Back in February 2025, when we originally reviewed the Lenovo Legion Go S with AMD Ryzen Z2 Go APU, we complained that, for all the refinements Lenovo was able to make, the console’s price-to-performance was not good. At its full retail of over $700 with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, the Legion Go S fails to compete with other handheld consoles like the Rog Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme.
Lenovo, however, did do the Legion Go S a favor by releasing a SteamOS version, which runs better than the Windows version. You can also install SteamOS on the Legion Go S. This is where Best Buy’s latest Lenovo Legion Go S discount comes in. The retailer has dropped the price of the Legion Go S from $749.99 to only $499.99, the lowest price ever that matches a limited-time deal from July.
Now at just $499.99 with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, the Lenovo Legion Go S has become one of the, if not the best, value portable gaming consoles on the market. This is due to the handled consoles' efficient operation, good battery life, well-built chassis, and comfy controls. Controls like the triggers and the back buttons are also customizable.
For display, the Lenovo Legion Go S features an 8-inch 16:10 IPS display. Our review of the device revealed more than 500 nits of average brightness, 99% sRGB coverage, and a decent contrast ratio of 1,500:1. Moreover, the panel refreshes at 120 Hz and has VRR to reduce tearing.
The Lenovo Legion Go S will make good use of this display for gaming as long as you keep performance expectations in check. Frankly, you won’t be playing AAA games at 60 FPS using elevated settings. What you will be able to do, however, is play well-optimized AAA titles, older games, and lighter indie games without any hitches on the Legion Go S, if you reduce the graphical settings. For instance, we recently reported that old AMD APUs like Vega 7 can run the latest Battlefield 6 quite well at 1080p using FSR. The Ryzen Z2 Go will be able to play the game significantly better.
Moreover, the Legion Go S displayed good thermals and noise output in our review. The handheld also lasted more than 8 hours in our WLAN test. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at the maximum settings drained the console in around 100 minutes.
All in all, if you want to get the maximum bang for your buck, the Lenovo Legion Go S on sale is the handheld console to get. On the other hand, if you want to get maximum performance, there are better options on the market.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
Source(s)
slickdeals, Best Buy (linked above)