Most people alive right now are aware that almost the entire world is being affected by a heatwave that is expected to last the week. Even the United Kingdom is experiencing toasty temperatures it has never seen in its own recorded history. Of course, those of us in tech actually have significant concerns here too, like how will this affect our electronics? Well,
Valve does actually have an answer, at least for its Steam Deck handheld.
Two tweets posted by the official Steam Deck Twitter account, @OnDeck, has told users that the optimal ambient temperatures for the device is inclusive of 0° through 35° C. This may be bad news for certain parts of the world where air conditioning isn't as common, such as the UK, which has seen temperatures breaching 40° C this week, for those who don't want to do the math that's about 104° F.
The second Tweet by the account goes on to point out that the APU inside of the
Steam Deck is more than capable at running optimally up to 100° C, however, once breaching that threshold it is likely to show signs of throttling. Additionally if the device finds itself at 105° C it will automatically shut itself down in order to preserve the integrity of the hardware from an overheat.
Valve started accepting reservations for the Steam Deck in February of this year, 2022, and some of those reservations have cycled to users notifying them that they have their Steam Deck ready to be purchased. Some people have gotten their notifications and completed a purchase, while others have not. Most reviewers have touted it as a very solid system, and even a capable PC. Though the majority emphasize that the PC market is not really who this device is targeted. Instead its targets are mobile and portable gamers who want a more powerful device to play bigger titles than what is traditionally available.
Steam Deck Playing Hollow Knight in Reasonable Weather
Valve has also gone as far as to implement an interesting repair policy for the device. It advises that most users not attempt to repair the device for themselves, however, it has posted tear-down videos, and even partnered with popular repair tool company
iFixIt in order to provide tools and even replacement parts for the device. As such, we have seen some pretty interesting mods to improve the portable, such as a higher drive capacity, which
could be problematic for the device. Hopefully no one has to purchase a repair kit because something melted though.
