The Steam Deck faces new competition as pre-orders open for fierce rival

After its big reveal at CES 2025 earlier this year, Lenovo Legion Go S pre-orders are now available via Best Buy. This is a big deal, as this is the first handheld outside of the Steam Deck to launch with SteamOS, which, if you don’t know, is a much better operating system than Windows 11. Simply put, it could be a real game-changer for the handheld gaming scene, and we’ve got the all-important pre-order details.

While the original Lenovo Legion Go might not be a top pick from our guide to the best handheld consoles, unlike the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally X, this updated version has two things going for it. As we already mentioned, it packs SteamOS, which is a big win in itself. The second factor is that this new handheld is also available in two models, one of which uses the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, a mighty processor that blows the Steam Deck’s AMD Zen 2 CPU out of the water when it comes to gaming performance.

Unsurprisingly, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme version is a little more expensive, with Best Buy setting the pre-order price to $749.99. However, if that’s a little out of your price range, you can pick up the cheaper AMD Ryzen Z2 Go model for $549.99. We’re not expecting the same staggering performance from the Z2 Go version, but it should still be plenty capable of running most of the best Steam Deck games, as even this cheaper version is more powerful than the Steam Deck and its aging processor. Whichever you go for, the big release date is May 25, so there’s not all that long to wait.

It’s worth mentioning that this is the second version of the Lenovo Legion Go S, with the original arriving just last month. However, that model uses Windows 11, just like the original, which, as I’ve said repeatedly, just doesn’t feel great to use on a handheld device. That’s why we’ve been holding out for the SteamOS version, as it could be the first Steam Deck rival that truly gives Valve’s console a run for its money. Yes, it’s slightly ironic that the only way for the Steam Deck to get some real competition is from Valve lending out its operating system, but if it makes the handheld scene more competitive, we’ll take it.

Of course, we’ll be keen to get our hands on the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go S to see just how it fares compared to the Steam Deck, as well as the other Steam Deck alternatives out there. Still, if you can’t wait for some new tech, you can check out our guides to the best gaming phones and the best gaming tablets while you’re here.