Bye-bye Windows gaming? SteamOS has officially expanded the Steam Deck.

Almost a year ago, we public wish for the day when many portable gaming PC makers may ditch Windows in favor of SteamOS (which doesn’t necessarily use touching unofficial workarounds). Now, that day has finally arrived, with Lenovo informed the upcoming Legion Go S as the first non-Valve handheld with an officially licensed copy of SteamOS preinstalled. And Valve has promised that it will soon ship a beta version of SteamOS for users to “download and try for themselves.”
As Lenovo’s slightly understated follow-up to the 2023 is a big Legion Gothe Legion Go S does not feature the detachable controllers of its predecessor. But the new PC gaming handheld will come in two different versions, one with the now-standard Windows 11 installation and another edition that is the first to sport the (just leaked) “Powered by SteamOS” branding.
The lack of a Windows license appears to have contributed to the lower starting cost for the “Powered by SteamOS” edition of the Legion Go S, which will start at $500 when it becomes available in May. Lenovo says the Windows edition of the device—available starting this month—will start at $730, with “additional configurations” available in May starting at less than $600.

The Windows and SteamOS versions of the Legion Go S weigh 1.61 lbs with an 8-inch 1200p 120 Hz LCD screen, up to 32GB of RAM, and even AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 Go chipset or older Z1 core.
Watch out, Windows?
Valve said in a blog post on Tuesday that Legion Go S will sport the same version of SteamOS currently found on Steam Deck. The company’s work bringing SteamOS to the Legion Go S will also “enhance compatibility with other handhelds,” Valve said, and the company is “working on SteamOS support for more devices in the future.”
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2025-01-08 11:56:00