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Lenovo’s Legion Go handheld gaming PC ($799) specs leaked, QHD+ screen, Oct release
- Thread starter ArtHands
- Start date
Heimdall_Xtreme
Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Lenovo Nintendo Switch Pro Máx 
Sleepwalker
Member
Onironauta
Member
Z1 is just a low power version of Ryzen 7000. Mini PCs don't have to run on battery.
IIRC there are some mini PCs with 7840HS, basically the Z1 Extreme on steroids.
What are the ‘gimmick features’? Even if you don’t care about the FPS mode, it’ll be a better mouse for desktop use than the Steamdeck trackpad.
Saying ‘it’s entire appeal just falls apart’ when it has a much bigger, much better display than competitors, has Hall effect sticks and comes with more powerful hardware than the Deck with better software compatibility is just weird.
I’m not sure how it ‘tries to be everything at once’ any more than the Steamdeck.
it can be used for gaming, and there’s not that much added benefit for gaming that tactile trackpads bring to the table for the deck.
Klosshufvud
Member
The gimmick features are that the controllers are detachable. The cost that is paid for this (battery-to-size ratio is horrible) is just too much and why I consider it a gimmick feature that ultimately hurts the device more than helps. I would any day take non-detachable controllers but instead bigger battery life over the opposite. This is a handheld and battery life will always be important. Detachable controllers may have its use at times but nowhere as universally important feature as a good battery. Those other advantages you mentioned have already been achieved by other handheld manufacturers (although nowhere as big as Lenovo) so I don't consider it a major paradigm shift. This thing is also actually even bigger than SD which I already consider the breaking point of being too big. So this really only appeals to the crowd who don't mind a big handheld but also don't mind losing out on battery. The display is nice but 1600p is simply too much for the Z1 Extreme chip and most of the time, you're playing way below that. Even 1200p is many times too taxing on modern games. And with its smaller battery, it's not like you'll be playing at 20-25W most of the time to make native 1600p gameplay remotely possible. If they had cranked in a 65Wh battery life in there, 20W gameplay would be more feasible, meaning you would get 20-30% more performance for the same battery life.
I disagree. The tactile trackpads on Deck are sublime and gives so much more precision and comfort over a regular flat laptop trackpad.
Davevil
Member
and no one use it.
Minsc
Gold Member
I definitely use the tactile trackpads, they're much better and more precise than the analog for most games with 3d camera movement (fps, etc) and using the desktop mode sucks without them, even entering text is so much faster.
The mouse feature seems great. Great for a desktop/video out mode on a desk. But at that point why not just use a real mouse? It does seem like the controller acting as a mouse is going to be even more accurate than the SD trackpads by a large magnitude. You have even more precision and are not restricted to a 1-2" square. But you can no longer hold the device while using this mode so that is a big deterrent. Still it's pretty nice for web browsing or more involved desktop tasks, but again you sort of need a desk-type area which is a big drawback.
The mouse feature seems great. Great for a desktop/video out mode on a desk. But at that point why not just use a real mouse? It does seem like the controller acting as a mouse is going to be even more accurate than the SD trackpads by a large magnitude. You have even more precision and are not restricted to a 1-2" square. But you can no longer hold the device while using this mode so that is a big deterrent. Still it's pretty nice for web browsing or more involved desktop tasks, but again you sort of need a desk-type area which is a big drawback.
Again, it looks like you’re working to find reasons to dislike the device. Detachable controllers may be a gimmick to some, but to others it allows options for custom controllers, allows you to detach it and use the device as a Windows tablet, you can forgo the controllers entirely on a trip and use a PlayStation or Xbox controller, for example.
Detachable controllers also means you can plug it into mains, hook up to a TV or monitor and game without an external controller.
The high resolution display could be a major battery drain, but you are not mandated to run your games at native resolution. It scales perfectly to the Steamdeck’s native resolution and should provide decent battery life at the Deck’s 800p resolution, while giving you excellent boost in resolution for less demanding games and movies and apps.
Battery size could be bigger, but it’s also got a higher capacity than that found in the deck or Ally, so you could feasibly get equivalent battery life at 15W with better performance, or at least decent battery life at 20W.
You keep saying ‘smaller battery’. Smaller, compared to what?
‘Tactile trackpad’ just means it has haptics built it. I’m not sure what that’s got to do with precision and comfort.
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64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
The ROG Ally has all of that too but cheaper and it came earlier...
The people who wanted their linux touchpad handheld got one, the people who wanted the ultra powerful 120hz handheld got one. It's gonna be hard to create a new market based off of a joystick that turns into a mouse.
Silver Wattle
Gold Member
I' m shocked no one is partnering with valve to use steamOS and copying their layout of track pads and extra buttons.
