8 mo. ago • 99%

Valve's iFixit partnership is a game changer

I dropped my launch edition steam deck last night on carpet and while all the buttons still worked- something was rattling inside of it. After I opened it up I discovered a missing chunk of plastic from the R2 trigger, that piece presses against another to keep the button from over articulating. I suspect this trigger absorbed most of the impact, there was no other visible damage.

Of course I was upset that I broke it, but so very pleasantly surprised to find ifixit had the trigger in stock and reasonably priced. This availability made me love the deck even more, and really the fact valve made these parts available places the deck above any other competition in my mind.

This machine is built to last, I am so excited to get it fixed and get back to gaming.

Right to Repair @discuss.tchncs.de Valve's iFixit partnership is a game changer

77 comments

Gotta appreciate Valve continuing to be a master class in how a successful company should behave

116
- It should be theoretically in a company's long term financial interest to keep customers at least reasonably happy, but the infinite growth mindset is such a cancer that you can see it tearing apart any number of old established brands these days (cough Boeing, eg).
  
  Looks like GabeN decided that going to sleep each night on piles of billions of dollars was enough and he didn't need to supplement his pillows with the customers' nickels and dimes as well. Feels like that shouldn't be such a strange mindset, but apparently it's rare enough to stand out.
  
  55
  
  It doesn't even just have to be about money, Valve is one of the only major tech companies I can think of that seems to actually care about customer feedback. They don't acquiesce to every request and complaint, it's unrealistic to expect any company to do that, but just in general, Valve genuinely seems to listen more on the whole.
  
  Too many tech companies have convinced themselves that the silent majority's silence equals approval, and therefore the "vocal minority" of complaints need never be taken seriously. But what they don't appreciate is the most vocal criticisms tend to come from enthusiasts, and when you cater to the average users only, you are slowly making your product less remarkable.
  
  Steamdeck feels like a product made for that "vocal minority". It addresses so many concerns that other tech companies would hand wave away because "most people aren't complaining".
  
  21
- It's cos they're privately owned and so don't necessarily have to be shit, where publicly owned companies are legally required to maximize profits for shareholders.
  
  17
  
  are legally required to maximize profits for shareholders.
  
  Not exactly
  
  -5
- Just to add to this, Valve is a company with a very peculiar organization, in which the structure is very horizontal and that does its own thing (the structure is not without problems, but it's still very interesting). They also have a surprisingly little amount of employees for such a company! Numbers vary between 350 and 1000!
  
  14
I got the iFixit pro tool kit a few years ago and I use it all the time even for stuff that's not electronic lol

98
- I won't lie I was super tempted to add a pro toolkit with the part order, but talked myself out of it and ended up with just a spludger and moray driver kit lol.
  
  32
  
  I won't lie I was super tempted to add a pro toolkit
  
  I say do it (if you have the money, of course). I got it and while it has far more tools/bits than I use regularly, it's been invaluable.
  
  23
  
  I have to second the other person said, if you have the money I'd get the the kit. It's proved useful for all sorts of things. I've used mine for electronics, knife repair/maintenance, home repairs, basically anything you've ever needed to work on that required some kind of weird screwdriver that you definitely don't have in the drawer lol
  
  7
  
  It’s an amazing toolkit. Highly recommend.
  
  1
- It's great for electronics, but be careful with the bits on non-electronic stuff, they are quite soft and wear easily against stronger screws.
  
  15
- I bought a shitty knockoff, and it works great.
  
  Buy what you can afford. If you can afford the expensive ifixit stuff, do it. If you don't want to, then buy the knockoff and you'll be fine.
  
  4
You make me want to buy a Steam Deck, even though I don't play games much.

38
- as has been repeated into oblivion, it's just a PC, so it's perfectly usable for non-gaming stuff!
  
  If you want something more portable than a laptop and are alright with the slightly strange input method for a computer, there isn't really anything better.
  
  12
- Yes. Let's all go buy steam decks! Yay, capitalism!!1!
  
  -48
  
  Nah let's all shit on things in ways that make zero sense instead!!1!
  
  27
  
  Capitalism is when people have hobbies?
  
  11
  
  Yes, if you intend to buy some, let's buy from the companies which have some values and respect their customers so they are successful and more companies may get inspired, instead of from the other ones. See also Patagonia and Fairphone for other rare examples.
  
  10
  
  Read the room bro.
  
  1
Should see if somebody modelled something similar to print on 3D printer. Could make it glow in the dark, or wood infused filament.

I like showing my repairs a bit, make them stand out slightly, makes me love my devices more knowing they've been repaired.

26
I love how repairable and modifiable the deck is as well! I swapped my sticks for hall effect sticks a while back. Was super easy to do.

If you'd like to game while waiting for your replacement part, you can link a Bluetooth controller to your deck or use the usb c port to give yourself some USB ports for a keyboard and mouse.

26
- Hall sticks are on my list to do eventually, that's a great point the general upgradeability is awesome too. Appreciate the Bluetooth idea but I chose to leave the deck disassembled until the trigger comes in. The back screws inserts are molded plastic so the less times screws are removed & reinserted the better.
  
  11
  
  That's a really good consideration as well! Hopefully its a quick shipping time for you
  
  3
Mind if I crosspost to !right2repair@discuss.tchncs.de? Or you could if you'd like. I think it'd fit very well.

24
- Go for it, definitely!
  
  16
  
  Great! Here it is: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/12311551
  
  9
That's good news! How much was the trigger incl shipping?

20
- The trigger assembly is 19,99 EUR excluding shipping
  
  11
  
  Not cheap but better than the service from all other companies and consoles.
  
