The Steam Deck’s handheld crown may lastly fall as a brand new SteamOS Lenovo Legion Go 2 might crush its specs

Rumors are swirling that Lenovo is about to unveil a brand new Lenovo Legion Go 2 SteamOS Version gaming handheld that swaps Home windows for the Steam Deck’s SteamOS. This would possibly not be the primary Home windows handheld to get official SteamOS assist, however it is going to be probably the most highly effective, and will shake-up the hand-held market.

The Steam Deck has been our decide for the most effective gaming handheld for years now, not simply because it is nice worth however as a result of SteamOS units it aside so strongly from Home windows handheld options. It is quicker to load, will get higher recreation efficiency out of its {hardware}, and is far simpler to make use of. Nonetheless, up till now, the one different handheld to formally get SteamOS assist was one other Lenovo system, the Lenovo Legion Go S, and whereas it is a little more highly effective than the Steam Deck, it is not an enormous leap. The Legion Go 2, although, is an entire totally different ball recreation.

Wanting on the specs, the Steam Deck LCD and Steam Deck OLED each use a customized AMD APU housing 4 CPU cores primarily based on the corporate’s outdated Zen 2 structure and an eight-core GPU primarily based on its RDNA 2 structure. Each handhelds additionally characteristic a 1280 x 800, ~7-inch display screen.

In the meantime, the Lenovo Legion Go S makes use of a more moderen AMD Ryzen Z2 chip, nonetheless with 4 CPU cores, however primarily based on the newer Zen 3+ structure, and a GPU with 12 cores primarily based on the RDNA 3 structure. It additionally options an 8-inch LCD display screen with a a lot greater 1920 x 1200 decision, all whereas solely costing round $600. It is truly already a really compelling unit.

With regards to the Lenovo Legion Go 2 {hardware} anticipated for use on this new system, although, nearly all of these numbers take one other massive step up. It makes use of both the identical chip because the Go S or the AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive APU with eight CPU Zen 5 cores and a 16-core GPU primarily based on the RDNA 3.5 structure. This immensely highly effective chip is then housed inside a handheld with a surprising 8.8-inch OLED display screen, and it has removable controllers, a bigger battery, and is mostly filled with options. Nonetheless, with a value of properly over $1,000 for the Z2 Excessive choices, and with it utilizing Home windows, many patrons have not been totally tempted.

Coming, then, to the newly rumored Lenovo Legion Go 2 SteamOS version, tech information website Home windows Newest reviews that Lenovo will launch the brand new mannequin on the CES commerce present in early January subsequent 12 months. The present is anticipated to see a variety of recent bulletins from AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and all of the producers making gear related to them, so it actually could be an applicable place to unveil the brand new Lenovo handheld.

In response to the location, the brand new Lenovo Legion Go 2 SteamOS will launch as a totally standalone product, utilizing the identical {hardware} as the present Legion Go 2, however with SteamOS pre-installed. So, whereas Home windows Legion Go 2 customers may also have the ability to improve to SteamOS, patrons who simply need the simple, console-like expertise of the Steam Deck will have the ability to get simply that with the brand new Lenovo handheld.

Together with delivering what would hopefully be a very Steam Deck-like expertise (aside from the Legion Go 2 being so much greater and heavier than Valve’s handheld), there’s additionally hope that the usage of SteamOS may imply a barely lowered value in comparison with the Home windows Legion Go 2. Nonetheless, the distinction, if any, is prone to be small, and I might nonetheless count on this Legion Go 2 SteamOS model to be a ~$1,000 system. However what a tool it may very well be, if this rumor finally ends up being true.