Ring those non-specific holiday bells, because Valve has dropped the Steam Deck LCD prices for Black Friday once more, making a handheld gaming PC that's tough to beat for the price. Well, next to impossible to beat actually.
Black Friday is darned close to the holiday season, and that makes it a perfect time to pick up a bargain for a PC games enthusiast. Or yourself, obviously. The Steam Deck LCD 512 GB is now down to just under $337, and at that price it's a complete no-brainer.
👉 We're curating the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here 👈
You can take that from the entirety of the PC Gamer hardware team (we universally love a Steam Deck), or just me, if you like. I have this exact model sitting on my bedside table all year round, with the exception of when I travel. I've stuffed it into the seat backs of various airplanes over the past year and a half or so, and never once has it let me down.
Yes, there are more powerful gaming handhelds on the market, and yes, you can now buy a refreshed OLED version that's even nicer, but the original Steam Deck on offer here is such an archetype of the form, it's PC gaming royalty.
The controls are perfectly placed, and feel great. SteamOS is fantastic at handling your games. The battery life is... well okay, its decent, not amazing, but then all handhelds tend to suffer from that particular issue.
But what matters most about the Steam Deck is that it's stood the test of time, even as its competitors have moved ahead of it. Despite the fact its cheaper than, well, pretty much all of them (especially on Black Friday discount), it doesn't feel or perform like a budget machine.
My model has been my stalwart handheld gaming companion for many moons, and is a genuinely lovely thing to this very day. For indie titles, platformers, the odd RPG, and even a touch of handheld strategy gaming, it's still one of the best handheld gaming PCs you can buy.
And providing you don't mind a 30 fps frame rate or so, it can still kick out some surprising performance in demanding titles, like Cyberpunk 2077.
Our Jacob is keeping track of a plethora of Black Friday handheld gaming PC deals live, but I'll spoil something for you now—nothing's likely to beat this one for price. Other than the 64 GB version, of course, but that's pretty piddling for storage. Still, you could always crack it open and stick a bigger and better SSD drive in later on, a la the Lexar Play 2230.
So with the discounts rolling, if you've always been tempted but never quite pressed the button, I reckon now's a good a time as any. The Steam Deck LCD might have been around for a while, but it's still a great buy in 2024.
👉Check out all the Amazon Black Friday PC gaming deals right here👈
