I never bought a Lenovo Legion Go S, or even slotted it into our best handheld PCs list, though it’s funny how much a fat Black Friday price cut can massage the desirability gland. And it helps that these savings cover not just the budget Ryzen Z2 Go model I originally reviewed, but the top-of-the-line Z1 Extreme version with an upgraded 32GB of RAM – and the same SteamOS, instead of fiddly Windows. That extra memory’s probably worth about four billion quid by itself, though while it lasts, the primo Legion Go S is going for £599 in the UK (a £100 saving) and $650 in the US (a $250 saving).
Funnily enough, that makes it as little as $1 more expensive than the equivalent 1TB Steam Deck OLED. The latter is still a bargain in my book, but objectively, it does have a smaller, slower, lower-rez display than the Legion Go S. And while I haven’t benchmarked the Z1 Extreme version, we know from that chip’s performance in the Asus ROG Ally X that it outpaces the Deck’s internals in like-for-like game tests. Both handhelds are even for SteamOS support, but the Legion Go S has a couple more premium touches, like its drift-resistant Hall Effect thumbsticks and adjustable triggers.
That leaves the Deck OLED’s big advantages as quietness and, considering the longevity of both the ROG Ally X and the Legion’s own Z2 Go edition, battery life. Both important qualities in a handheld, to be sure. But when they’re this close together on price, the choice does get an awful lot trickier.
