iFixit recently disassembled the Valve Steam Frame and praised its overall repairability. Apart from the battery and cooling module, most of the device's structure is relatively easy to disassemble; iFixit also confirmed that it will sell replacement parts and publish repair guides in the future.
The Steam Frame is primarily assembled using screws and clips, requiring only minimal force to release the clips. Shahram Mokhtari, iFixit's lead teardown technician who handled this disassembly, believes that Valve has implemented a fairly thoughtful design for ease of disassembly and repair.
The battery is the most obvious issue in the teardown. It is glued inside the casing without any fasteners designed for easy removal. Another major drawback is that the internal fan and heatsink are integrated into a single module, preventing them from being repaired separately.
The magnetic lens assembly and the cost-effective IPS display received praise. Disassembly of the remaining compute modules proceeded relatively smoothly, although the cooling assembly caused some confusion, with numerous cables above the motherboard requiring careful management of complex wiring during further disassembly.
iFixit believes these cables do not undermine the overall reliability of the Steam Frame's design, as most repairs do not require accessing the motherboard level, making it reasonable to concentrate complex components in deeper layers. The organization plans to sell replacement parts for the Steam Frame and release repair guides, similar to its support for the Steam Deck and Steam Machine.