The Lenovo Legion Go is a beast on specs and a beast in the hand

Few might’ve predicted simply how shortly the gaming handheld market would develop, following the launch of Valve’s Steam Deck. Seemingly a random pie-in-the-sky Valve {hardware} wager, out of the blue we now have a number of real contenders, with the newest being the largest but: the Lenovo Legion Go. I acquired to spend an hour or so with the system at a preview occasion to seek out out whether or not its large 8.8-inch display and removable controllers make it the most effective gaming handheld up to now, or if it’s due a spherical of decimation. Learn on for our full Lenovo Legion Go hands-on preview.

Lenovo Legion Go design

Within the hand, the Legion Go is an absolute bruiser of a gaming handheld when in comparison with both the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally, and significantly when in comparison with even smaller models just like the Nintendo Change. Its 8.8-inch display is, in spite of everything, practically two inches wider than its foremost rivals, whereas the addition of removable controls means these have to take a seat totally exterior of the pill/display part of the system, somewhat than with the ability to wrap across the again of the display.

In addition to being huge, the Legion Go additionally weighs the higher a part of 200g (7oz) heavier than the Ally and Steam Deck. Nonetheless, you don’t essentially discover this, because the bigger pill and sizeable controls imply the system sits comfortably in your palms – it doesn’t really feel like a very dense, unbalanced, or awkward system to carry.

Longer gaming periods could lead to you feeling the additional weight a little bit extra, however realistically, the inherent two-hand nature of those units means most customers gained’t meaningfully discover the distinction. Plus, for longer periods, you may at all times pop the kickstand, unclip the controllers, and set the pill down when you recreation – a function that’s not current on both the Steam Deck or Ally.

The principle space the place the Legion Go feels significantly unwieldy is when getting used as a pill, with the controllers eliminated. In idea, it makes for a compact, versatile system that may double as a pill in addition to a gaming handheld, but it surely’s very thick and the shortage of the usual protecting, easy-to-hold instances most folk use with common tablets means it feels a bit precarious. It will probably be nice for watching movies in mattress or on the couch – and naturally the kickstand means you may set it down and watch from afar – however you wouldn’t need to simply maintain the Legion Go one-handed on the practice.

As for the way the Legion Go appears, it’s a reasonably humdrum unit. The principle pill part has a metallic again, and there are some cheap high quality black plastics used all through, however there’s little aptitude to the design. It’s black, with a little bit extra black, and a few extra black in addition. The principle stylistic additions are the rings of RGB lighting across the thumbsticks, the colour and brightness of that are straightforward to regulate with Lenovo’s onboard software program.

Lenovo Legion Go controllers

The Legion Go’s controllers connect to the perimeters of the pill unit with an impressively safe but quick-release system. A button on the again of every controller unlocks them, then a brief slide-down movement unclips them – there’s not one of the lengthy, sliding-off of the Change controllers. It’s unimaginable to say from an hour or so with the system if these clips will actually stay sturdy sufficient over time, however there was no apparent wobble to the mechanism when hooked up – it’s a formidable piece of engineering.

Every controller is charged through pins on its aspect, with no detachable batteries or technique of exterior charging, which is a little bit limiting. It might be a distinct segment state of affairs, but when a controller runs out of juice once you’re utilizing it indifferent, you’re pressured to reattach it, somewhat than plugging it in (or swapping batteries) and carrying on gaming.

The controls themselves are plentiful. On the left aspect, there’s a thumbstick, a D-pad, three small face buttons (for citing menus and so forth), a bumper button, an analog set off, and two rear buttons as nicely. In the meantime, the suitable controller additionally has a thumbstick, together with ABXY buttons, a small trackpad, two aspect bumpers, an analog set off, and a single rear button.

All of the controls really feel well-positioned, a minimum of for my mid/large-sized palms (20cm lengthy from wrist to center fingertip). The rear buttons really feel a little bit cramped, however by and huge it feels just like the Go will swimsuit an honest vary of hand sizes.

This handheld additionally has a probably neat get together trick: detach the suitable controller, flick a swap on its underside, and mount it within the included mini stand and you should use it as a mouse. Lenovo describes this function because the ‘FPS’ mode, however given the best way the controller stands bolt upright it doesn’t appear ultimate to be used as an FPS gaming mouse. Sadly, the unit Lenovo had for testing additionally had a defective proper controller, which together with drastically limiting my choices for experiencing gaming on the hand held, meant I couldn’t attempt the mouse function.

Different buttons embrace the facility and quantity buttons on the highest fringe of the pill. The thumbsticks additionally use corridor impact sensors, to forestall them affected by stick drift, plus they’ve detachable caps. Every management additionally affords gyro management – like VR headset controllers – however once more I wasn’t capable of check this function.

Lenovo Legion Go connections

Because it’s primarily a Home windows pill, the Legion Go has loads of potential for getting used for extra than simply gaming, so it wants a couple of connection choices. On the highest and backside of the pill are USB-C ports that may cost the system and move video out to related screens.

This was demonstrated on an enormous 45-inch gaming monitor and the pill had no hassle working at this decision (as soon as we’d navigated Home windows’ display settings). You gained’t have a lot enjoyable gaming at this decision, but it surely’s nice for work and video.

What’s extra, the USB-C ports can be utilized with exterior GPUs, so you may bolster the pill’s graphics energy. A minimum of, that’s the idea – the  Lenovo representatives readily available stated it needs to be doable however they hadn’t tried it themselves.

Different ports embrace a normal headphone jack and there’s a microSD slot for increasing the pill’s storage by as much as 2TB. You additionally get Bluetooth and WiFi in-built.

Lenovo Legion Go display

The standout function of the Legion Go is after all its display. Measuring 8.8 inches from nook to nook, and with a large 2,560 x 1,600 decision, it dwarfs the Steam Deck and ROG Ally screens for each dimension and backbone.

