Valve’s Steam Deck has emerged as a dominant force in the handheld gaming PC sector, largely owing its success to the intuitive and accessible nature of SteamOS. Now that others need in – and Valve appears joyous to assist.
At CES 2025, Lenovo unveiled its latest innovation – the Legion Go S, a revolutionary handheld PC that comes preloaded with Valve’s groundbreaking Steam OS. The Go is uniquely configured with SteamOS pre-installed, featuring a compact 8-inch display that supports variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. It also boasts Corridor impact-resistant joysticks, adjustable trigger switches, and several other premium features not found on any standard Steam Deck model.
The Steam Deck, a Legion Go S variant powered by SteamOS, is slated to debut in July for $499.99, boasting hardware specifications that rival those of the Asus ROG Ally and other high-performance handheld devices. The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU is included at its base value, paired with a 1920×1200 LCD screen that boasts a maximum 120Hz refresh rate with VRR support, ensuring seamless visuals free from display tearing through synchronized frame rates. The device will feature a microSD card slot, two USB-C ports capable of delivering up to 65W fast charging, as well as a traditional headphone jack. Additionally, it supports expansion via either an M.2 PCIe 2242- or 2280-sized solid-state drive (SSD).
There may be a $599.99 model of the Legion Go S, which will run on SteamOS, featuring a newly announced AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor exclusive to Lenovo, as stated in a press release; this high-end configuration will also include 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.
By eschewing a radical departure from the Steam Deck, Lenovo instead drew inspiration from Valve’s design and iteratively refined it with hardware features that many gamers will appreciate in the Legion Go gaming notebook. Across the grips, there’s a single set of programmable paddle controls, enabling users to customize the trigger throw to either journey its full distance or shorten it to mimic a precise mouse click. The ThinkPad X1 Titanium doesn’t feature touchpads, instead employing an Xbox-inspired design that combines analog sticks, a directional pad, and facial buttons. Nothing unsuitable comes with that; it features a fingerprint sensor positioned discreetly just below the analog stick, allowing users to seamlessly lock their system for added security.
Lenovo is set to release a new variant of its Legion Go gaming laptop, specifically designed for those eager to get their hands on Windows 11, later this month. The $729.99 model, featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 Z2 Go processor, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD, will be the first to ship. This will be followed by a $599.99 configuration in May that includes the same Z2 Go processor, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage.
