Whew, this feels a bit of bit like deja vu. A horny-looking PC gaming handheld is introduced, I get all scorching and bothered after which when the testing hits, it falls in need of my fevered expectations. However after needing somebody to nearly pry the Lenovo Legion Exit of my arms throughout my demo, I really feel like this may be completely different. It’s clear the corporate has realized from the missteps of its opponents, leading to a tool that takes a few of their finest options and elements, that feels without delay acquainted and new.
Lenovo Legion Go pricing and availability
A few of the finest gaming laptops beneath $1,000 would possibly simply be a gaming handheld. When it launches in October, the Legion Go will value $699 which will get you an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive processor with AMD RDNA 3 Graphics, 16GB of RAM, as much as 1TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD storage and an 8.8-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel touchscreen show.
The Go’s pricing matches the Asus ROG Ally and is $50 greater than the top-end Steam Deck. Lenovo has hinted {that a} cheaper base mannequin might come to market, however hasn’t offered additional element.
Lenovo Legion Go design
The Legion Go is a critically chunky boy, a lot in order that it’s certain to be polarizing. I, for one, assume the majority provides a reassuring substantialness to the machine. It’s a sacrifice I’m prepared to make in favor of a (barely) bigger battery and doubtlessly higher thermals. However Andrew Freedman, my colleague and Senior Editor over at Tom’s {Hardware}, disagrees, preferring the lighter ROG Ally. He stated he instantly felt compelled to make use of the built-in kickstand, whereas I believed it felt a lot good whereas I made my approach by way of Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Nonetheless, I can positively see my arms getting drained after some time and having to unfurl that kickstand myself.
So simply how a lot does the 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.79-inch Go weigh? Sans controllers (sure, the controllers are removable), the Legion Go suggestions the scales at 22.6 ounces. Totally intact, the machine weighs 30.1 ounces. The Ally is available in 21.4 ounces whereas the Steam Deck hits 23.5 ounces. The Nintendo Change OLED continues its reign because the lightest handheld on the block at 14.9 ounces.
Nevertheless it’s not simply the burden that makes the Go stand out, it’s additionally obtained some chunky dimensions at 11.8 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches. It’s considerably bigger than the Steam Deck 11.7 x 4.6 x 1.9 inches though the latter is thicker. The Ally (11 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches) and the Change OLED (9.5 x 4 x 0.6 inches) are small by comparability.
Dimensions apart, the Go is a tank of a tool. Nearly all of the housing is constructed from plastic, coloured what Lenovo has dubbed Shadow Black. The highest bumpers are made from a shiny brushed silver aluminum whereas the rear triggers are made from shiny black plastic. Much like different handhelds, the Go has asymmetrical joysticks, every surrounded with RGB backlighting.
The best controller homes the Y, A, B and X buttons, together with a joystick and touchpad. Alongside the rear, you’ve got a small scroll wheel and two centrally mounted triggers in a horizontal orientation. On the left controller sits the opposite stick, the D-pad and buttons for View and Menu. The 2 triggers on the again are set vertically as an alternative of horizontally. In the direction of the underside of each controllers sits the button to launch the controllers from the principle physique of the machine.
Nestled in between the controllers is the principle physique of the Go, which is generally made up of the stunning 8.8-inch show. There are two USB-C ports on the physique, one on prime and one other on the underside. Whereas each can be utilized for charging, they will also be utilized with the Lenovo Glasses or with a dock which will or will not be coming down the pipe. Different buttons discovered on the highest of the machine are the amount and energy buttons. You even have the audio jack and a microSD slot that means that you can increase the storage as much as 2TB.
Lastly, within the again is a sturdy, adjustable kickstand that I think about many people shall be utilizing because the pure bulk of the Go could have most players keen to place the Go on a desk or desk and provides their arms a relaxation.
