Have you wanted to buy a Steam Deck, but aren’t sure about the price? The $399 LCD model is the least expensive, but it’s worth a little extra for the Steam Deck OLED, which offers double or even quadruple the onboard memory. Good news: You can now buy a refurbished Steam Deck directly from Valve. Fair warning: These are selling like hotcakes on the coldest day of the year. At the time of writing, you could pick up a 512GB Steam Deck OLED for just $439, or a 1TB version for $519.
So what does refurbished mean, exactly? According to Steam, the units are put through all the same tests as brand-new retail units, and each Steam Deck receives a factory reset, software update, and thorough examination. All of the different systems are checked and tested, including the battery.
In fact, it’s possible to get a potentially improved Steam Deck when buying refurbished, as Valve says “all refurbished units meet or even exceed the performance standards of new retail units.” That said, the Steam Decks could come with a few scratches or scuffs, but the damage is purely cosmetic.
All refurbished units come with the same one-year warranty as a new one, a refurbished power supply, and the carrying case and quick-start guide.
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Valve’s refurbished offers are here just in time for the holidays, with an estimated delivery time of three to five business days. It’s not a bad price when you can pick up a much higher-end unit for just slightly more than the base model.
The Steam Deck has a lot to offer, especially if you’d like to take your favorite PC games with you on the go (it can run non-Steam games, too). It also supports mods, so you can take that 24-mod Stardew Valley save that you’ve been working toward and play it on the train.
