The first official non-Steam Deck device to support Valve's SteamOS is the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go S. The Lenovo Legion Go S is the first handheld device that is officially licensed to ship with SteamOS. It is expected to be priced at $499 and will start shipping around May 2025. A more definitive release date is not yet known.
Valve says that SteamOS will "provide a seamless user experience" that is optimized for gaming. This is the very same operating system that comes included with all Steam Deck purchases from Valve.
Valve also notes that they do have to add in some additional support within SteamOS to best support the Lenovo Legion Go S. They say that the work that they are doing here will improve compatibility with other handhelds that may be released in the future.
This updated release of SteamOS will be freely available for anybody to download and test on their own devices. As it stands, SteamOS does lack some features that many people take for granted in more common operating systems.
Linus Tech Tips released a video mere days ago where they took the existing SteamOS for a test drive on a desktop PC. Some of the major hurdles encountered is the fact that there was no support for Nvidia GPUs, limited network card support, and no printer support. The SteamOS setup process also does not prompt for a drive or partition to use, meaning that all existing data on your system will be overwritten when installing.
If Valve can address these (and other) issues over the next few months, SteamOS could be a viable option for even desktop use. At the very least, it could be a viable option for dual-booting (if Valve addresses the lacking setup options).
One thing that probably won't change is the fact that while you can install additional software via the SteamOS desktop mode, it's limited to what is available in the included Flatpack-based Discover software. This does limit what software you can install and use but it also ensures that those unfamiliar with Linux don't screw things up too badly.
As is the case with games played on Steam Deck, the Lenovo Legion Go S should support "the vast majority" of your Steam library. This is due to the Proton compatibility layer that Valve utilizes in SteamOS, which allows for Windows games to run on Linux-based systems. However, there will always be exceptions to this.
Lenovo isn't going all-in on SteamOS though. The Legion Go S will come in two flavors: Glacier White with Windows 11 and Nebula Violet with SteamOS. The SteamOS model will be $100 cheaper. The Windows 11 model will begin shipping later this month.
The Legion Go S will include either a Ryzen Z2 Go processor or the Ryzen Z1 Extreme. The Z1 Extreme is already used in the original Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme includes four Zen 3 cores and 12 RDNA 3-based Graphics Cores. The Ryzen Z2 includes four Zen3+ cores with 12 RDNA 2-based Graphics Cores.
Yes, it does seem as though the Ryzen Z2 is a step down in performance. While the Z2 will offer lower gaming performance compared to Z1 Extreme equipped devices, it should still offer more performance than the current Steam Deck. Perhaps the pure-gaming focus of SteamOS will make the hardware differences negligible.
The Legion Go S will sport an 8-inch 1920x1200 LCD display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Variable refresh rate (VRR) will be supported.
The battery capacity goes from 49.2Whr in the Legion Go to 55.5Whr in the Legion Go S.
Maximum RAM capacity in the Legion Go S is 32GB. It will also include two USB4 ports. There is also a small track pad on the face of the device.
The Legion Go S with Windows 11 is out January 2025 starting at $729. Additional configurations with Windows 11 will be out in May and have prices starting at $599. The Legion Go S Powered by SteamOS will be out around May for $499.
(Photo courtesy The Verge)
