Lenovo Legion Go: New gaming handheld comes with integrated Gamesplanet shop

Can do much more than a Steam Deck: A new gaming handheld, the Lenovo Legion Go, is coming from Lenovo in November 2023. The device has a lot going for it - even an integrated Gamesplanet store. We'll tell you more here.

Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Ayaneo and many more - after the initial and successful launch of Valve's Steam Deck, more and more hardware vendors are entering the market and implementing their own interpretations of what makes good portable PC gaming consoles. Going forward, Lenovo, as an experienced PC system, smartphone and peripheral vendor, is also getting in on the PC gaming handheld market. In November 2023, the Lenovo Legion Go is to be available as a Windows gaming handheld. With technical features that could set new standards among handhelds - also in terms of operation.

Lenovo Legion Go - this technology is inside the device

Even at first glance, the Legion Go's display is larger than that of the Steam Deck. Lenovo equips its in-house PC handheld with an 8.8-inch touch screen, whereas the Steam Deck offers just a 7-inch display (60 Hz, 800p resolution), with unsightly thick black borders. The Lenovo display is not only prettier and larger, but also has a higher resolution with QHD+, reaching a maximum resolution of 1,600p (2,560x1,600), with a choice of refresh rates of a smooth 144Hz or a power-saving 60Hz. Fewer pixels and a lower Hz frequency put less strain on the battery - so if you want, you can counteract this and play with 800p and 60Hz, for example. The Lenovo Legion Go literally offers more scope when compared with the Steam Deck.

Lenovo achieves vivid colours on the Legion Go with the so-called PureSight technology, shining with a maximum brightness of 500 nits (Steam Deck has 400 nits for comparison) and a colour space coverage of 97% (DCI-P3 colour gamut). P3 covers a wider colour spectrum than sRGB and should therefore be better for HDR content (Source: Tom's Hardware).

The Legion Go also features impressive data memory: Lenovo promises 16 gigabytes of LPDDR5X RAM for the Legion Go handheld, with a clock speed of 7,500 Mhz (in comparison, the Steam Deck with 5,500 Mhz). A Gen4 NVMe SSD with a capacity of up to 1 terabyte offers plenty of space for your Steam games - you can even expand the storage space of the Lenovo Legion Go by up to 2 terabytes via the micro SD slot.

Gaming to Go: All well and good, but what do the processor, graphics chip and battery do?

Lenovo is fully committed to AMD and therefore gives the Legion Go a powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 (Extreme) processor with AMD RNDA graphics, a CPU (also called APU) that is also found in the ROG Ally from competitor ASUS and was specially developed for demanding mobile devices. The Steam Deck still has an older processor with Zen 2 architecture, while the Ryzen Z1 (Extreme) already works more diligently and faster on the basis of the latest Zen 4 architecture. In this respect, too, the Lenovo Legion Go handheld, together with the ASUS ROG Ally, has the edge.

So much technology requires a strong battery that does not shut down the Windows system after 30 minutes. The Legion Go therefore has a battery with a capacity of 49.2 Wh (900mah). If the energy source is empty after a hot gaming session, it should be recharged by 70% after only half an hour, according to Lenovo, thanks to the "Super Rapid Charge" technology. The Steam Deck's battery offers a lower capacity of 40 Wh.

Gaming sounds instead of fan sounds: the Legion Go is also supposed to be quiet. At least that's what Lenovo says. In the end, practice will show whether the handheld roars as loudly under full load as most other gaming handhelds. Lenovo is optimistic - in "Quiet Mode" the fan is supposed to stay below the almost inaudible 25 dB limit. However, those who push their Legion Go at full power consumption with 25 watts should expect a faster fan speed to keep the device sufficiently cool.

More special features of the Legion Go - Gamesplanet and vertical mouse included

After the integration in the ROG Ally from ASUS (Armory Crate), we are a little proud to be a firmly integrated component within the environment software of the Lenovo Legion Go in the future. You will then be able to conveniently buy games cheaply on Gamesplanet with just a few clicks, activate them directly on the Legion Go and start gaming on the go. You can also expect some very special offers when you buy games on the Legion Go with your Lenovo ID. We will introduce you to the Legion Space interface, which not only combines our shop but also various game clients and enables very quick settings, in more detail at another time.

The Lenovo Legion Go seems to be powerful enough for current AAA games. But some of the device's special features are also fascinating. For example, the controllers on the right and left can be removed separately, similar to the Nintendo Switch. The screen can then be placed on the table in front of you with the integrated kickstand. What's more, one controller can be set up in a suitable device and used as a mouse with vertical orientation. Tech-YouTuber Dave2D shows you what this looks like in action in his hands-on video:

The Lenovo Legion Go will be available from November 2023 at a starting price of $699 / £699 / €799. Other Legion devices have been announced by Lenovo for October 2023, such as the Lenovo Legion Glasses (from $329 / £329 / 499€) and the Lenovo Legion E510 7.1 RGB Gaming In-Ear Headphones (from 49.99€ - US/UK prices unavailable at time of writing).

Source: https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/legion-go-gaming-handheld-device-and-accessories/