Valve's Major Steam Deck LCD Discount Is A Potential Handheld Game Changer
The Steam Deck is already one of the best bangs for buck in the PC gaming handheld space and the value proposition just got even better with Valve's steep discount in play. For a limited time, the base Steam Deck is is 20% off for a low $319.20. The question is, should you bite now that the handheld gaming space is much more crowded than when the Steam Deck first came out?
As is often the case when evaluating whether or not to buy a product, there's no once-size-fits-all answer. However, the Steam Deck remains a capable handheld and, at least until the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X arrive, it's one of the most console-like PC handheld of the bunch by way of running the Arch Linux-based SteamOS.
That may change when the the handheld love child of ASUS and Microsoft is born into retail, and same goes for ROG Xbox Ally's initially-exclusive Xbox mode that is already finding its way to more handhelds. Regardless, you won't find a cheaper handheld than the LCD Steam Deck.
To recap the specs of the base Steam Deck, it sports a 7-inch optically-bonded IPS LCD panel with a 1280x800 resolution, up to a 60Hz refresh rate, and 400 nits of brightness (typical).
It's powered by a custom AMD APU with a 4-core/8-thread Zen 2 CPU clocked at 2.4GHz to 3.5GHz, eight RDNA 2 compute units clocked a 1.6GHz, and 16GB of LPDDR5-5500 memory. It also features Wi-Fi 5 connectivity and a 40Whr battery that's rated for 2-8 hours of run time (your mileage will vary, naturally).
The Steam Deck is what popularized gaming handhelds in the PC space and it didn't take long for device makers to release more powerful alternatives. You can see our gaming handheld buying guide for how the Steam Deck stacks up to some of the competition like the ROG Ally X and Legion Go (among others), all of which are more powerful. They're also more expensive, even more so now with Valve slashing the price by 20%.
There are also more gaming handhelds on the way. In addition to the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, Lenovo's Legion Go 2 is right around the corner and proving so popular that Lenovo had to cancel some of its preorders.
So again, there's no definitive answer on which is the gaming handheld you should buy. However, there are some great options, and the base Steam Deck at its all-time low price is certainly one. Here's a look at the current landscape...
- Steam Deck LCD (256GB): $319.20 (20% off)
- Steam Deck OLED (512GB): $549
- Steam Deck OLED (1TB): $649
- ASUS ROG Ally: $649
- ASUS ROG Ally X: $899.99
- Lenovo Legion Go S: $719.99 ($10 off)
- Lenovo Legion G (16GB/512GB): $699.99
- Lenovo Legion Go (16GB/1TB): $749.99
- Lenovo Legion Go 2 Preorder: $1,099.99
- MSI Claw A1M: $564.99 ($185 off)
- Switch 2 + Mario Kart World: $499
- Switch 2: $449
- Switch OLED: $384.99 ($15 off)
- Switch OLED (Best Buy Refurbished): $279.99 ($70 off)
- Switch: $339
That's not an all-inclusive list, but it if gives you an idea of where the base Steam Deck fits into the landscape, price-wise. And of course the Switch and Switch 2 are different beasts, but certainly worth considering as well.
