incredible. Even better is not having to worry about carrying a heavy gaming laptop when traveling, something only console gamers have been able to experience.
And thanks to the Steam Deck’s success, there are tons of the best Steam alternatives to invest in as well, with them offering unique features and selling points — like the Lenovo Legion Go having a joystick that replaces the function of a mouse for shooters.
