Computer maker Acer is one of the few PC tech companies that hasn’t released a Steam Deck-like handheld gaming device. That changes later this year when it releases not one but three different portable PC devices,

Lenovo has announced two new iterations on the Legion Go, a PC gaming handheld it released in October 2023. The Legion Go 2 will be a beefier—and likely pricier—version of Lenovo's first-generation device,

Lenovo is trying an experiment. In May, it will officially become the very first company outside of Valve to ship a handheld gaming PC with the Steam Deck’s wonderfully pick-up-and-play SteamOS instead of Microsoft Windows. And at $499, it’ll be a true Steam Deck rival, joining it as one of the lower-priced PC handhelds you can buy.

SteamOS is Valve's own Linux-based operating system for handheld gaming PCs, which has so far only officially resided on the Steam Deck. It has been port-able to other devices, but no one has officially taken on the OS for their own device. Until now, anyways.

Valve is making a notable shift with its portable gaming strategy as Lenovo debuted a new edition of its Legion Go

Lenovo has finally announced a new line of Legion Go handheld PCs, with one that will come installed with SteamOS out of the box. The new model is called the Legion Go S, and it's the world's first handheld PC from a third-party manufacturer using Valve's operating system.

SteamOS is slowly becoming an alternative to Windows for handheld gaming devices. After launching the Steam Deck with SteamOS, its own operating system, Valve is now partnering with third-party manufacturers so that they can release gaming handhelds with SteamOS support.

The Steam Deck has been the biggest PC gaming hardware story of the last few years. So it’s no surprise that the idea of running SteamOS (perhaps the most celebrated component of that machine) on other handhelds like the Legion Go S is also a big deal.