Lenovo Legion Go controls
In follow, the Legion Go TrueStrike controllers, when connected, remind me of the OG Xbox Duke controller with its bulk. I don’t notably thoughts since I’ve lengthy, spindly fingers, however these missing piano fingers shouldn’t fear an excessive amount of as I watched a few of my fellow tech journalists with smaller arms dealing with the Legion Go no drawback. Though I had solely half-hour to play with the Go, it was actually comfy. After all, I need to see the way it feels an hour or two into enjoying, particularly when enjoying combating video games the place I are likely to play within the claw place, which may cramp up after some time.
Taking a web page out of the Nintendo Change OLED’s guide, you possibly can take away the Legion Go’s TrueStrike controllers. Nonetheless, a lot to my chagrin, there’s no dock to connect the unfastened controllers to in an effort to type a single controller. I don’t know if Nintendo has some bizarre patent that prevented Lenovo from doing this, however I actually, really need one going ahead.
However sufficient about what the Legion Go’s controllers can’t do, let’s discuss what they will. When disconnected from the principle machine, the fitting controller transforms right into a lean, imply FPS machine. Click on the FPS mode change alongside the underside, pop it into the included magnetic controller base and the peripheral with the built-in trackpad supplies extra precision and management, not not like what you’d get from a standard mouse and keyboard setup.
It took a minute for my thoughts and hand to regulate to the maintain, notably with the joystick poking into my palm. However in a couple of minutes, I used to be blasting my approach by way of “Doom Everlasting.” And whereas I did ultimately get right into a strong killing rhythm, I believe this mode can be higher served for RTS titles like “Starcraft” and “Age of Empires.” And if it may possibly really run on the Go, I might see this mode performing as a rudimentary choice for video games like “Microsoft Flight Simulator.”
Whereas the removable controllers will draw inevitable comparisons to the Change, one place it differs is the shortage of drift. The place there have been many shopper complaints about controller drift from the Change’s JoyCons, Lenovo claims that the TrueStrike controllers gained’t expertise any drift with minimal lifeless zones. One other cool characteristic is the customization options which permit players to map the ten out there buttons.
I’m wanting ahead to testing out all these options in a long-term demo. Keep tuned for the total evaluation.
Lenovo Legion Go show
The Go’s 8.8-inch, 2560 x 1600, IPS show is gorgeous. Dubbed PureSight by Lenovo, the show has a 16:10 facet ratio with a 144Hz refresh charge. When it comes to coloration gamut and brightness, Lenovo has the panel rated for 97% of the DCI-P3 gamut which is extra vivid than each the Ally (76.1%) and the Steam Deck (48.5%). And the place Lenovo is saying 500 nits of brightness, the Ally reached a shiny 465 nits whereas the Steam Deck managed solely 169.7 nits.
The panel lovingly reproduced the gorgeous colours of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, one among my favourite Metroidvanias. Though I used to be navigating by way of the murky depths of the Swallow’s Nest and Inkwater Marsh, the distinction was deep sufficient to present the areas a way of foreboding, however didn’t overpower the remainder of the surroundings. In truth, every part seemed uber-vibrant together with the intense pink spines of a worm-like enemy, the golden orbs that restored Ori’s life power and the billowing orange-red flame I used to beat again Howl, the sport’s first boss.
I’m positively curious to see how nicely the Go’s panel will maintain up throughout benchmarking as a result of to the bare eye, it appears to be like beautiful. In truth, it’s too beautiful to muss up with greasy fingerprints making an attempt to navigate the display screen. Do your self a favor and simply use the touchpad on the fitting controller.
Lenovo Legion Go gaming and efficiency
Similar to the Ally, the Go has an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive CPU with AMD RDNA 3 Graphics, so we sort of have an thought of what the Legion Go may be able to. Nonetheless, relying on software program and slight {hardware} variations, there’s an opportunity that the Go can carry out higher or worse than Asus’ handheld. It’s Lenovo’s recreation to lose, actually and figuratively.
