Handheld PC usage is becoming more and more popular as brands bring their devices to this small, developing market. Valve is not certainly the first one to create a handheld PC for players' hands, but it's deemed to be the one that made it popular and easy to recognize. With other brands such as Asus with their ROG line of products, the competition is going to get denser as time goes on, but for now, Valve is controlling the ever-so-growing interest in handheld PC experience with their popular device called Steam Deck.
Since its launch, Steam Deck provided the same bits as a desktop or laptop PC with its customizations, compatibilities, and general convenience of using it for gaming or general daily tasks. While it's mostly for gaming purposes, Steam Deck also provided developers and tech savvies to use Steam Deck as their main programming base as well. Steam is aware of the vast popularity of their console-PC hybrid machine, and we saw how fast it was out of stock when it was released back in 2022. Valve is currently handling the stocks very well, however, they have decided to refurbish the old consoles for the sake of proper stability on Deck’s end.
The reason for it is actually clear: The chip shortage. Around 2020, when big names such as PlayStation and Xbox were trying to sell their new products, the shipping shortage caused a massive problem with the stocks, making people buy in bulk and heavily pushing people to do scalping. In fact, Nintendo is preparing to release their new console with lower-costing parts to prevent a stock shortage. While Steam can still make new consoles since the shortage’s effectiveness has died down, refurbishing the old and unused ones for lower prices while keeping the stocks up is a very nifty idea.
The refurbishment process follows simple procedures such as checking all the parts and their health condition, testing sound outputs, testing the controllers and buttons, factory resetting the operating system, and much more. According to Valve, there are about 100 tests that they employ on Decks before its getting verified as a tested device. Of course with refurbishment, the prices change drastically too. The base Steam Deck with only 64GB storage now costs $319 while a brand new one will set you for $399. A refurbished mid-tier model with 256GB of storage will be on sale for $419 dollars, instead of the $529 which is set for brand-new models. Finally, a top-range refurbished 512GB model will be $519 while the new stock costs around $619. Refurbishment can save you a lot of money from getting a new one, but keep in mind that it might have cosmetical damage depending on the model you are planning to get.
The refurbished models of Steam Deck are limited, but since Valve is gathering them from time to time, refurbished models will be available later once the stocks are back up.
Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Editor, NoobFeed
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| Platform(s): | PC, Mobile |
| Publisher(s): | Valve Corporation |
| Developer(s): | Valve Corporation |
| Genres: | Digital Distribution |
| Themes: | Content delivery, Digital Rights Management, Social Networking |
| Release Date: | 2003-09-12 |
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