CES 2025 | Lenovo Legion Go S launches as first 'Powered by SteamOS' handheld; available with Windows 11 too

Following the success of the Legion Go, Lenovo has announced the Legion Go S, its second gaming handheld. However, the Legion Go S can't be described as a successor to the Legion Go. Sporting a smaller and different design, the Lenovo Legion Go S is the first non-Valve gaming handheld officially powered by SteamOS, serving as an alternative to Valve's own Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.

Interestingly, Lenovo will also sell a Windows variant of the Legion Go S to cater to those who like the new form factor but prefer Microsoft's own operating system. Save for the operating systems, the Legion Go S Powered by Steam OS and the Legion Go S with Windows 11 have the same technical specifications.

With respect to design, the Legion Go S has a rounder design than the Legion Go (curr. available on Amazon for $668.99). It ditches the removable TrueStrike controllers of its bigger sibling for permanently fused ones. It also has a much smaller trackpad below the right thumbstick and an Xbox-style D-Pad. On the back are a pair of back buttons and a switch to adjust trigger sensitivity when playing racing and shooting games.

The Legion Go S has an 8'' display, unlike the Legion Go which has a larger 8.8'' QHD+ display. Sadly, it isn't OLED but an LCD panel with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 16:10 aspect ratio, 97% DCI-P3 color gamut, and support for 10-point multitouch. It also has support for variable refresh rate (VRR).

The new handheld will be available with the option of AMD's Ryzen Z2 Go processor or the Ryzen Z1 Extreme inside the Legion Go. It will have up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD storage (2242 and 2280 compatible). The Legion Go S, despite being smaller, has a larger 55.5Whr (3-cell) battery compared to the 49.2Whr (2-cell) battery inside the Legion Go. The device will come with a 65W Type-C adapter for charging and will have support for Rapid Charge Express allowing it to charge from empty to 85% in an hour.

Lenovo has equipped the Legion Go S with a handful of ports. There are two USB-4 ports at the top with DisplayPort 1.4 support, Power Delivery 3.0, and 40Gbps speed. The Legion Go S also has a microSD card slot, an audio jack, dual 2W speakers, Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6E. Unsurprisingly, the Legion Go S is lighter at 740 grams than the Legion Go which weighs 854 grams with the controllers attached.

The Legion Go S (Windows) will be available this month with a starting price of $729.99. However, there will be cheaper configurations with a starting price of $599.99 starting in May. The Legion Go S (SteamOS) will not be available until May, and will have a starting price of $499.99. The Windows version will be available in Glacier White, while the SteamOS variant will come in Nebula Violet.