Lenovo is the first to partner with Valve to bring the SteamOS to the Legion Go S.
This is great news. There will be more options to choose from. I love the Steam Deck but other similar products can help push the technology forward.
For me, the new Legion Go S looks like a pseudo-Steam Deck spin-off. I have issues with the D-Pad though. Other than that, it looks pretty cool. The RGB in the analogue sticks are nice.
There were some changes though. Unlike the first Legion Go that had detachable controllers that can transform into a mouse or joy stick, this time, it really is just a plain handheld console. It felt like a cool way to play FPS games. But then again, if you think about it, the space required to pull that off kind of kills some of its portability.
The Legion Go S will have dual USB ports, a smaller trackpad, and a switch to control the pressure of the trigger buttons. It will also ship out with a 120Hz refresh rate and is powered with an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip.
For some reason Lenovo is keeping a Windows version. Probabaly because they are heathens who still express doubt on the SteamOS (Dear Lenovo, I kid).
The Windows version of the Legion Go S will cost $729.99 USD and will have 32GB RAM and 1TB storage. There is also a 16GB/1TB configuration for $599, also running Windows. The SteamOS version is set at $499 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. For comparison, the Steam Deck and the shinier Steam Deck OLED are priced at $399 and $549, respectively.
I get the idea that a Windows has an ecosystem and works well for productivity. I just don’t think it works for a device primarily meant for gaming. If people wanted to use it for that purpose, they would have figured out how to do that with the Steam Deck by now.
Pierre Loup Griffais, Valve coder, confirmed in a Bluesky post, that there won’t be a Z2-based Steam Deck. Basically, putting the lid on any chance of the next-gen Steam Deck coming out any time soon. Typical Valve.