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

Summer brings a number of official and unofficial kickoffs to mark the start of the season, but the real kickoff for many of us gamers is Steam's annual Summer Sale — which Valve recently announced will begin on Thursday, June 27 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. And as an added gift, Valve's entry-level Steam Deck is already on sale for the lowest price ever ahead of the event.

Valve is offering a 15 percent discount on the base Steam Deck sold through Steam's online storefront until 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on July 11, bringing the price of the LCD-equipped handheld to $296.95 (roughly $52 off) in its 64 GB configuration and $381.65 (roughly $67 off) in its 512 GB variant. In addition to the storage upgrade, the 512 GB model features an antiglare etched glass cover over the seven-inch display.

While the fancy Steam Deck OLED, with its slightly larger 90Hz display and bigger battery, is sadly not discounted, standard decks with LCD screens are very capable machines. The basic deck offers the same performance and resolution (1280 x 800) as the OLED model, although the maximum refresh rate is 60Hz, and it runs most compatible games on Steam with ease, except for the most graphically demanding titles.

The OG deck can also play some big open-world games like Elden Ring and its new Shadow of Erdtree Expansion. However, FromSoftware's excellent punishing RPG is currently in need of a hotfix to solve an ongoing issue that occurs when the game is left idle for five minutes on Steam Deck. Also, if you're opting for the 64GB model, be sure to get a microSD card to expand it. That base storage might be fine when downloading small indie games, but it fills up quickly with larger games. (Don't even dream of Duty.) Thankfully, playing games from a quality microSD won't have any noticeable impact on your performance.