In a world of obscene handheld gaming PC prices, Valve has just dropped a major Steam Deck LCD discount

• Valve's Steam Deck LCD has dropped in price amid handheld price hikes
• The price drop comes ahead of the ROG Xbox Ally X launch, with rumors of a $1,000 price
• It further cements Valve's handheld as the most affordable handheld gaming PC around

Both handheld gaming PCs and game consoles have seen a sudden shift over the last year, with prices skyrocketing due to market conditions – but there's one popular giant among them that continues to impress, even in the midst of pricing chaos.

Valve has just dropped the price of the Steam Deck LCD, amid game console price increases and the launch of other handheld gaming PCs at high prices. The latter include the Lenovo Legion Go 2 and ROG Xbox Ally X, which is rumored to start within the same $1,000 price ballpark as Lenovo's device.

The Steam Deck LCD is currently available with a 20% discount, reducing its price to $319.20 / £279.20 / AU$519.20 from the previous $399, and this makes Valve's popular handheld much more approachable than the Nintendo Switch 2, ROG Xbox Ally X (with its expected price), and the Lenovo Legion Go 2.

While it certainly doesn't provide the same level of performance as the likes of the ROG Xbox Ally X, it's enough to get the job done across several games – and most importantly, it's affordable.

Most gamers are already irked by Microsoft's recent Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S price hikes, which are yet another increase after previous ones earlier in May this year.

The Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Extreme SteamOS model (which I highly recommend) has suffered yet another price increase on Best Buy, now at $899 (around £665 / AU$1,360), which is the original retail price of the more powerful MSI Claw 8 AI+.

Many of these price jumps are likely due to tariffs, and it doesn't look like they'll simmer down any time soon. So, besides the Asus ROG Ally and the original Lenovo Legion Go, which will likely see price jumps too, the Steam Deck appears to be the only handheld gaming PC that doesn't require overspending for a solid gaming experience.

Analysis: I'm hoping the Steam Deck can keep this going for years to come

If there's anything that handheld gaming PC fans need right now, it's hope that affordable options won't suddenly surge in price – and that's exactly what Valve has done with the Steam Deck.

It's not a pleasant sight to see a device like the Lenovo Legion Go 2 become so costly, despite the minor performance improvements using AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor coming from the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, and its OLED display does very little to justify such a high price in my book.

The current state of the market makes me clutch my Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go S even tighter, because it genuinely seems like pricing will gradually enter the gaming laptop territory and become a normality. And like I've said before, I don't want to see handhelds becoming niche again, at least from mainstream manufacturers.

I'm aware that whatever Valve does with the eventual Steam Deck successor's hardware will ultimately result in a higher price, but I'm confident that Valve is waiting for a chip powerful enough to warrant an upgrade – something that handheld manufacturers like Asus and Lenovo seemingly haven't considered.

Until then, Valve deserves every bit of praise it can get.

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