Lenovo Legion Go 2 joins the SteamOS handheld club
Valve proved with the Steam Deck that raw power is not everything in a handheld gaming PC. The combination of smart hardware choices and the slick, gamer focused SteamOS operating system turned it into a massive hit. Now Lenovo is stepping further into that space with the Lenovo Legion Go 2, a new handheld that ships with SteamOS and brings some serious hardware upgrades over its predecessor.
This is Lenovo’s second handheld that runs SteamOS out of the box. The earlier Legion Go S has already earned a reputation as one of the best handheld gaming PCs you can buy, but its internals were starting to look a little dated. The Legion Go 2 is designed to fix that by refreshing the main chip and pushing performance closer to what modern PC gamers expect.
Ryzen Z2 Extreme under the hood
At the heart of the Legion Go 2 is AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme, an APU that combines both CPU and GPU on a single chip. On the CPU side you get eight cores and sixteen threads, just like the older Z1 Extreme in the Legion Go S. The key change is the architecture. The Z2 Extreme uses a mix of AMD’s newer Zen 5 and 5c cores, which brings better efficiency and smarter performance scaling compared to the previous generation.
For handheld gaming PCs though, the bottleneck is usually the GPU, not the CPU. That is where the Z2 Extreme really steps ahead. It comes with 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units, up from 12 RDNA 3 compute units in the Z1 Extreme. Since both chips generally run at similar clock speeds, this translates into around 33 percent more raw rendering performance on the Legion Go 2.
In practical terms that means smoother frame rates or the ability to bump visual settings a little higher in many games compared to the older model. It is not suddenly a desktop class monster, but for a portable device, that uplift is meaningful, especially when combined with modern upscaling tech.
The Legion Go 2 pairs that GPU with an 8.8 inch display that runs at 144 Hz and a resolution of 1200p. That is a sweet spot for handhelds. The high refresh rate helps games feel fluid at lower frame rates thanks to better frame pacing, while 1200p keeps things sharp without asking for the insane GPU power a 1440p or 4K screen would need in this form factor.
Heavy hitting games will still benefit from FSR upscaling though. Running at a lower internal resolution and upscaling to the full 1200p is likely to be the norm for visually demanding titles, letting you keep frame rates in a playable range without trashing image quality.
Memory, storage, and design features
Beyond the main APU, Lenovo has equipped the Legion Go 2 with specs that are pretty standard for a modern high end handheld PC. You can get up to 32 GB of LPDDR5x 8000 memory, which is plenty for today’s games and gives you breathing room for future titles and multitasking. Storage options go up to 2 TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD space, so you can keep a chunky library of AAA games locally without constantly uninstalling and redownloading.
The physical design sticks to the formula that made the original Legion Go interesting. The side controllers are detachable, letting you prop the screen up on a desk and play in a more Switch like console style. Lenovo has even kept the option to mount the right controller in a base so it can emulate a gun style controller for first person shooters, which is a neat gimmick for certain games.
Overall you can think of the Legion Go 2 as a slightly larger but noticeably more powerful evolution of the Legion Go S. It is built for players who want a premium handheld PC experience with flexible control options and do not mind something a bit chunkier than a traditional console handheld.
SteamOS and the price problem
The other star of the show is SteamOS. Valve’s Linux based operating system has become the gold standard for handheld PC usability. It gives you instant access to your Steam library, a console like interface optimized for controllers, quick suspend and resume and smart performance profiles, all without the overhead and awkwardness of a full desktop Windows install on a tiny screen.
With SteamOS running natively on the Legion Go 2, portable PC gamers get a familiar experience similar to the Steam Deck but with more muscle and a higher spec display. For anyone tired of wrestling with Windows on a handheld, that alone is a big selling point.
The catch is the price. On Lenovo’s US store, the Legion Go 2 configuration with the standard Ryzen Z2 processor which is effectively a rebadged Z1 Extreme and 16 GB of slower LPDDR5x memory is listed at around 1,100 dollars. That is a steep jump compared to the Steam Deck and even compared to earlier Legion handhelds, pushing the device firmly into enthusiast territory.
At the time the information was shared, Z2 Extreme versions were not in stock in the US but could be found on Lenovo’s UK store for around 1,100 pounds. If component prices continue to climb, it risks turning what could be a dream handheld PC into something that only a tiny slice of gamers can realistically afford.
So the Lenovo Legion Go 2 with SteamOS looks like a near perfect combo on paper. Stronger APU, fast memory and storage, a sharp 144 Hz display and Valve’s excellent handheld operating system all wrapped in a flexible, detachable controller design. For portable PC gamers who want more performance than a Steam Deck and do not mind paying a premium, it might be close to handheld heaven. The big question is whether that asking price will keep those pearly gates closed for most players.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/handheld-gaming-pcs/we-might-have-a-new-contender-for-the-best-handheld-gaming-pc-because-lenovos-just-announced-a-steamos-version-of-its-mega-legion-go-2/
