Need a handheld gaming PC? I wouldn’t suggest the $650 Lenovo Legion Go over a Steam Deck. Home windows 11 isn’t practically as handy and moveable as Valve’s Steam OS for taking part in Home windows video games on the go. Even Microsoft is aware of that.
However even when it’s not the perfect moveable recreation console, it’s a nifty moveable PC that may completely play video games. For the correct of Home windows gadgeteer, the Lenovo Legion Go may narrowly be well worth the money.
Although it’s roughly the identical worth as an Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo’s 8.8-inch moveable has every kind of tips up its sleeve. It’s a robust Home windows pill with a pair of removable Nintendo Change-like wi-fi controllers and a full-width kickstand — the higher to play at a desk, get up vertically for studying, or dock to a TV. In contrast to Nintendo’s Pleasure-Cons, the Go’s controllers have drift-resistant Corridor impact joysticks. Oh, and did I point out considered one of them can remodel right into a vertical mouse with the flick of a swap?
It additionally has two USB-C ports, every with 40Gbps of USB4 bandwidth, so you’ll be able to plug in a keyboard or SSD or perhaps a Thunderbolt 3 exterior GPU with out eradicating your charger lead. The Steam Deck and ROG Ally solely have one USB-C socket every.
However the Legion Go’s greatest benefit is straightforward: it has a considerably greater display.
I wouldn’t say it’s the finest handheld display: there’s completely no beating the Steam Deck OLED on the subject of wealthy colour, deep blacks, explosive HDR, and value in a dim bed room. In the meantime, the ROG Ally’s variable refresh charge makes every little thing smoother; video games typically really feel quicker on the Ally even when the Legion Go is technically delivering extra frames per second.
However Lenovo’s shiny 8.8-inch, 2560 x 1600, 144Hz, 500-nit, and 97 p.c DCI-P3 Gorilla Glass 5-covered display makes a distinction. It’s the one which’s massive, crisp, and quick sufficient, it will possibly double as a good Home windows pill for net shopping, studying, and streaming video. Maybe extra importantly, I don’t really feel I’m squinting as a lot once I play video games.
A 12 months in the past, I wrote how I didn’t really thoughts the Steam Deck’s dearth of aggressive multiplayer shooters like Fortnite, Future 2, and PUBG as a result of I by no means knew what (or who) hit me on the Deck’s seven-inch, 60Hz display. Neither the Deck OLED’s 7.3-inch, 90Hz panel nor the ROG Ally’s seven-inch, 120Hz display fastened that for me. However I might see some folks taking part in them on the 8.8-inch Legion Go — not less than in the event that they get used to the marginally awkward controls.
I’m not a complete fan of how the Legion Go feels in my fingers. As a result of it weighs 1.88 kilos, half a pound greater than the ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED and a full pound greater than a Nintendo Change, I typically really feel like I would like a tighter grip. However once I grip tightly, the not so rounded edges of Lenovo’s flat-faced handheld dig into my palms — and I discover myself awkwardly squishing all the additional buttons Lenovo crammed onto the edges and again.
It appears like Lenovo made a number of too many compromises to present you a removable mouse, a pair of Pleasure-Cons, a touchpad, and 4 again buttons concurrently. The joysticks are wonderful, the marginally cramped face buttons are wonderful, the meaty triggers are even good, however the touchpad is just too small, the D-pad and top-firing audio system are meh, and the suitable controller at all times has two additional buttons beneath my center finger, two extra buttons beneath my index finger, and a button beneath my pinky that I hadn’t bargained for.
There’s a way to Lenovo’s insanity: in the event you detach that controller and rotate it 90 levels to the left, these buttons line up together with your fingertips and thumb to present you a five-button vertical mouse, full with a 1,800 DPI optical mouse sensor on the Teflon-coated backside and a tiny scroll wheel round again. It’s neat, and I used to be happy to see Lenovo has some fairly first rate FPS presets mapped to every button, together with the keys you’ll generally use to crouch, soar, and reload. The mouse defaults to 800 DPI, although you’ll be able to choose 500, 1,200, and 1,800 as nicely.
But it surely’s not fairly so simple as simply popping off a Pleasure-Con and magically having a mouse. I’ve to yank every controller downward to launch them; pop off the joystick cap so it’s not in the best way; and slot the controller right into a magnetically hooked up Teflon-bottomed base to present the mouse sufficient stability that I don’t lose monitoring mid-game. Even then, I really feel the rest of the joystick’s protruding nub and its 5 copper pogo pins digging into my palms.
I determine the form of energy person who’ll need to navigate Home windows on the go may respect this a part of the gadget, however I’d have fortunately given it up for a pair of higher front-firing audio system.
Talking of energy, my Lenovo Legion Go is a bit quicker than the competitors! Anecdotally, it was the quickest to obtain video games (I noticed 750Mbps peak obtain speeds over Wi-Fi 6), the quickest to cost its 50Wh battery, and the quickest in most of my take a look at mattress video games — so long as you’re prepared to present its AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive chip just a little gasoline, that’s.
Examined at 720p low, save Grime Rally at 720p extremely. 20W = Legion Go “Efficiency” mode; 25W = ROG Ally “Turbo” mode sans AC energy.
You must know that the chip in a Steam Deck is somewhat completely different from the chip in most different handheld gaming PCs. The place the Deck’s “Aerith” and “Sephiroth” had been designed for a handheld energy envelope of between 4 and 15 watts, the AMD Z1 Excessive is a shrunken-down laptop computer chip that targets 9 to 30 watts — and as you’ll be able to see in my chart, it didn’t start to beat the Steam Deck till I fed it extra than 15 watts of electrical energy.
