The official Steam Deck teardown video warns users not to open it up

Valve has released an official Steam Deck teardown video which strongly recommends users never open the system themselves.

While the company warns of the financial and health risks users face should they choose to open the handheld, it says one of the most commonly asked questions it has received is whether the components are replaceable or upgradable.

“The Steam Deck is a very tightly designed system and the parts are chosen carefully for this product with its specific construction so they aren’t really designed to be user swappable,” it says.

“Opening up and replacing parts might mess things up, like profoundly. For example, if you damage the battery the whole thing could catch fire later, which would be bad, so be forewarned and leave this kind of thing to professionals”.

However, for those who decide it’s worth the risk, the video shows how to open the system and replace one or more of the components inside it, specifically the thumbsticks and the SSD.

Announced in July, Steam Deck is described as “a powerful all-in-one portable PC” capable of running the latest AAA games.

Steam Deck runs the latest version of Valve’s SteamOS software – which is based on Linux – allowing players to access their Steam games library and all the platform’s features.

However, Valve insists Steam Deck is also an open PC with the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware.

Steam Deck features a “powerful, custom APU” developed with AMD, a 7-inch touch screen, full-sized controls with gyro and trackpads, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD expansion slot and a USB-C port.

It will begin shipping in December with prices starting at $399 (64GB eMMC). Increased storage options will also be available for $529 (256GB NVMe SSD) and $649 (512GB NVMe SSD).

Developers started receiving Steam Deck dev kits and giving their initial impressions in late September. And on Wednesday, CD Projekt Red showed off the current-gen version of The Witcher 3 running on the system (above).