Lenovo Legion Go

Lenovo Legion Go Specs

Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme with RDNA Graphics
Operating System: Windows 11 Home
Memory: 16GB 7500Mhz LPDDR5X
Storage: 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2242
MicroSD card reader (supports up to 2TB)
Display: 8.8″ QHD (2560 x 1600) IPS, 500 nits, 16:10 aspect ratio, 144Hz refresh rate, 97% DCI-P3, 10-point touchscreen, Gorilla® Glass
Battery: 2-cell 49.2WHr
Audio: 2 x 2W Speakers
Headphone / mic combo
2x USB-C 4.0 (DisplayPort™ 1.4, Power Delivery 3.0)
Wireless WiFi 6E* 802.11AX (2 x 2)
Bluetooth Starting at Bluetooth® 5.1
Haptics: HD Haptics
Gyro: 6-Axis IMU
Controller base
65W Power Adapter
Carrying Case

As you know, I am a huge Windows Handheld Gamer, you can credit Nintendo for popularizing the game-on-the-go with the original Nintendo Switch, starting in 2017. Since then, Valve got into the handheld with their Steam Deck, in 2022, which revolutionized PC gaming in your hands.

I’ve always wanted the Lenovo Legion Go, which launched in Nov 2023, but by that point, I was already invested in the ROG Ally, which arrived eight months earlier. I couldn’t really justify the $700 price tag on the Legion Go.

With Black Friday coming up, Lenovo is discounting their Legion Go devices, some said as much as $200 off. I bought my Legion Go at Target, who was selling it for $550… which is much cheaper than the crappy Steam Deck White Edition.

It was an impulse buy, I saw it for sale and I convinced myself that this is a birthday gift to myself. So I bought it.

So far, this is what I like about the Legion Go:

Comes with a protective carrying case
Has a top and bottom USB-C 4.0 ports
Built-in Kickstand!
Removeable controllers that can be used as a vertical mouse
8.8 inch screen at 2560×1600 at 144Hz (the screen and resolution is the best of all my mobile devices – it is very clear and readable)
A dedicated button to quickly switch to different power profiles

What I don’t like about the Legion Go:

Controllers can easily fall off if you don’t snap it in correctly
It’s a very big and heavy device that I can’t see long hand-holding gaming sessions.
None of my existing docs will work with the Legion Go, so I have to buy an official dock
I don’t love the Vantage software (this is Lenovo’s version of the Armoury Crate).
You need at least a 65W power delivery to charge the device
Battery life isn’t great (but none of these devices have great battery life). You’re going to have to plug this in all the time.
The native vertical screen caused issues on some of my old games
Built-in speakers are the worst of my handhelds I own

I haven’t had the device long enough to give it a proper review, but based on my time with it, I can tell you that Lenovo’s controller approach is very different than the ROG Ally. The Ally has a switch between “Desktop Mode” and “Game Mode.” For example, the right-stick becomes the mouse cursor in Desktop Mode. In Game Mode, the right-stick becomes a movement.

Lenovo doesn’t have a switch option, so all their buttons and mapping are on the two removable controllers. If you need a mouse cursor, use the mousepad on the right controller. I am just not used to using the mousepad and I can tell you this is not how I want to play games that requires mouse and keyboard. For those games, I would need to play it on a hub with a mouse and keyboard attached.

To be fair, mouse and keyboard games aren’t usable for me on the Steam Deck either. I think the way the ROG Ally approach to the controller made better sense to me, especially because it keeps the controllers smaller and more manageable. Still, I know many people likes the mousepad on the controllers… I’m just not one of them.

Other than that, I’m pretty happy with my purchase. I think for $550 or less, this is a great price. If all the handheld devices costs around $500, I am going to recommend the Legion Go, simply because you get more value (carrying case, larger screen at higher resolution, kickstand, and the double USB-C!)

Eventually, down the line, I would like to upgrade the 512GB SSD to something much larger, like 2TB or more. My initial research shows that the system will overheat with larger capacity SSD, and that you need to clone the SSD since Lenovo doesn’t have a backup option (the ROG Ally allows you to re-download your Windows 11 using their server). It just seems like a lot of work to upgrade the internal storage, so, at least for now, I am leaving it as-is. Besides, between the ROG Ally, the Steam Deck, my ROG Strix laptop, my Microsoft Surface, my Legion Gaming PC …. one of these machines will have a game I want!

P.S., since this is just a Windows 11 PC, all your music apps, including iTunes and Spotify and whatever music you’re using, can run in the background as you play your games, even though most gamers will agree that the built-in speakers are “absolute garbage”. You can always install enhancing audio software that might fix the problem. You can always plug in (or Bluetooth) a headphone to really enjoy the audio.