Assuming the Go shall be in the identical ballpark because the Ally, let’s check out how that handheld carried out, beginning with gaming. Through the Murderer’s Creed Valhalla benchmark at 1080p on Excessive, the Ally notched 29 frames per second, only a body beneath our 30-fps playability threshold. Switching over to Grime 5 on Medium, the Ally gave us 46 fps, edging out the Steam Deck (41 fps). On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider take a look at (1080p, Medium), the ROG Ally scored 26 fps on Medium and was outdone by the Steam Deck’s 42 fps. The Steam Deck pulled out one other win throughout the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark, giving an output of 30 fps on each variations of the take a look at, whereas the Ally reached 22 fps on Extremely and 25 fps the Steam Deck setting.
Now for total efficiency, beginning with Geekbench 5.5, the Ally is approach out of Steam Deck’s league with the previous hitting 10,614 and the latter reaching solely 3,579. On the Handbrake video transcoding take a look at, the ROG Ally transformed a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 56 seconds whereas the Steam Deck completed with a sluggish time of 14:30. Lastly, the Ally (512GB NVMe M.2 2230 SSD) destroyed our File Switch take a look at (duplicating 25GB of blended media information) with a switch pace of 768.9 megabytes per second. It completely smoked the Steam Deck’s (256GB NVMe SSD) 30.7MBps
Lenovo Legion Go video games and compatibility
Much like the Ally, you possibly can host a variety of recreation aggregators on the Legion Go to entry most of your video games. In truth, the Legion Go comes with a free three months of Xbox Sport Cross. You may also use GOG, the Epic Video games Retailer and, after all, Steam. And fortunately, navigating every part is loads simpler with the touchpad.
While you’re not gaming, the Legion Go is a full-blown Home windows 11 machine, so you should utilize it as a tiny workstation or second show in a pinch. However who’s actually going to make use of it for that?
However with all of that acknowledged, I do have one huge concern. Though I went hands-on with an early model of the Go, I couldn’t assist however discover that the Go lacked a launcher. That implies that in an effort to entry my video games, I would wish to always trip between no matter recreation I’m enjoying to the Home windows desktop to launch video games. That doesn’t make for a fantastic expertise.
The Go will ship with the all-new Legion House. As a proprietary software program, Legion House will act because the connective tissue, permitting customers to shortly entry all their numerous recreation platforms and shops. You’ll have the flexibility to buy video games by way of the Legion Sport Retailer which works in collaboration with Xbox Sport Cross Final. Legion House can be the place you’ll entry your whole domestically put in video games. That is additionally the place you’ll be mapping your buttons.
Sadly, I didn’t get an opportunity to go demo the software program. Fingers crossed will probably be useful and never an unwieldy albatross across the Go’s neck.
Lenovo Legion Go warmth
One of many causes the Legion Go is so chonky, is Lenovo’s making an attempt to create as a lot house as doable to permit for venting to maintain every part comparatively cool. As a result of, let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than experiencing a slowdown once you’re at a important level within the recreation, no matter you’re enjoying. On the middle of this effort is the corporate’s Coldfront thermal know-how which contains a liquid crystal polymer 79-blade fan that retains the machine cool whereas nonetheless permitting the machine to succeed in a full 25W of TGP in Customized Mode.
This could assist throughout these prolonged gaming classes, however I can’t look forward to our infrared thermometer to present us the actual story.
Lenovo Legion Go battery life
That is going to be tough. Battery life on the Legion Go is actually going to depend upon what you’re enjoying and at what settings. And though it has a 49.2Wh battery, which is 23% bigger than the Ally’s 40Wh cell, that huge, stunning show might show to be the Go’s undoing. The Asus lasted 5 hours and 51 seconds on the Laptop computer Magazine Battery Check (steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nis of brightness), outpacing the Steam Deck’s 3:50.
Every time it faucets out, the Go does supply quick charging capabilities, so that you gained’t be out of the sport for too lengthy. Nonetheless, I’m curious to see how lengthy the Legion Go will final on our battery take a look at.
Conclusion
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