In a fresh development, with a little bit of knowledge and research, you can mod both the devices and programs down to the bones. But if you look at it as a PC, it’s suddenly more intimidating. Even by the standards of a small form factor device, this thing is tiny and complicated. If you look at the Steam Machine as a system update console , it’s remarkably open and repairable.
As part of the ongoing story, the right-to-repair gurus have put together a series of more than a dozen guides on removing and replacing just about every component, from the faceplate (just pull it off, it’s magnetic!) to the RAM and storage, to the itty-bitty microSD card reader. For the truly dedicated, there’s even a guide from user base contributors on how to build and set up that e-ink faceplate mod . IFixit is here to help.
According to the latest update, (Okay, the e-ink thing might be, at least by my standards.) But as someone who prefers to keep things nice and easy with an ATX PC build, I appreciate the hell out of it. Especially since the Steam Machine’s single-DIMM RAM setup makes a memory boost one of the most obvious upgrades to make, and the device’s layers-in-a-shell setup isn’t obvious if you’re not forewarned. None of this is rocket science.
Industry observers note that according to an iFixit representative, parts for the Steam Machine are coming soon. As usual iFixit’s guides are concise and clear, with wonderful photos and helpful tips.