I'm not even remotely interested in a windows handheld gaming device.
I'm not even remotely interested in a windows handheld gaming device.
The ROG Ally has all of that too but cheaper and it came earlier...
The people who wanted their linux touchpad handheld got one, the people who wanted the ultra powerful 120hz handheld got one. It's gonna be hard to create a new market based off of a joystick that turns into a mouse.
ROG Ally costs the same. Thread title is incorrect. The Legion Go starts at $699, same price as the Ally.
The Legion also has a trackpad, something the Ally lacks and something many of you claimed was a dealbreaker in the Ally threads.
More importantly, the market is still in its infancy and there’s still a ton of undecided buyers… including those that returned the Ally in droves over its SD killing issues
Klosshufvud
Member
An external controller can be found for like $40 and provide greater comfort and quality than the Go "joy cons" since the GO controllers don't slide into one like Switch does. Like you say, the detachable controllers are great if you want to use it for other purposes besides it being a handheld. This is why I consider these features gimmicks. They're not part of the handheld experience. They are advertising it almost like a mini PC with how they are advertising its mouse features. The display is used because it's the same display used in a Lenovo tablet. So for them it was very cheap to just re-use the same display rather than custom make for this handheld. You can always set the resolution to 1200p on the display, which I recommend people to do. But I won't make too much fuss about the display because it seems to be good, even if way overkill for a Z1 Extreme/7840U handheld.
I'm comparing the battery size to similarly sized Chinese handhelds. There is the AokZoe, OneXPlayer and now the AyaNeo Kun. Both are slightly smaller or as large and feature way bigger batteries. IMO a big battery is a must if you intend to push the device in the 20W+ range. And you will want to, because a lot of games do demand that kind of power to be played well. 20W on the Lenovo GO will give you about 1h30m of gameplay, which is just a bit too little for my taste. I generally think the cut off point is at the 2h limit before it's turned into a glorified stationary device. But this is subjective.
I'm happy there is more competition in the handheld space and Lenovo GO is by no means a bad handheld but it prioritizes features that I'm personally not that interested in. Finally, regarding the trackpads, the haptic feedback is what gives the trackpads a sense of "grip". It's very hard to explain in words but I hate using laptop trackpads but for some reason, I enjoyed playing RTS games with the Deck trackpads. It was very precise.
Trogdor1123
Member
Really? Does the z1 extreme do like 8tf or something? The 7840 does more?
Klosshufvud
Member
This coincidence is just too funny. Just as I was advocating 20W performance on 7840U, DF goes ahead and makes a video today saying the exact same thing today:
It's a shame Richard didn't get a hold of an A1 Pro since I feel like that handheld solves the battery issues he's been having huge issues with. Still happy to see that DF is now showing off what huge gains handheld PCs have made lately. I know he was a little uncertain on the Windows-based handhelds before the Phoenix line of APUs.
It's a shame Richard didn't get a hold of an A1 Pro since I feel like that handheld solves the battery issues he's been having huge issues with. Still happy to see that DF is now showing off what huge gains handheld PCs have made lately. I know he was a little uncertain on the Windows-based handhelds before the Phoenix line of APUs.
Onironauta
Member
They have the same GPU, but Z1 has lower TDP.
Yes, they all do 8tf on paper, but keep in mind 8 RDNA3 tf correspond to 4 RDNA2 tf, roughly equivalent to Xbox Series S. Though, these GPUs are heavily bandwidth starved by DDR5 memory, so they don't benefit much from higher TDP (> 25-30W).
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AndrewRyan
Member
The steam deck already massively raised my expectations for mobile gaming. Can't imagine what one of these babies would do.
From the above video:
Onironauta
Member
Well, it stands on it's own and has 2 usb4 ports, any adapter will work
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64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
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ChoosableOne
ChoosableAll
Costs 50 dollars more than Switch and performs worse? Cult of the lamb runs at 60fps on switch. 2 hours of Hollow Knight drains all of it's battery? That will only reduce %30-40 of Switch's battery. And you can't "switch" to TV!
It seems Switch is the king of cheap handhelds and will be the king for a long time.
iHaunter
Member
I have a KVM setup. So I'll need a dock.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
well, it's what you wanted... I thought it was a dumb product myself really.Costs 50 dollars more than Switch and performs worse? Cult of the lamb runs at 60fps on switch. 2 hours of Hollow Knight drains all of it's battery? That will only reduce %30-40 of Switch's battery. And you can't "switch" to TV!
It seems Switch is the king of cheap handhelds and will be the king for a long time.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Legit.
You wanna know how much i spent on my Steam Deck after getting it? not a single penny. Got the device. put in an SD card, all i need. Once i get my 2230 SSD that will grow to 80/100 dollars, maybe.
