The Handheld Renaissance, Lenovo Offering The Best Deal Yet

Handheld gaming PCs have quietly crossed the threshold from niche experiment to viable mainstream option. What began as a trickle with niche devices from GPD or Aya Neo has turned into a wave and it’s not slowing down. With the Lenovo Legion Go now dropping to $500 this month on Amazon (down from $700), we’re seeing something bigger than a simple sale. We’re watching an entire category mature before our eyes.

The Legion Go isn't some stripped-down handheld. For that price, you get AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an 8.8-inch 1600p screen at 144Hz. It’s a serious machine, and while its battery life is predictably short like nearly every handheld PC, rapid charging helps make up for it. What’s more telling than the specs, though, is that this kind of device now costs less than some entry-level gaming laptops or flagship phones. That signals a broader shift: these aren’t luxury toys anymore, they’re practical machines within reach of a lot more people.

Valve’s Steam Deck deserves credit here. It wasn’t just the first widely adopted handheld PC it set the tone for what followed. By undercutting profit margins, promoting Linux, and pushing Proton and SteamOS forward, Valve essentially open-sourced the foundation of a new platform and people noticed. Developers began optimizing for it, players bought in, and suddenly it didn’t seem so crazy to run a FromSoft game and touch some grass before finishing it or. The Steam Deck didn’t just work it stuck the landing.

Now we’re seeing the aftershocks. Legion Go isn’t trying to be a Steam Deck clone, though. It’s got its own identity detachable controllers, a kickstand, FPS-style mouse mode on the right controller, and a larger, higher-resolution screen. It’s weird in all the right ways. We’re in the experimentation phase of the handheld renaissance, where design risks are still getting greenlit and everyone’s trying to find the killer feature. Some will fail. Some won’t. That’s the fun part. We even have the more powerful Nintendo Switch 2 

We're also watching a quiet divergence in philosophy. SteamOS-based handhelds are lightweight, tightly integrated, and built with efficiency in mind. Others stick with Windows for broader game compatibility and more flexible software support. Neither approach is “correct”, they just reflect different values. More importantly, both are coexisting.

Even with new competitors like the Legion Go S refining designs and improving portability, the original Legion Go still holds its ground thanks to those quirky features and stronger performance. Price drops like this make it especially compelling. And no, it’s not perfect, thebattery life is still a recurring punchline, but when you’re running Baldur’s Gate 3 on something the size of a paperback novel, a bit of fan noise and power drain feels like a fair trade.

You might not need to ask yourself if handheld gaming PCs are “worth it” anymore. The new question is simpler: which one fits your needs and when should you strike? Because with prices like these, even people who don’t follow Linus Tech Tips religiously are going to start paying attention.