Buying a Steam Deck has by no means been cheaper
Valve is serving up big value cuts on the Steam Deck, however there’s a catch — the consoles are refurbished. Part of the Certified Refurbished Steam Deck program, these handhelds have been mounted up by Valve to reportedly run like new — they usually’re considerably cheaper. You can save as much as $90, however is that this too good to be true? It doesn’t must be.
Buying refurbished gadgets and {hardware} could be scary, however when the goodies come instantly from the producer, it turns into much less dangerous. This is the case with Valve, which is now promoting all three fashions of the LCD Steam Deck, refurbished and at a value lower. If this sounds good, now you can seize the bottom mannequin for $279 as an alternative of $349 ($70 financial savings), whereas the 256GB NVMe mannequin prices $319 as an alternative of $399 when bought new. Lastly, the highest handheld within the lineup with 512GB of storage prices simply $359 as an alternative of $449, which is $90 in financial savings.
The firm says that each handheld has undergone thorough testing, together with over 100 checks at considered one of Valve’s services. This contains testing controller inputs, the display screen, the audio system, and the inner {hardware}. Valve additionally checks battery well being. As a outcome, the corporate guarantees that: “All refurbished units meet or even exceed the performance standards of new retail units.”
Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Sound too good to be true? Well, there’s a small catch — you could have to take care of beauty blemishes or scratches which can be unlikely to interrupt your gaming expertise. The firm even grants a one-year guarantee on the gadget. It’s onerous to search out one thing to choose on right here, truthfully — so long as you don’t thoughts that it’s a refurbished Steam Deck, this seems to be one of many least expensive methods to get one and ensure that it’ll work. It is sensible that Valve would do that now, with the newer Steam Deck OLED providing a greater various to the LCD mannequin.
Valve’s Steam Deck began the hand held gaming PC revolution that spawned gadgets just like the Asus ROG Ally and the MSI Claw. Among its rivals, it’s already one of many least expensive. Adding the choice to purchase it refurbished, however in good working situation, at as much as $90 much less is a good transfer from Valve proper now.
Although the Steam Deck can’t rival the ROG Ally with its Z1 Extreme in efficiency, it’s nonetheless a stable console, and in case you don’t thoughts the attainable blemishes or scratches, this might be the suitable deal for you.
