The portable handheld PC market has skyrocketed with the Steam Deck exploding in popularity. But what if you made a handheld… well, not a handheld? Someone just did this, and it’s probably the most cursed thing I’ve seen in a while.
A tinkerer known as “crastinator-pro” has successfully transformed Valve’s popular Steam Deck handheld gaming PC into a remarkably compact desktop computer, which he dubbed the “Steam Brick.” The original Steam Deck is a bit on the bulky side, but you can pin that on it being a computer that you can take around with you and play games on the go. The target here was to make it even more compact, but the compromises involved all the very things that actually made it a handheld. So this is basically a Steam Deck, except you lose the screen and the integrated controllers. This, essentially, turns the device into a mini desktop PC that you need to plug in to a screen and a controller.
The result is a device significantly smaller and lighter than the original Steam Deck, measuring 193.5 x 126.5 x 21mm and weighing 474 grams. It’s pretty small, at least. This makes the “Steam Brick” about 24% lighter and considerably more portable, fitting easily into a bag without needing a protective case due to the absence of a delicate screen. Still, that portability is coming at a cost. You’re losing out on the very thing that makes the Steam Deck special, which is that you can play on the go. If you want a small gaming PC, there are tons of options that are probably way better than this.
The person who made this does advise that this is not a mod for the faint of heart. The mod is actually pretty impressive, and it involves cutting into the Steam Deck’s aluminum frame and fitting the remaining components into a 3D-printed body. But still, has science maybe gone too far?
Source: crastinator-pro via Liliputing
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