Decky Power Tools already offers this, and I believe there’s a desktop setting for it as well. Still very nice to have though.
Decky Power Tools already offers this, and I believe there’s a desktop setting for it as well. Still very nice to have though.
While this is nice, I do hope they consider making it easier to remove and install a new battery for the next iteration of the steam deck.
To clarify, I mean something similar to phones where the backplate can slide off or preferably a panel, secured by a screw, when removed allows direct access to the battery and allows it to be easily swapped out - similar to many kids toys.
To be fair, most phones don’t have easily replaceable batteries anymore either. I remember in an interview that one of the steam deck leads said they really wanted an easier to replace battery, but it was a compromise they ended up making. I think they blamed it partially on inexperience with hardware production, and that they hoped to do better on future hardware.
To be fair, non-swappable batteries are fucking bullshit and need to go away forever.
its gonna come back. at least in the eu, phones will be required to support it:)
Yeah. People underestimate the thermal and “durability” benefits of just holding that in place with some double sided tape.
Going by https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+OLED+Battery+Replacement/168676 it doesn’t look great but it looks “reasonable” and the replacement battery comes with new tape.
The other month I was reading up on a white paper proposing an industry standard adhesive designed to pretty much dissolve instantly when exposed to the right solvents. Whether said solvent is at all human safe or what the cost of switching to these kinds of strips were was not discussed which… kind of is an answer in and of itself.
But, in general, I come down on Right To Repair being more about making it reasonable for small repair shops to exist rather than for Joe Schmoe to fix his own iphone. And if you can be trusted to deal with ribbon cables and tracking screws, you can be trusted to use a heat gun and a plastic shim.
Apple’s solution is to integrate a heating strip with the glue. Put some power into it, and the glue warms up and releases.
In theory that is nice. In practice that is just as expensive to re-tool for and isn’t needed. Any adhesive being used should (and, in my experience, does) soften up under a simple heat gun (or hair dryer if you are lazy). That obviously gets REAL sketchy if you are dealing with a spicy pillow but… in that case you should not be touching things unless you know how to handle those (bucket of sand). At which point dealing with a battery you probably don’t want to get hot is not an issue.
Like a lot of stuff, I blame “popular science” tech youtubers like Linus Sebastien. He thought it was funny to lose his mind with a butter knife and stab at his steam deck and everyone pointed out how dangerous that was while memeing it around. When the reality is that you just get a plastic spreader/old credit card and a heat gun and stuff pops out pretty quick in these “reasonable” uses of glue/tape situations.
Stuff like this is why I can’t watch LTT anymore. He’s effectively become the PewDiePie or Logan Paul of tech and has become net negative for the industry.
Lately he did a video where he downloaded HoloISO as an analogue for a SteamOS 3.0 review (why would you review it when it’s actively discouraged for download on non-Steam Deck hardware?). While he doesn’t spend a ton of time on the problems (like connecting to printers), it’s still negative exposure to things that will most likely be sorted out before release (if they’re not already fixed within Valve).
That being said, I shouldn’t expect much from the guy who did the equivalent of deleting System32 in an attempt to install Steam when all he had to do was open the app manager and click install
Not that I know these things, but don’t batteries get pretty hot? If it loosens up with a heat gun, wouldn’t it loosen up with heavy use?
How hot a battery should/can get is a whole topic that tends to contain the key words that trigger “UGH!! PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE!!!” stupidity.
But understand that these devices are generally being held in hands or even against our bodies. That is why so much work is done to let them dissipate heat quickly. We will care about the heat long before the components and glue does.
A quick chat gpt says that PSAs tend to soften around 60-80C and Hot Melt Adhesives around 70-100 C.
As for the electronics themselves? They can all run a LOT hotter than people expect. Using desktop PCs (just because I DO know those off the top of my head), a general rule of thumb is to not actually care until a component throttles or the case temperature hits 100F. Individual components have different thresholds (generally anything that is mostly semiconductors is in the danger zone around 100C), but individual components are almost all attached to heat sinks which are “attached” to air which is a really good insulator. So if the air is getting close to 100F (35-ish C if I remember right), stuff is bad.
So yeah. There are definitely cases where you could see the adhesives fail. But they will generally be associated with hardware failures/damage if during use or, more likely, someone leaving their gameboy on the dashboard of a car during the summer.
That’s not “being fair”, that’s just making excuses.
If the Steam Deck’s airflow wasn’t so delicately balanced, they could probably just skip the glue and add some foam or rubber patchs on the corners to prevent rattling. Then it’d be fairly easy to replace.
What about 2 screws and some tabs
Nice I didn’t know power tools has this, I will configure that when I get home today. I often leave my deck plugged in and forget about it and charging the battery to 100% is no bueno