Lenovo is going to run out of money on its Legion Go lineup. The first hand of this company was just workingthough it creates new things, and the new Legion Go S will be very familiar to anyone who has used Steam Deck for held in the same hand.
It’s still an 8-inch handheld so big-screen lovers will be happy. The Legion Go S will come in several flavors, one with the most prominent AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU in the Asus ROG Ally and Legion Go, or the new, exclusive AMD Ryzen Z2 Go. We do not know how it performs compared to the competition, although Asus increases the memory of the Legion Go with 32 GB of 7500Mhz LPDDR5X RAM. If you were hoping it might sport the 80Whr battery of the Asus ROG Ally X, know that the Go S is sticking with a 55 Whr battery.
Details are details, and what’s here seems solid. However, what’s really exciting about the Legion Go S is that it’s one of the first non-Steam Deck handhelds you can buy that comes with Linux-based SteamOS. If you can fit Windows on a small screen—and if all your PC games are on Valve’s platform—this might be the easiest, console-like experience you can have without Valve hardware. Variants with AMD Z2 Go, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage, including the SteamOS version, will cost $600 up to $730 for configurations with a high-end APU. The Windows version should be out in January, although a portable SteamOS is planned for May this year.
The Steam Deck already has an AMD CPU, so installing SteamOS on Legion Go didn’t take much effort. The same button that normally goes to Lenovo’s Legion Center software will instead serve as the Steam Deck’s “Steam” button. Valve representatives told Gizmodo that SteamOS will support the “Verified” tag on SteamOS platforms other than Steam Deck. These certified tags will have a different set of parameters to it, and Valve will have to monitor its own and Lenovo’s handsets going forward.
It would have been a significant release if that was all there was. Lenovo has a lot in store for us. The OEM has shown the first offering of the Legion Go 2. The full line of 2023 handhelds includes an 8.8-inch display, but it’s full OLED this time. As all the rumors suggested, the next Go will sport a Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor that supports AMD RDNA 3.5 and up to 32 GB of RAM.
It’s also a great handset with battery and storage options. Comes with 2 TB SSD and 74 Whr battery. With an OLED display, it looks like the Legion Go 2 is shaping up to be the most premium—and possibly the most expensive—handheld around. The $900 MSI Claw 8 AI+ currently sports the best performance with an 8-inch screen and an Intel chip. We’re happy to compare the latest Claw and the new twin Legion Gos at 8 inches tall.
Most exciting are the redesigned ergonomics. The original Legion Go was stiff and uncomfortable, something Lenovo acknowledged with the designs of both the Go S and Go 2. The so-called Truestrike controllers now have rounded corners but still separate in a Nintendo Switch-like manner to function as individual sticks. The new version will still let you use one controller, like a mouse in first-person shooters, but it may feel more comfortable this time. There’s no price or release date for the Go 2 yet, though Lenovo has said there will be more to share later in 2025.
If you don’t care for portable devices, at least Lenovo’s Legion brand never skipped laptops. There’s a completely redesigned version of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, one of our favorite laptops of 2024. The new shelf on the back includes the company’s “Legion Coldfront Vapor,” which should hopefully keep things cool at up to 250W TDP. Otherwise, it doesn’t stray too far from the 2024 model with RGB per key. It includes the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX as part of Intel’s new lineup, and the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070.
Gizmodo covers all the coolest and weirdest tech from the show floor CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Follow our live stream here.
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