How much did i spend on my Switch lite after getting it? More than the price of 3 Switches combined. 3 AAA games make up the price of the console alone and i bought far more than just 3. My library on that device was around 100 games and quite a few of them were 60 dollar Nintendo ones, too. Online play cost me 20 bucks a year too and i paid for that 3 times.
I'd rather spend a fortune upfront and not have to worry about money for the next couple of years than pay a little and get extracted for money more and more.
Edgelord79
Gold Member
What other design are you going to make lol. It’s not like the switch design was groundbreaking. Where else are the screen and joysticks going to go?
hououinkyouma00
Member
Yeah, these things are way too big for me. I like my handhelds to be smaller, I know there's that one Ayaneo with the OLED that is more Switch lite sized but Aya devices are too expensive for me.
That being said they are all too big; Deck, Ally, Go, and Portal.
Sleepwalker
Member
It's the same console vs PC argument. Let's say you spend 1.5k on a PC that's a fair bit more powerful than a console and that it can last you for the whole generation and/or most of it.
so the PC is $1500 + no online play fee + better prices for games (but lets keep game prices out of this)
The console is gonna set you back $500 + $80 per year for 8 years = $640, so before any extra controllers and higher tier subs you are already at $1140, even more if you do it with gamepass or ps premium/extra.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
I agree when it comes to build quality but in terms of function eh. The Steam Deck still has the most robust control scheme of any PC handheld and it's taking centuries for other competitors to get the memo.
The Deck's control scheme (and i'm not kidding here) is better than pretty much any controller on PC, even Mouse and keyboard in some ways. It badly makes me want a steam controller 2.
Fully supported gyro, 4 remappable buttons, 2 touchpads with haptics. analog trigger support (without gutting the gyro like you'd have to with Xinput) and great ergonomics to top it off. I can't think of a single other controller with that many features and that much compatibility, if they put it on PC it'd be a day 1 purchase.
Onironauta
Member
Yes, mostly likely it will ran all games but at lower resolution compared to Series S.
On paper the GPUs have similar performance, but in reality the Legion Go has many more bottlenecks.
I think the Ryzen 8000 next year will match or beat Series S.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
well yeah. on a handheld it's not needed for everything to run at 1080p
Klosshufvud
Member
I agree in terms of input methods, SD is phenomenal. Being able to play RTS with controllers is just top comfy. I will give it a minus however for its sheer width. It does strain my fingers when dealing with the triggers and sticks simultaneously. IMO Proper gamepads feel good because they are firmly placed in the grip. Wrist and fingers are naturally semi-flexed which is a relaxing pose to have.
Reallink
Member
None of these devices are even close to being portable or pocketable, so the real limit is how large of a screen is actually comfortable to hold with attached controllers. I'd say the 6" - 7" screens are actually too small from a usability perspective. Zoomed out isometric stuff like Diablo, BG3, and RTS/Strat games are difficult to parse on such small screens. Switch 2 is supposedly 8"s.
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Klosshufvud
Member
8' is godly and the perceived difference from 7' to 8' is night and day. I could imagine something like GPD Win Mini but with 8' display would be the perfect combination between portability and usability. Windows on smaller screens is just rough.
Sleepwalker
Member
Depends on the availability of outlets and charging, the ally and lenovo will have better performance but the deck is king at lower tdps so the battery lasts longer
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
It would be in a hotel room with charger. Likely usb TVs with 1080p display is per the norm now .
I’m not sure what I can even expect from these machines which is why I am hoping a switch 2 is announced so I could at least work on a Xenoblade backlog on it.
Sleepwalker
Member
For 1080p definitely ally/lenovo or one of the chinese brands.
Klosshufvud
Member
There is a wide array of great devices available today. Steam Deck is the cheapest and a great baseline device. And has best compatibility with KBM games. Ally has a nice and bright VRR display and a more modern processor. There is also half a dozen more Chinese brands carrying the powerful 7840U chipset. I'd start by looking if there is a bargain to be had in the used department. All these devices are sold for good prices in the used market. The 7840U/Zen 4 devices are also emulation monsters so that's also something to bare in mind. You'll probably be best of looking at some Youtubers like Phawx/RetroGamer/TakiUdon and so on to get a decent understanding of what's out there and what you personally prioritize.
StereoVsn
Member
I recommend something with 32GB RAM. If you can find faster 32GB LPDDR5x at 7000 or higher that would be even better. That way you can allocate 8GB to GPU without hampering the rest of the system.
I split out 5GB on Ally and 4GB on the Deck and wish I had more.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
kool bump bro.
I actually hope the negativity over this device goes away as it does do some stuff quite well even if it's quite lacking on battery and large on size.
