Lenovo Unveils A Legion Go S Running SteamOS Plus More Handhelds And Gaming PCs

To state the obvious, PC gaming is not only alive and well, but thriving. Need proof? Just look at the bevy of products announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Among them is an array of gaming hardware from Lenovo, which used the event as a launchpad for several new gaming handhelds, laptops, desktops, and more.

Starting with the handhelds, we paid a visit to Lenovo's booth and saw some of them in person, including the Legion Go S (8", 1) pictured above. It's another in a growing list of Windows-based handhelds, with this one sporting an 8-inch display with a 1920x1200 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 500 nits brightness, 10-point touch support, and 97% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space.

It's powered by a either an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor that Lenovo says is exclusive to the Legion Go S, or a Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. Other specs include up to 32GB of LPDDR5X-7500 RAM, up to 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, and a port selection that includes two USB4 ports, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and a microSD card reader.

The Legion Go S (8", 1) will be available this month starting at $729.99, with additional configs slated to release in May starting at $599.99

Arguably even more interesting what Lenovo is pitching as the "world's first officially licensed handheld powered by SteamOS," which is calling the Legion Go S (8", 1) - Powered by SteamOS. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Maybe not, but it's an interesting handheld all the same, in that it can viewed as a souped-up Steam Deck. It offers easy access to Steam gaming libraries, as well as cloud saves and remote play. The specs are otherwise the same as the aforementioned Legion Go S (8", 1).

This one will debut to retail in May starting at $499.99.

Rounding out the handheld category is a third model in prototype form, the Legion Go (8.8", 2). Purportedly based on feedback from gamers, the Legion Go prototype retains the detachable controller design of its predecessor (see our Legion Go review) while bumping up the specs to include an OLED display (1920x1200, 144Hz refresh rate) with variable refresh rate (VRR) support, a Ryzen Z2 processor clocked at 3.3GHz, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage.

"The prototype also highlights ergonomic refinements, including rounded Lenovo Legion TrueStrike controllers with a circular D-pad for faster, more accurate inputs. With up to 2TB of SSD storage and a 74Whr battery, the Lenovo Legion Go (8.8”, 2) prototype showcases Lenovo's vision for the future of handheld gaming, designed to deliver premium, immersive experiences in a compact and lightweight form factor for competitive gamers that need top-tier specs and no-compromise performance," Lenovo says.

Switch gears to laptops, Lenovo is refreshing its lineup with a whole bunch of new and upgraded models. There are too many to go into great detail here, but these will be offered in a variety of sizes, specs, and features. A couple of highlights include the Legion Pro 7i and 5i, both of which are 16-inch gaming laptops.

Fully loaded, these laptops are gaming beasts with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, up to a GeForce RTX 5090 mobile GPU, up to 64GB of DDR5-6400, and up to 2TB of PCIe 5.0 SSD storage.

Additionally, Lenovo is touting its "Legion Coldfront Vapor" solution with "hyperchamber technology." According to Lenovo, this is adequate cool hardware up to 250W TDP.

Some new and retooled gaming desktops are on tap too. They include the Legion Tower 7i, Legion Tower 5i, and Legion Tower 5.

"Pro esports gamers and hobbyist gamers looking for the power of a tower without the project of building one need look no further than the Lenovo Legion Tower series. The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i (34L, 10) and Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (30L, 10) feature Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX desktop processors, while the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 (30L, 10) features up to AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D desktop processors," Lenovo says.

The retooled laptops will begin to appear in May with starting prices ranging from $1,149 to $2,399.

Lenovo isn't equipped these with NVIDIA's latest GPU hardware. Instead, all three desktops feature GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs——up to a GeForce RTX 4080 Super on the Legion Tower 7i (34L, 10) and up to a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti on the Legion Tower 5i/5 (30L, 10). These will show up starting in April priced at $1,199 and up, depending on the model.

Some other gaming products in Lenovo's pipeline include the curved Legion Pro 34WD-10 gaming monitor (OLED, 240Hz), curved Legion R34w-30 monitor, updated LOQ laptops for more affordable gaming, and various accessories.