Lenovo is giving AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme official SteamOS support for the first time. The Legion Go 2 launched in October last year, bringing the Z2 Extreme to the mobile gaming market and fixing many of the issues with Lenovo’s first handheld outing. Now, you can get it with official SteamOS support, combining the best aspects of the Legion Go 2 and Lenovo’s Legion Go S.
SteamOS is available directly from Valve for a DIY install, and Linux distros like Bazzite do a good job emulating Valve’s handheld interface. However, official support brings some perks. As we saw with the Legion Go S , SteamOS provides significantly better performance across games than Windows 11, even when comparing the exact same hardware inside the same chassis.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Processor Up to AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme OS SteamOS 3 Memory Up to 32GB LPDDR5x-8000 Audio 2x 2W speakers Storage Up to 2TB M.2 2242 PCIe Gen 4 Display 8.8-inch OLED, 1920 x 1200, 144Hz Battery 74WHr Ports 2x USB-C (USB4), 1x microSD card reader (up to 2TB), 3.5mm combo audio Wireless Connectivity Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 Weight 2.2 pounds (920 grams) Size 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66 inches (295.6 x 136.7 x 42.25mm)
AMD’s Z2 Extreme is still at the heart of the Legion Go 2 with SteamOS. It’s an eight-core chip that leverages three Zen 5 cores and five Zen 5c cores, the latter of which trade peak clock speed for a space-optimized design. The Zen 5 cores can boost up to 5GHz while the Zen 5c cores top out at 3.3GHz. It defaults to a 28W TDP, though it has an adjustable TDP range from 15W up to 35W. The gaming grunt comes from the integrated RDNA 3.5 GPU, which sports 16 CUs.
Alongside AMD’s chip, Lenovo offers up to 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and 2TB of storage, plus an additional 2TB available through the microSD card slot. The memory is clocked at 8000 MT/s for the 32GB model and 7500 MT/s for the 16GB model. Lenovo is using the same OLED screen featured on the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go 2, which is an 8.8-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, a 144Hz refresh rate, 10-point touch support, variable refresh rate, and a certification for VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 1000.
Everything about the SteamOS Legion Go 2 is identical to the original model, short of the operating system. You still get dual USB 4 ports for charging or accessories, detachable controllers, a touchpad, six programmable buttons, and Hall Effect joysticks.
Lenovo says the Legion Go 2 with SteamOS should be available in June, starting at $1,199. The Legion Go 2 with Windows 11 is listed at $1,349 for the 32GB model, so the 32GB model of the SteamOS version should land somewhere around that price. It’s worth highlighting that the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S has a slightly lower price than the Windows 11 version, so hopefully that trend continues with the Legion Go 2. But with the way RAM prices are right now, who can predict what pricing might be like in six months?
Refreshed Legion laptops with new AMD branding
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
Lenovo is refreshing its Legion 5 and 7 ranges, and for the first time ever, properly noting configurations that come with an AMD CPU. Lenovo usually notes configurations with an Intel processor with an “i,” such as the Lenovo Legion 5i, while the AMD configuration would normally be called the Lenovo Legion 5. Now, Lenovo is adding an “a,” turning the Lenovo Legion 5 into the Legion 5a.
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