  11
- It'll be a large markup on the cost. Ifixit is not a charity. They are not a company any of us should be celebrating when it comes to parts. I do appreciate the guides, though.
  
  6
- $20 part + $3 shipping. It includes the mount, spring and trigger as one piece
  
  6
I second this! My decks screen got cracked for... probably toddler related reasons... and I was able to get everything to repair it no problem.

Wasn't terribly cheap though, I hope ifixit can score a partnership with a shipping company or something cause shipping adds up fast if you, say, mess up the two sided adhesive... for toddler related reasons... and need a quick second order of just the adhesive.

19
- I sense a pattern here. Does iFixIt offer anything to fix these so-called "toddlers"?
  
  8
  
  I usually just duct tape them to the radiator
  
  2
  
  Apparently it's a feature and not a bug (they didn't let me return her, even for hospital store credit). I heard there are preventative measures available, though... ifixit brand condoms?
  
  2
Yeah it's pretty awesome.

Frame.work is the same way, and they sell basically all parts, including the webcam module and screen hinge!

19
- I am very sad they don't sell individual keyboard keys.
  
  But at least the input cover is reasonably priced, and I can upgrade to the extended battery while I'm replacing the keyboard.
  
  8
Imagine an alternative reality where a company can create a mobile phone with swappable components and high repairability index.

I will immediately buy their product, because I am sick of being forced to switch my phone every couple of years due to planned obsolescence adopted by so many companies.

I believe Motorola tried something like this in the past for a short while.

19
- Fairphone ist your answer. It got a maximum score from iFixit and you can order and replace all components easily. They also promise support until 2031, even picked an IoT Chipset for longer support.
  
  17
  
  while I like the idea of Fairphone, last time i checked their flagship did not include an 3.5mm jack. This is simply not acceptable as i need it for my work. It is hard to find phones with a 3.5mm - even harder if you want to be able to repair them.
  
  12
  
  Can you recommend a model? I've seen in the past that some of their models didn't really match their contemporaries in terms of power, so I didn't really bother looking at them more in depth. However, my views and priorities have changed over the last couple years and getting a Fairphone would definitely be something worthwhile to consider once I must upgrade my phone.
  
  4
  
  Can you upgrade the phone's internals?
  
  2
- Project Ara, the future that never happened
  
  11
  
  This was very promising because it's backed by a big company, but unfortunately it's Google
  
  3
- I think Fairphone is pretty repairable. It is also quite durable. I have had it for years now and dropped it very often, but it hasn't broken yet.
  
  8
- @filister @CaptDust #fairphone https://www.fairphone.com/
  
  6
I did the same thing and they fixed it for free. Gotta love Valve

18
- Sony did something similar for me for my PS3. It was out of warranty and the drive stopped reading Blu-ray discs. CDs worked fine. I couldn't find the receipt to see how old it was but contacted them anyway. They said can I find an old bank statement or something to see if it is still in warranty. The only thing I found was it showed up in the loyalty points of the game shop I got it from. They accepted this as enough proof however the unit was out of the standard warranty. They said they will still accept it. They sent out a postal guy with a thick plastic box with foam insulation with a replacement PS3 in it. He took away my broken PS3. Great! All free of charge. I was well happy. Then a week later a letter arrived and contained the SD card that I accidentally left in my old PS3.
  
  Sony went the extra mile here. Very happy with the outcome.
  
  23
  
  That's awesome. I'm wondering if Sony would go the extra mile nowadays. Curious if folks here can chime in on that
  
  7
  
  That's awesome way to go Sony. Rather having us play :)
  
  1
And they still can't manage to start selling it in Australia. Completely different things but still frustrating nevertheless.

12
I did the exact same thing with my Steam Deck LCD and I had the same problem. It was a piece of piss to swap out the part thanks to Valve and iFixit :)

Modularity and upgradability should be standardised in everything!

10
I'm pretty sure Dell is partnering with ifixit on something as well.

9
- That's fantastic! It should probably be a legal mandate for companies to make their parts easily available, it would reduce e-waste significantly.
  
  15
  
  they’re headed in that direction in EU (including requiring companies to plan for end-of-life/recyclability of their products) whereas American companies are fighting tooth-and-nail against right-to-repair laws (looking at you Apple) …
  
  15
- Such great but slightly annoying news. Dell have been notorious for making black boxes. Great that they're improving, but never forget!
  
  3
I literally the dane think and broke the exact damn part. 5 minutes on ifixit. Swoon 😍

9
This is why I love lenovo laptops, they have videos for replacing everything.

8
- Lenovos used to be even better, with quick access to a lot of internals via various hatches on the bottom
  
  6
I have never bought anything from Valve/Steam as I’m a PlayStation gamer, but their support for Linux and repair ability makes me think about a Steam Deck when my Surface Go is gonna be too old (but it’ll last for quite a while since Fedora isn’t as demanding as Windows).

8
I'm so glad they did this partnership as well, my first deck had a whiny fan (pretty bad), bought a new fan that was fairly easy to install and made it so much better to use the device! Ifixit tools are pretty good, too.

5
- Doh why didn't I think to do the fan while I have it open! Mine is loud as hell.. Well, there's always next time when I do the SSD I guess.
  
  1
Ifixit fucked me on a MacBook battery I bought. So do NOT trust their products. The guides are wonderful, though.

The battery didn't even last a single year, and they did not replace it.

2

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