Framework, makers of the Framework modular laptop, are selling 2TB SSDs for the Steam Deck (opens in new tab). The company wants to offer upgradability for its own products, so when the opportunity arose to pick up a batch of laptop-sized SSDs to sell in its own store, it jumped at the chance.
Framework sells the Western Digital 2TB SN740 2230 for $299 (opens in new tab) at its US store and $399 CAD (opens in new tab) in Canada. The company says it is considering availability in Europe and Australia as well.
It is very convenient to have a legitimate place to buy this particular drive, as generally drives of this compact form factor and capacity are not at all easy to come by elsewhere.
This 2TB drive would make a tasty upgrade for even the largest capacity 512GB Steam Deck. In my case, it would offer one lot more room for heaps of indies I load on the device, but if you want to play some triple-A games, these really powerful storage hogs (opens in new tab)this is the kind of upgrade you want to do.
“Since we already order a huge number of Western Digital drives, it’s relatively easy for us to add one more line item and store 2TB SN740 2230,” says Framework (opens in new tab).
This last piece of code, 2230, is critical to the Steam Deck. Valve’s handheld doesn’t accept the larger 2280-format SSDs we’re used to seeing in full-size gaming PCs.
It’s a fairly simple system for NVMe SSDs: 22 is the width of the M.2 SSD in millimeters and 30 is the length. This means that a 2230 NVMe SSD is a small drive that will fit in the same slot as a 2280 SSD (80mm long), albeit without taking up as much space.
There aren’t many high capacity drives in the 2230 form factor as they are less common than the 2280 drives and still require a lot of NAND chips. But there are a few, namely this WD drive and a miniature version of Sabrent’s Rocket drive (opens in new tab). It’s so sweet!
If you end up getting a solid-state drive, from the Framework or otherwise, you can find details on how to properly install it at iFixit (opens in new tab). The whole process should only take 20 minutes to an hour, provided you have the right tools (Phillips head screwdrivers and cutting tools), but you want to do it right to ensure your OS is working properly at the end of it. . The thing to note is that there is a small aluminum cover on the existing SSD that you will want to replace with your new one.
As for the main Framework deal, this is the Framework laptop (opens in new tab). We had a chance to review this modular product last year and our Dave was impressed with it. It’s a laptop that offers easy-to-swap components and includes essentials like the CPU. Dave disabled the 11th gen CPU in the Framework for a 12th gen chip armed with just a single screwdriver.