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On one hand supporting a product with parts only for 6 months after it's discontinued is unacceptable. On the other hand, most manufactures don't even do this or offer parts at all. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when it comes to right to repair.
Yikes, the lcd version of the deck has only been discontinued for a year. Coincidentally, their warranty period is also one year. This is better than never providing the part at all, but not by much.
I guess I'm confused why people are upset. It's been out of manufacturing production for a year. How long should custom manufactured parts be produced after a product is no longer on the market? The device is still repairable, just not with first party parts.
How long should custom manufactured parts be produced after a product is no longer on the market?
If you're asking genuinely, I think 3 years after end of production for anything valued above $500 and 5 years for anything over $1500.
Well that sucks
Yup. Bought one of the first Steam Decks. Been having a great time with it so far, but I already had to repair it once (SSD overheated - thankfully a part that's not proprietary). It will not last forever and the battery is likely going to be the next part that breaks. I am not looking forward to playing battery lottery on Aliexpress.
What do we learn from this? Valve isn't our friend either. I never thought they were, I'm simply already caught in their ecosystem and bought the best PC handheld there was when it came out (and it still is, in my opinion, even though there are faster alternatives), but the company does enjoy a lot of leeway to the point of worship by some due to other firms in the gaming space being considerably worse.
It might very well be that the reasons for this are out of their hands, similar to the AI-bubble-fueled price hikes for RAM, but especially since they so gleefully advertised the repairiability of this device when it came out, silently ending the supply of spare parts is most certainly not a good look. It would have certainly softened the blow had they announced it and provided a reasonable explanation - and it would also cast a much smaller, if still considerable, shadow on the already troubled Steam Machine.
It's quite a baffling mistake, to be honest, for two reasons:
First of all, did they not take into account that people would notice, which immediately turns it into a much bigger story due to the attempted secrecy? You get ahead of bad news as a company, always, instead of letting it happen. Secondly, the LCD Deck was sold worldwide until at least the end of the year and is still available from Steam in some regions. Did they seriously not stock enough parts, did they plan so poorly, were their contracts so terribly drafted that the supply of spares has already stopped? I get that they are a tiny player in the hardware space, which means they do not have the negotiating power of someone like Sony, but still, this is not a good look.
it really sucks for me. i was under the impression from valve that this would be a product they'd support for years to come. its why I wanted the damn thing in the first place.
my battery won't last the year I don't think. and now I'm screwed for replacements
This is six years later of a dead SKU
valve echoed off all walls that this would be a product they'd support for a great deal of time. they preached that the OLED getting released was the same and both products would be supported.
the idea was to not have a product that needed to be changed out for a new one but to maintain products sold for years and years to come.
granted that was before the AI losers started butchering the parts market, but its still a huge disappointment.
How long should Valve provide replacement batteries for the original Steam Deck?
As long as Gabe can afford a single yacht, as far as I'm concerned.
i got mine around 2022 so longer than 4 years? valve was all over the reparability angle.
if you're going to be all about reparability and longevity of a product, I'd say a decade isn't unreasonable. especially considering they'd pushed so hard against talks of "newer" model releases. and instead opted for the "this product should be fine for years and years to come". especially in any media or marketing they had.
why are you pushing so hard against a company being held responsible for their own promises?
understood! i used to encourage friends to get steam decks before the price increase. I'll now be telling them to steer clear of valve products and look elsewhere instead.
Absolutely this, I cannot reccomend valve products anymore. They're now significantly overpriced and underpowered with no benefit to repairability.
I see the ROG Ally's are cheaper right now but I doubt they'll hold those prices for long once the existing stock moves. I'd still take dealing with Valve over dealing with Asus, MSI or Lenovo.
:(
If there’s a demand and money to be made someone will fill the gap.