YouTuber indulges in Steam Deck destruction to demonstrate device's durability

News
By published

The Steam Deck fares pretty well against JerryRigEverything's notorious durability tests.

Are you, like me, still lost in Steam Deck pre order purgatory? Is "after Q3 2022" an infinite void swallowing up the future, with the promise of PC gaming on the go seemingly never to arrive? This video from DIY YouTube channel JerryRigEverything of one getting bent, burned, and stabbed may give you some catharsis.

JerryRigEverything creator Zack Nelson distinguishes his channel by reviewing personal tech, mostly smartphones, from a durability angle. Nelson puts most major new releases through their paces with durability tests that include bending, scratching, and even applying an open flame to the screen.

The gauntlet begins with a scratch test of the Deck's screen, with Nelson using picks calibrated to Moh's scale of hardness to assess its relative resistance. Surprisingly, the screen on the top level, $650 Deck fares slightly worse than most devices, with its anti-glare coating proving less resistant to scratches. Something for any owners to keep an eye on.

Nelson then takes a razor to the console, demonstrating the relative ruggedness of its buttons and punishing the ears by marking up its chassis, concluding by drawing a Tesla valve on the back in a cheeky play on words on the device's creators.

The channel-favorite flame test ultimately causes no permanent damage to the device's screen, par for the course with IPS displays, but still always a source of amazement for me. Nelson's "bend test" for assessing a device's overall structural integrity by flexing it as hard as possible similarly does not permanently damage the device. Good news for Deck owners, bad news if you were here for a spectacle.

The JerryRigEverything durability tests definitely contain useful info for consumers, but I can't help but also find a certain anarchic thrill in watching the tech that rules our lives get manhandled like this. Doesn't the constant buzz of social media, bad news, and spam emails just make you want to snap these things in half? Light them on fire? Just me?

JerryRigEverything will be following up the Deck destruction with a teardown video of the reportedly repair-friendly device in the near future. 

TOPICS
Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.

Read more
Knolling shot of "Steam Brick," a Steam Deck with many of its parts removed so it could fit in a smaller enclosure, with some of the removed components arranged tastefully around it.
One mad modder has massacred the Steam Deck, folding it into a 'Steam Brick' with 'no screen, no controller, and absolutely no sense'
Valve Steam Deck with GeForce Now app overlaid on screen.
After a year in its company, I've done a complete 180 on my Steam Deck
The original Asus ROG Ally in white floats in a teal void.
The original Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is great for my itty bitty hands—and now even better for your pocket with a new itty bitty price
A man smiling as he gazes into the yawning abyss of his massive Acer Nitro Blaze 11.
Acer unveils the comically huge Nitro Blaze 11, a gaming handheld more than three times the weight of a Nintendo Switch
A man wearing a GoPro harness lies on a sofa or bed, playing a Steam Deck. The handheld gaming PC is mounted to the GoPro harness via grip and mount products from Mechanism.
This Steam Deck mount looks silly, but greatly reduces the risk of dropping Valve's handheld on your face while gaming in bed
Still from a CNET video highlighting the Samsung concept device from MWC 2025
Samsung's handheld prototype delivers folding phone screens to Switch-like gaming hardware, and I am absolutely here for it
Latest in Handheld Gaming PCs
Lenovo Legion Go S in someone's hands with an apartment behind it
The first non-Steam Deck SteamOS handheld is now available for preorder, and Lenovo may be aiming for the ROG Ally X's throne
Holding an Xbox controller in front of a keyboard
Microsoft is finally rolling out its controller-friendly virtual keyboard for a better Windows handheld gaming PC experience
A Steam Deck with SteamOS running in desktop mode.
A new and improved desktop experience just landed on Steam Deck and SteamOS is readying 'support for non-Steam Deck handhelds'
Lenovo Legion Go S playing Path of Exile 2
Lenovo Legion Go S (Windows) review
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Still from a CNET video highlighting the Samsung concept device from MWC 2025
Samsung's handheld prototype delivers folding phone screens to Switch-like gaming hardware, and I am absolutely here for it
Latest in News
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
Image for
'No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense': Cloudflare's AI Labyrinth uses decoy pages to trap web-crawling bots and feed them slop 'as a defensive weapon'
The Spy from Team Fortress 2 holds up a folder with an accusatory expression.
One of Valve's original executives shares a very simple secret to its success: 'You can't use up your credibility' by trying to make bad games work
The Razer Huntsman Mini 60% gaming keyboard floats in the teal PC Gamer deal void. The per-key RGB lights are on.
The most adorable Razer keyboard features not only an almost half-size form factor, but an almost half-size price at only $70
Inzoi
Ultra-realistic life sim Inzoi has officially shoved Hollow Knight: Silksong and Deadlock out of the way to become Steam's most hotly-anticipated game
New shaders in Minecraft following Minecraft Live 2025
In the year of our lord 2025, Mojang is finally adding shaders to Minecraft, making reflective lighting and water effects more accessible for all
More about handheld gaming pcs
Lenovo Legion Go S in someone's hands with an apartment behind it

The first non-Steam Deck SteamOS handheld is now available for preorder, and Lenovo may be aiming for the ROG Ally X's throne
Holding an Xbox controller in front of a keyboard

Microsoft is finally rolling out its controller-friendly virtual keyboard for a better Windows handheld gaming PC experience
Image for 'No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense': Cloudflare's AI Labyrinth uses decoy pages to trap web-crawling bots and feed them slop 'as a defensive weapon'

'No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense': Cloudflare's AI Labyrinth uses decoy pages to trap web-crawling bots and feed them slop 'as a defensive weapon'
See more latest
Most Popular
Image for 'No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense': Cloudflare's AI Labyrinth uses decoy pages to trap web-crawling bots and feed them slop 'as a defensive weapon'
'No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense': Cloudflare's AI Labyrinth uses decoy pages to trap web-crawling bots and feed them slop 'as a defensive weapon'
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro gaming mouse on a blue background
The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro is as cheap as I've ever seen it and it's even cheaper than the cut-back HyperSpeed version
The Spy from Team Fortress 2 holds up a folder with an accusatory expression.
One of Valve's original executives shares a very simple secret to its success: 'You can't use up your credibility' by trying to make bad games work
The Razer Huntsman Mini 60% gaming keyboard floats in the teal PC Gamer deal void. The per-key RGB lights are on.
The most adorable Razer keyboard features not only an almost half-size form factor, but an almost half-size price at only $70
bulky headphones on black made using x rays
'We essentially created a virtual headset': Scientists transmit inaudible sound using ultrasonic beams to create single person 'audio enclaves'
Inzoi
Ultra-realistic life sim Inzoi has officially shoved Hollow Knight: Silksong and Deadlock out of the way to become Steam's most hotly-anticipated game
New shaders in Minecraft following Minecraft Live 2025
In the year of our lord 2025, Mojang is finally adding shaders to Minecraft, making reflective lighting and water effects more accessible for all
A promotional image for the Compal Adapt X modular laptop, as presented by the iF Design Foundation
If you've ever wanted to upgrade a laptop with 'modular AI units' then Compal might just have the very thing you're looking for
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters