I fix it published a double teardown of Valve’s Steam Deck OLED and the Lenovo Legion Go today, giving a nice, detailed look at the insides of both handhelds with all the site’s usual meticulous details. Being iFixit, the focus is on the repairability of the consoles and gave high marks: a 9/10 for the Steam Deck OLED and an 8/10 for the Lenovo Legion.
The article has a good summary of the process, but we recommend viewing it. the video to get the full effect and some good close-ups of the components. It’s also a great way to see things fall apart if you’re interested in doing it yourself.
Valve has said that it made it easy to do DIY repairs for the Steam Deck OLED, and iFixit agrees, as do we in our review. Lenovo has made a lot of noise about repairability itself. I’m not the most experienced at taking apart electronics, but I think I could easily replace almost anything on any of these consoles.
One small detail to note here is the metal frame and screwed posts of the new Steam Deck. This time, the fact that Valve has chosen metal instead of plastic means that the threads are much less likely to break when the back cover is replaced. From the image above it looks like the second revision of the LCD Steam Deck also got that improvement.
The Legion Go uses tabs to remove the battery. Tabs! That means no heat gun or pry tools. (The Steam Deck OLED still uses glue, although less than before.) iFixit also noted that the Legion Go uses Hall effect sensors, so stick drift shouldn’t be the problem it is for other consoles (like the Nintendo Switch). Instead, valve levers use potentiometers, which are more vulnerable to drift.
iFixit concluded that the Steam Deck OLED is slightly more repairable than the Legion Go despite having a stuck battery. But both consoles seem well designed and relatively easy to repair, and who doesn’t like seeing companies pack so much power into such small spaces? As iFixit said in closing the video teardown: “It’s a great time to be a mobile gamer.”