The flip facet is that, not like the Steam Deck, you’ll be able to optionally sacrifice your battery life to the gods of efficiency, pushing a Legion Go or ROG Ally chip as excessive as 30 watts for a significant enhance in pace, and I noticed my Legion Go even outperform the ROG Ally once I started to present it that juice. It constantly pulled forward in Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Returnal, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider — typically by a number of frames, typically by 10 or 20 p.c.
However even while you’re making an attempt to preserve the Legion Go’s 49.2Wh battery, you’ll be able to solely go to date.
I used to be capable of handle 4 hours and 41 minutes of Slay the Spire, one of many least demanding video games in my library, however even Dave the Diver gave me not more than two hours and 27 minutes at a stretch. I obtained an hour and a half of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, two hours of Nier: Automata, and two hours and 10 minutes of Armored Core VI, all working at a mere 800p or decrease decision. After I tried Ori and the Will of the Wisps at 1200p, I solely obtained an hour and 39 minutes.
For comparability, the Steam Deck OLED lasted a complete additional hour of Nier: Automata, went 43 minutes longer than the Legion Go in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and gave me practically double the battery life in Dave the Diver at 4 hours and 42 minutes. It tells me I ought to get 9 hours of Slay the Spire. I ought to notice, my Deck OLED really lasted seven fewer minutes in Armored Core VI, although.
Does the Legion Go not less than supply extra battery life than the Asus ROG Ally because of its 20 p.c bigger battery pack? Nicely… I did get an additional 41 minutes of Dave the Diver on the Legion Go, however battery life was virtually an identical in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Grime Rally and lasted simply 16 minutes longer in Armored Core.
With the Legion Go, the battery at all times feels prefer it’s visibly ticking down… and like different Home windows handhelds, it ticks even quicker when near empty. You may take a Steam Deck to three p.c battery earlier than you might want to significantly contemplate saving a recreation or plugging into the wall. With the Legion Go, even reaching 10 p.c places me within the hazard zone.
I’m comfortable to say the Legion Go doesn’t lose plenty of battery whereas it’s utterly shut down, however even that’s a little bit of a backhanded praise — as a result of shutting down is the one approach I’ve been capable of reliably put it away. Many instances, I’ll discover it wakes itself up proper after I put it to sleep.
Talking of platform stability, it is best to know that the Legion Go’s Legion House software program continues to be a piece in progress, just like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally earlier than it, and it’s lagging far behind Valve and a methods behind Asus by way of options. The power to remap the gamepad is minimal at finest, and you’ll’t even save mappings for every of your video games with Lenovo’s software program — you’ll must depend on Steam or one other third-party app.
As I write these phrases, Lenovo’s nonetheless making an attempt to handle some stuttering SD card readers (one thing I haven’t skilled myself) and add correct gyro assist. The fan’s not loud, however it may be just a little whiny, even in its lowest energy mode.
However I’ve to confess, it’s much less buggy than the Asus was at launch, and Lenovo’s being fairly clear with the neighborhood. Lenovo product supervisor Ben Myers drops into the official subreddit and Discord virtually each week to speak about which points and enhancements the engineering staff’s engaged on subsequent, and it’s been good to see it enhance!
At launch, I might need dinged Lenovo for forcing me to achieve all the way down to the bottom of my thumb to hit Begin and Choose buttons or manually navigate to an internet site to obtain updates. Ditto the way you needed to join an influence provide earlier than switching the display’s refresh charge or tape over the ability button’s brilliant LED to keep away from mild air pollution whereas charging it in a darkish bed room. However Lenovo has locations to tweak every of those in software program now, plus adjustable fan curves, adjustable sensitivity and deadzones for the joysticks, user-adjustable presets for varied energy modes, and an FPS limiter.
The largest factor I would like, although, is a technique to make all my video games launch full-screen. That’s how they work on Steam Deck however not at all times on Home windows, and I’ve run into awkward windowed video games extra typically with the Legion Go than I did with the ROG Ally. Within the official subreddit, some folks appear to be forcing full-screen of their Steam launch choices for particular person video games.
I’m not going to rehash my complete “Home windows is holding again gaming handhelds” argument right here, as not a lot has modified since I reviewed the Ally. However the Legion Go’s 8.8-inch display and removable controllers do assist. It’s simpler to tug round home windows and faucet on icons with the bigger contact targets that Lenovo’s display provides me, and it doesn’t damage that the Gorilla Glass 5-covered panel is easy, straightforward to wash, and responsive to the touch.
After I pop off the controllers, I may even attain the digital keyboard keys with out stretching my thumbs if I maintain the pill in portrait mode or invoke Microsoft’s cut up keyboard (which provides you left and proper keyboard halves) in panorama. No extra reaching over joysticks! I wouldn’t need to sort a Verge story on this factor, however I’m discovering it’s a terrific dimension for shopping from the sofa.
I wouldn’t purchase a Legion Go, as my Steam Deck fits me higher, however I genuinely assume Lenovo’s onto one thing with this way issue. It’s an intriguing cross between a Microsoft Floor and a Nintendo Change however with gaming chops that surpass each. I wouldn’t be shocked if the subsequent model comes with an non-compulsory Floor-like folding keyboard cowl.
Free recommendation: put a pink ThinkPad TrackPoint nub in the midst of that keyboard in the event you actually need computing nerds to go wild.
Images by Sean Hollister / The Verge