This additional area and sharpness is clearly seen too. For anybody that partially hoped handhelds reminiscent of this one might additionally substitute a pill for many internet searching/electronic mail/video use, the Steam Deck flatly didn’t ship that have. The ROG Ally takes an enormous step ahead with its increased 1080p decision, however its 7-inch display nonetheless feels limiting. The Legion Go, although, actually looks like a correct pill, a minimum of when you ignore its thickness.

The display isn’t just giant and pixel-packed however top quality too, with 98% DCI-P3 colour area protection for HDR-like colour constancy. The mini LED panel seemed to have glorious distinction too, within the sunlit room wherein we had been testing it. Video games and video seemed implausible on it.

You possibly can after all run the display at a decrease decision, with Lenovo’s software program having fast entry to changing the pill to run at a Steam Deck-matching decision of  1,280 x 800 or 1,920 x 1,200. Notably, the display’s ratio of top to width is identical right here as on the Steam Deck, somewhat than the marginally wider ratio of the Ally, which runs at 1,920 x 1,080 – the taller view is healthier for mainly something exterior of gaming and video.

The opposite huge function of this display is its 144Hz refresh price. The step up from the 60Hz of the Steam Deck is a big improve – even simply scrolling  feels a lot smoother. That stated, the step up from the 120Hz of the ROG Ally is all however pointless. We’re not speaking about enjoying twitchy esports FPS titles on a tool reminiscent of this one, so the additional 24Hz doesn’t actually add a lot – we’d be inclined to lock recreation refresh charges at a decrease setting to cut back GPU load as an alternative.

Lenovo Legion Go gaming efficiency

The largest query mark over all these handheld units is their uncooked gaming efficiency, and that’s no totally different for the Legion Go. It makes use of the identical AMD Z1 Extreme processor because the ROG Ally, which has already confirmed to ship significantly quicker efficiency than the Steam Deck’s older processor. Nonetheless, the step up in decision right here places a a lot larger burden on that chip.

Sadly, Lenovo hadn’t loaded up the demo mannequin of this system with any video games aside from Rocket League and once more the issues with the suitable controller meant we couldn’t actually management the sport correctly. Nonetheless, we had been capable of observe through the sport’s in-built FPS tracker that it was working at round 65fps at full decision, and with most in-game particulars set to Excessive and no upscaling getting used. It seemed nice and felt easy.

Cranked all the way down to Steam Deck-matching decision, the sport ran at a excessive sufficient body price to max out the display’s 144Hz refresh price. Rocket League isn’t a demanding recreation, however loads of different extra demanding video games ought to a minimum of be playable, even when you do should decrease the decision and crank up decision scaling utilizing AMD FSR. Notably, this system didn’t secretly have an early model of AMD FSR 3, so there was no body era tech out there.

Lenovo Legion Go warmth and noise

With all that processing energy, it’s no shock the Legion Go can run pretty sizzling, and there was a noticeable woosh of air blowing out of its top-edge air vents throughout intensive gaming moments. Due to our location, subsequent to a loud avenue with the home windows open, it was troublesome to get a full sense of the system’s loudness when the fan was spinning up, but it surely actually didn’t have an apparent distracting high-pitched whine or rattle.

Lenovo Legion Go battery life

The Go has a bigger 49.2Whr battery, which is healthier than the 40Hr batteries of its rivals, however this additional capability is prone to be offset by the bigger display and extra highly effective processor. Lenovo reckons the system will present round two hours of use when gaming, and as much as round eight hours for different makes use of.

To assist in balancing efficiency and battery life, Lenovo’s software program has fast entry to a number of thermal profiles that may drop the pill from working at its default 32W mode all the way down to 21W and even 8W modes. Alternatively, when plugged in you may run it at 42W.

Lenovo Area software program

Lenovo has loaded up the Legion Go together with its Legion Area software program, which offers the default interface for interacting with the system. Right here you entry the varied settings described above, together with many extra basic system settings out there. Plus, there’s entry to recreation shops. These might be added on the contact of a button, making it straightforward to browse the shop libraries.

This slick software program is simple to navigate whether or not you’re utilizing the D-pads, thumbstick, or touchscreen. You possibly can shortly get again to the Home windows interface simply by swiping up from the underside of the display, or choose to have the system boot to Area or simply to Home windows.

Lenovo Legion Go first impressions

The largest takeaway from our preliminary time with the Lenogo Legion Go is that it largely delivers on the handful of key options you would possibly count on from it. The display actually does make it really feel like a correct hybrid between a purely devoted gaming handheld and a premium pill. Satirically,  it’s not essentially gaming that advantages most right here, however neither does the display reduce the gaming expertise – it appears sharp and feels easy.

In the meantime, the removable controllers and kickstand make this handheld really feel versatile but nonetheless transportable. Used simply as a pill, it’s too thick and unwieldy to actually substitute a devoted pill, however the removable controls do make it simpler to pack and I might actually see some customers being pleased with the Legion Go as their foremost journey system.

For gaming, the Legion Go additionally delivered a formidable efficiency, contemplating it was working at such a excessive decision, even when Rocket League wasn’t a lot of a problem. Rather more demanding testing will probably be wanted once we write our full evaluate, however there are clearly going to be loads of video games that will probably be a pleasure to play on this system.

For these purely after a gaming handheld, for granted for a extra basic transportable system, the Steam Deck is prone to stay the best choice, particularly if it will get a display decision and processor improve. Nonetheless, when you’re tempted by a barely extra versatile system, the Legion Go makes a compelling argument.

Nonetheless not purchased any of those gaming handhelds? Try our full Steam Deck review and Asus ROG Ally review for a deeper dive into these units.