Lenovo Legion Go S

Much has been made, including right here on this very website, of the impact of SteamOS on the PC market. The Steam Deck has been a runaway success for Valve, and it's not hard to understand why other vendors are now seeking to sip from Valve's software cup. From our experience using SteamOS on the Lenovo Legion Go S, it provides a much more console-like experience for what is essentially a gaming PC.

Powered by Valve's SteamOS—not Windows—the updated Legion Go S is a big improvement over the original and, frankly, a better SteamOS handheld than the actual Steam Deck.

The Legion Go S takes a lot of the good stuff from its predecessor and distills it into a slightly more compact and portable package. However, the launch model currently costs more than the original Legion Go, while offering worse performance, a smaller screen and no detachable controllers, which makes this a hard handheld to love.

It's hard to recommend the Legion Go S over the already-established Legion Go.

The Lenovo Legion Go S is an incredibly ergonomic handheld gaming PC that feels great in your hands. But Windows makes the whole experience feel awkward. The Steam Deck OLED offers better battery life at a lower price — and other Windows handhelds will deliver stronger gaming performance.

The Lenovo Legion Go S is fine. It’s able to play most games at 1080p with medium settings, but it just doesn’t make much sense to buy when you can get a better handheld at a lower price.