When Lenovo introduced the Legion Go S earlier at the moment at CES, I believed it was only a light-weight model of the prevailing behemoth of a gaming handheld, and in some ways, the Windows 11 model is precisely that. However, the Lenovo Legion Go S can be out there with SteamOS, which makes it $100 cheaper and a lot simpler to make use of. It offers us a glimpse of SteamOS’s future and the way it might grow to be a critical risk to Windows – particularly for handheld gaming PCs and gaming laptops.
Design
From the photographs I noticed within the press launch, I believed the Lenovo Legion Go S could be a lot smaller than the unique Legion Go. I used to be flawed. The Lenovo Legion Go S feels about the identical in my fingers because the Asus ROG Ally X, which is at the moment the very best handheld gaming PC available on the market proper now. Even although it sports activities a giant display, it nonetheless feels comfy, particularly with out the knobs and dials of the unique machine.
Instead, the edges of the Lenovo Legion Go S are easy and rounded, contouring properly within the hand, and the hatched texture on the grips of the machine will most likely assist stop unintended drops. The rear facet of these grips hides the one “additional” buttons on the machine, two paddle-like buttons, one on both facet of the machine. That’s a stark distinction from the Lenovo Legion Go, which had a ton of additional buttons and dials, because the detachable controllers had been supposed for use as a stand-in for a mouse.
Luckily, the Lenovo Legion Go S retains the touchpad on the entrance of the machine, even when it shrinks it down significantly. On the Windows 11 model of the machine, it means that you can navigate the OS simply, although it was disabled on the SteamOS model that I performed round with. A Valve representitive advised me {that a} repair is within the works, and the little trackpad needs to be purposeful when the handhelds make it to market later this month.
Also on the entrance of the machine, after all, are the face buttons current on any handheld gaming PC. These all really feel good and tactile, and the analog sticks even have RGB lighting surrounding them – one other factor Valve needed to construct help for in SteamOS for the Go S. But the menu buttons are surprisingly the star of the present. Like with some other handheld on the market, there are 4 menu buttons in complete, two on all sides of the show. The prime button on all sides capabilities as the beginning button on the best and the ‘choose’ button on the left. Beneath these are the menu buttons that decision up both Steam or a fast settings panel. Unlike different handhelds, although, it was extremely easy and responsive, with the menus developing instantly, the place one thing just like the ROG Ally may make me wait a second to convey up Armoury Crate – if it even opens Armoury Crate to start with.
On the highest of the machine, you will discover an outtake vent that spits out sizzling air, that stretches between the 2 triggers. Luckily, the vent does not take up all the top of the machine, with half of that stretch being devoted to the ability button, headphone jack and two USB-C ports.
The Lenovo Legion Go S show is an 8″ 1200p LCD panel with a 120Hz framerate, and it’s attractive. It’s large enough that you’re going to clearly see something you are taking part in and vibrant sufficient to make use of a minimum of within the brightly lit demo room at CES 2025. It marks most likely the most important enchancment over the Steam Deck, as Valve’s handheld remains to be restricted to an 800p show.
Performance
Both the Windows 11 and SteamOS model of the machine are powered both by the lately introduced Z2 Go or the current-generation Z1 Extreme. Obviously, I’ll want to check it by way of a collection of video games to get a transparent image of its gaming efficiency, however the video games I did play on it had a excessive body charge (admittedly Lenovo did not precisely inventory the factor with essentially the most demanding video games).
Beyond the APU on the core of the machine, the Lenovo Legion Go S additionally sports activities ‘as much as’ 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and ‘as much as’ a 1TB SSD – although I’m undecided how a lot reminiscence or storage was on the machine I truly used on the occasion. Again, another excuse to attend for full critiques earlier than you decide to this handheld.
While I do not but have a transparent image of the real-world efficiency of Lenovo Legion Go S, I’m optimistic, particularly given the inexpensive $599 worth.
Price and Availability
As far because the Lenovo Legion Go S launch date, proper now there are two totally different launch home windows: The high-end spec with the Z1 Extreme will likely be out there later in January operating Windows 11 for $729, and the model with the Z2 Go will likely be out there in May, which is able to value $599 for the Windows 11 model, and $499 for the SteamOS model.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC parts queen. You can observe her @Jackiecobra
