As I sit looking at my morbid Lenovo Legion Go S review notes, I’m practically grieving for what the gaming handheld could have been. The laptop maker firmly had my attention when it first announced that it was cooking up a $499 SteamOS version that’d take on the mighty Steam Deck with a Ryzen Z2 Go chip. Yes, all that has still technically to come, but I feel like launching the Windows 11 model first has already hampered its cheap contender’s success.
By freeing the Lenovo Legion Go S from the gimmicky removable controllers and needlessly large screen, the company has created the device I wanted back in 2023. Had I ended up testing the SteamOS version first, I’d likely be about to dive into one of the next best gaming handheld options. Instead, I’m looking at a device that has unbalanced specs, plenty of Windows 11 caveats, and a dreadful $729 price tag. That inflated MSRP is actually tied to a weird specific US decision to only sell the 32GB / 1TB version, as those of you in the UK can pick up the 16GB / 512GB model for £549. Hmm.
