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Steam Deck sale! Valve knocks $80 off its amazing PC gaming handheld

Dammit Valve, you’re not making this easy for me. Right now the official, first-party Steam store is selling the base model Steam Deck for $80 off, bringing its price down to just $319.20. This is not a used or refurbished unit; this a new, base Steam Deck, no tricks, no punches pulled.

And that’s a great freakin’ price to get in on the portable PC fun, even three years after the device launched. You can’t really find any of the Windows-based alternatives for under $500, and even then you need to hunt for rare sales or refurb hardware. Considering how pricey the Switch 2 is looking, not to mention other consoles that continue to go up in price as US consumers take a beating under tariffs, it’s a refreshing change.

Sadly, the upgraded OLED model of the Steam Deck, with its bigger, brighter, faster screen and improved battery life, is not on sale. Which isn’t to say that it’s overpriced — at $549, I’d argue it’s still a better deal than any alternative. But an $80 discount on that particular machine might have convinced me to pull the trigger.

Valve says the Steam Deck will remain on sale until 10 a.m. Pacific time on October 6, but I think there’s a pretty good chance of the discounted base model going out of stock before then, so keep that in mind. And the 256GB storage in the base model is definitely on the pokey side — I’d use those savings to boost it up with this 1TB SSD upgrade.