Valve Steam Deck handheld great for PC gamers

Gift shopping for gamers can be a mind-boggling experience. It can also become quite pricey. While many items featured in our guide of the best gifts for gamers come with a heavy price tag, we've also included more affordable options.

Here is CNET's top pick for the latest PC game platform. For the full list, visit CNET.com.

Valve Steam Deck handheld

A handheld for PC gamers

CNET TAKE: Valve is the company behind the hugely successful Steam online game store, and its Steam Deck handheld comes closer than anything we've seen to nailing the openness, flexibility and scale of PC gaming that devoted WASD gamers have yearned for.

Before opting to gift the device, make sure you know your recipient. It's a handheld AMD-powered PC running Linux (with an overlay called Steam OS), and it plays many, but not all, of the PC games on the Steam online store. As long as they're prepared to do some tweaking and experimenting with settings, and feel comfortable with general PC game troubleshooting (vs. the plug-and-play ease of living room consoles), the Steam Deck is a fantastic gaming device.

The company just launched a new, higher-end model with a larger OLED screen, bigger battery and a 1TB solid-state drive. It's more expensive than the older models, starting at $549, but it's worth it for the upgrades. You can still get the original 256GB model for $399, though.

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