First I’ve heard of this, glad Valve does such a good job with warranty coverage.
cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/17241840
This is something of a reoccurring problem with translucent plastics.
Owners Report Valve’s Priciest Steam Deck Model Has A Cracking Problem
Submitted 8 months ago by Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz to steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
https://kotaku.com/limited-edition-steam-deck-oled-valve-cracks-plastic-1851382722
Comments
MehStrongBadMeh@programming.dev 8 months ago
Stampela@startrek.website 8 months ago
AND they like to yellow at the speed of light. My brother got a nice, transparent cover for his phone “it’s going to look awful in a few months” and sure enough a few months later he had a different one precisely because of that.
numberfour002@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I don’t think yellowing is inherently an issue with translucent plastics, perhaps only certain types. At this moment I can look around my room and there are at least a dozen translucent plastic items, some of which are at least 10 - 20 years old, and none have any discernible yellowing to them.
Hominine@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’ve given up concerning myself with what others think and went with a coral (pink) phone this go-around. While this probably won’t pertain to your bro, it nicely sidesteps the issue.
vox@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
doesn’t that only affect the silicone ones?
mine literally crumbled into pieces under uv
Splatterphace@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Is that why the trend died?
MehStrongBadMeh@programming.dev 8 months ago
My suspicion is that it is potentially a result of thinner shells. You look at something like Game Boy Color or Nintendo 64, and those things have quite thick shells with plenty of empty space inside, mitigating any potential structural loss due to transparency additives (ABS is not naturally transparent). Newer devices have thinner shells to reduce weight and maximize space for components, potentially leading to problems like this when using translucent plastic.
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I wonder if it’s only because it’s more noticeable from being translucent. When it breaks light refraction changes and the difference is night and day.
Maalus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s a problem with all plastics. Holes are stress concentrations. With the plastic flowing around it, two plastic “fronts” meet in the middle and need to meld into one piece. That spot is usually around 70 -80% strength in there. Add in the stress riser I mentioned earlier, and cracking happens. Same thing on sharp angles.
owlboy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Makes me think of the Powermac G4 Cube.
Alice@beehaw.org 8 months ago
This is actually a huge meme in the Bionicle fandom. Shame too as the parts aren’t being manufactured anymore, so eventually we’ll run out of transparent green shoulder joints.
narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 8 months ago
This affects just the US exclusive limited edition, right? So not the most expensive regular model with an opaque case.
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Correct, just the transparent case limited edition ones.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Bad thing that it happened. Good thing that its 100% repairable.
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Unsurprisingly, some of the posts about this have been removed by the subreddit moderators. That post also originally had a message from the automod that it was removed because it was in violation of rule 7 for posting “intentional misinformation” due to the “developing a very common issue” in the title, but they have since decided to remove that comment as well - didn’t restore the post though.
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
I don’t check the Deck subreddit very often since I left over the API charges, but the last time I did the subreddit was up in arms over moderation issues. Main complaint at the time looked to be that the mods weren’t removing posts that were unrelated to the deck, so it’s weird to now hear that they’re removing stuff that is deck related.
darkphotonstudio@beehaw.org 8 months ago
This is kinda critical for them and how they deal with hardware issues. They have a great reputation, at the moment. It seems minor but Valve should just offer a replacement shell, before this turns into a PR disaster.
Wahots@pawb.social 8 months ago
First gen product problems. I’m on my third deck and second pair of index controllers despite light usage. Stuff will get better over time.
Templa@beehaw.org 8 months ago
I just went to check and yes ours is cracked 🥲
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Rip, I’m sorry for your loss.
Alice@beehaw.org 8 months ago
Ugh, this is a shame. I loved the translucent consoles and controllers Nintendo did back in the day. This makes me want to learn 3D printing so I can make an atomic purple casing and not make the screws too tight.
keyez@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Just checked my limited edition oled model and on the back left center screw there is a small about 2mm crack in the fashion of the photos, no signs anywhere else.
Retrograde@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Just checked mine and same, the same screw too. :/
blindsight@beehaw.org 8 months ago
Shit. I’ll need to check mine tonight. Hopefully, it’s not too late to loosen the screws!
thorbot@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Shit, now I have to check mine
pennomi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Truly epic tier reporting by Kotaku.
Hominine@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Frankly, this is to be expected. Are Kotaku’s corporate taskmasters not converting the site from a news/investigative portal to a generic stop for game guides?
whysofurious@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Also quality overall has decreased a lot. Some months ago I started seeing news gathered from random reddit posts as in the worst journalism ever. That’s sad, apart from the site you linked, only a couple more (Aftermath comes to mind) seems to remain as good ones for gaming news.
Socsa@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
So you’re saying it was never about ethics in gaming journalism?
thorbot@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Kotaku has been parroting Reddit posts for years. Total bottom of the barrel “journalism”