The entry-level Steam Deck is cheaper than ever ahead of Steam’s Summer Sale

The original Steam Deck is still a great handheld, and right now, it’s as affordable as it gets in new condition. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Summer has various official and unofficial starts to kick off the season, but the real one for many of us gamers is Steam’s annual Summer Sale — which Valve recently announced will begin on Thursday, June 27th, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. And as an added treat, Valve’s entry-level Steam Decks are already on sale for an all-time low in the run-up to the event.

Valve is discounting the base Steam Decks sold through Steam’s online storefront by 15 percent through 10AM PT / 1PM ET on July 11th, dropping the price of the LCD-equipped handheld to $296.95 (about $52 off) in the 64GB configuration and $381.65 (about $67 off) in its 512GB variant. In addition to the storage upgrade, the 512GB model features an antiglare etched glass cover on its seven-inch display.

While the fancier Steam Deck OLED, with its slightly larger 90Hz display and bigger battery, is sadly not discounted, the standard Decks with LCD screens remain very capable machines. The original Deck offers the same performance and resolution (1280 x 800) as the OLED model, albeit at a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, and it easily plays most compatible games on Steam save for the most graphically demanding titles.

The OG Deck can even play some big open-world games like Elden Ring and its new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. However, FromSoftware’s excellently punishing RPG is currently in need of a hotfix to resolve an ongoing issue when the game is left inactive on the Steam Deck for five minutes. Also, if you’re opting for the 64GB model, be sure to have a microSD card to expand it. That base storage may be fine when downloading tiny indies, but it fills up fast with bigger games. (Don’t even dream of a Call of Duty.) Thankfully, you don’t really take any notable performance hits by playing games off a quality microSD.