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

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.

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.