The Lenovo Legion Go 2 with SteamOS is official, but you might want to start saving now

Following swirling rumors last month, it’s now official: we’re getting a new version of the Lenovo Legion Go 2 with SteamOS this year. Lenovo revealed the SteamOS-powered version of the handheld at CES 2026, but there is a bit of a caveat. This new Steam Deck rival is launching in June of this year for $1,199, which is around twice the price of Valve’s own OLED handheld.

For those who don’t know, the original Lenovo Legion Go 2 arrived late last year, but like both its predecessor and some of the other Steam Deck alternatives out there, its Windows 11 operating system was a bit of a sticking point for critics and users. Simply put, SteamOS is a more user-friendly interface for gamers, and some testing suggests that it also offers more reliable in-game performance compared to Windows 11 when running on the same console.

In terms of the hardware, the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go 2 is almost exactly the same as the Windows 11 model, except for a dedicated Steam button. That means the Go 2 is packing the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, which offers a lot more performance firepower than the Steam Deck OLED, as well as 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. Those are some pretty impressive specs, but the $1,199 price point might still prove too hard to swallow for some potential users.

A SteamOS version of Legion Go 2 arriving months after the original isn’t much of a surprise, considering Lenovo did the same thing last year with the Legion Go S. However, the price point is a bit out of the blue, with the SteamOS model costing around $100 more than the original Windows 11 version. Given that Lenovo doesn’t have to pay a license to Valve for its operating system, we’re unsure of the reason behind the price hike, but it could be related to the rising cost of RAM.

It’s worth noting that if you already have a Lenovo Legion Go 2 with Windows 11, you can replace the operating system with SteamOS; this requires some technical expertise and a few YouTube tutorials. If you were thinking of picking one up, I’d recommend holding out for June to get the new version, as while it’s a bit more expensive, it saves you having to go all hacker-mode on your hardware. Still, if you want to check out some alternatives before deciding, you can check out our guide to the best handheld consoles.