Club Benefits
Valve surprised everyone this week when the gaming giant suddenly brought the Steam Deck OLED back in stock with an insane $300 price hike. The 1TB version now costs $949, while the 512GB variant is now $789.
With that increase, the Steam Deck may not be the most valuable handheld console you can pick up right now. Instead, I've gone through our list of the best handheld gaming consoles and picked my favorites. I've picked consoles that offer similar or, in some cases, better performance than the four-year-old Steam Deck.
Of course, you can also turn any handheld console into a Steam Deck by installing SteamOS or the Bazzite gaming OS.
Quick Links
- shop all handheld gaming consoles at Amazon
- Asus ROG Xbox Ally 7: for $599 @ Best Buy
- Lenovo Legion Go: for $849 @ Best Buy
- Asus ROG Xbox Ally X: for $999 @ Best Buy
- PS5 Pro: for $899 @ Amazon
- Switch 2: for $449 @ Amazon
My Top Steam Deck Alternatives
Traditional console alternatives
If a PC gaming handheld isn't appealing to you, you can also consider going the traditional route, which are also more appealing now.
The Nintendo Switch 2, despite price hikes coming in September, only costs you $449, while even the most expensive PlayStation, the PS5 Pro is now cheaper than the 1TB Steam Deck at $899.
My Top Console Alternatives
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. Finally, you can visit our dedicated Tom's Guide Savings Squad hub for expert help on getting the best products for less.
More from Tom's Guide
