Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The Steam Deck is the cheapest its ever been in new sale

By Carli Velocci Published June 27, 2024

A Steam Deck sitting on top of a PC. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

If you’ve ever wanted a Steam Deck, but didn’t want to pay the exorbitant price, you can now get one for its cheapest price ever. Valve announced Monday that you can now get a 64GB or 512GB Steam Deck LCD model for 15% off until July 11.

This is an amazing deal if you’ve ever wanted to get into handheld gaming, as it puts the lowest-priced 64GB Steam Deck under $300 for the first time. It’s normally $349, but you can get it for $297 during this deal. Meanwhile, the larger 512GB model, which comes with more and faster storage, a more durable display, and a Steam profile bundle, can be bought for $382 — down from $449.

The catch is that these are the first-generation models, which have 1280 x 800 LCD screens compared to the newer Steam Deck OLED’s, well, OLED panels. The older handhelds also have smaller batteries (up to only eight hours versus the OLED’s 12, although that depends on your settings and the game you’re playing), support up to a 60Hz refresh rate (compared to the OLED’s 90Hz), and older Wi-Fi. While the OLED is not technically a “next-generation” iteration, it makes enough improvements that it might not be worth getting a lesser version.

The sale arrives as Valve is discontinuing these two models and looking to unload its stock. Still, even the 64GB deal is excellent. Sure, it comes with slower storage and 64GB is going to fill up quickly, but it’s easy to add more space via a microSD card and/or an SSD. And with the huge discount, you’ll have even more money for extra storage. And considering the peak Steam Deck OLED model is $649 right now, it’ll probably feel extra nice to save that much.

Former Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Topics

Computing

This Steam hack has saved me a ton of money on PC games

A person running Steam on the M4 MacBook Pro. Rocket League is up on the screen

I have a massive Steam library, and like most PC gamers I know, I'm always looking to add to it. Will I actually play the games? Maybe. Will I complete all of them? Certainly not. But I'm caught in a negative feedback loop of picking up new games constantly for pennies on the dollar, and Steam is feeding my addiction more than ever before.

How? With Steam bundles. Steam bundles aren't anything new, but I've seen a stark uptick in them over the last several months. They mostly revolve around similarly styled indie titles, offering a small discount of around 10% if you buy two or three games in bulk. That's not why I've taken advantage of Steam bundles so often over the past several months, though.
The hack

Gaming

This Steam Deck accessory just put the nail in my gaming PC’s coffin

A Steam Deck connected to a TV plays Rift of the Necrodancer.

After years of putting it off, I recently accepted that my PC is in dire need of an upgrade. A graphics card swap last year slowed its march towards obsolescence, but it was clear that my outdated processor needed a boost to match. The more I researched, the more I realized that wasn’t my only problem. I was looking at a full motherboard swap, potentially setting me back $1000. That was all to maintain what’s become my least favorite way to play games. I’d much rather sit on my couch and use my Steam Deck than play on the same monitor I stare at all day for work.

While I know I’ll have to upgrade eventually, I just found another good excuse to put that off a little longer. Razer just released its own Nintendo Switch-like dock, dubbed the Handheld Dock Chroma, built for devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. It’s a deceptively feature-loaded piece of plastic that has already transformed my gaming habits, putting another nail in my PC’s coffin. That comes at a cost though, both figuratively and literally, which stops this from being the one dock to rule them all.
Design and compatibility
If you’ve used a Nintendo Switch before, you should know exactly what to expect with the Handheld Dock Chroma. You place your device of choice into it, connect it to the dock via USB-C, and voila. Your portable device now outputs up to 60 frames per second at 4K on whatever screen you want, whether it’s a monitor or TV. It’s the kind of accessory that any Steam Deck owner should have.

Computing

Valve needs to rethink the Deck Verified program

Steam Deck held between two hands.

The Steam Deck Verified program was a good start, but it's time to move on.

Valve separates compatibility with the Steam Deck into four buckets. You have Verified games, which have a green check mark for Valve's seal of approval, and you have Playable games, which would normally get a Verified badge had it not been for some small issues (i.e. small text or invoking the on-screen keyboard). Those are the two categories you gravitate toward.