Lenovo simply introduced this Legion Go handheld moveable gaming console at IFA 2023. We acquired to check out a prototype for a short time, and it is fairly superior. We did not have sufficient time to check out a number of video games or actually check the efficiency, so that is primarily going to be a dialogue of first impressions.
The Legion Go is principally an ultra-mobile Home windows 11 pill PC with detachable recreation controllers on the edges. It is acquired an 8.8 inch 2560x1600px IPS 97% DCI-P3 16:10 touchscreen show and runs on the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive processor with RDNA graphics chipset and 16GB of 7500Mhz RAM. You’ll select between 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 storage.
The Legion Go appears nice! It feels similar to a Steam Deck, however we have additionally acquired a pleasant kickstand on the again, in addition to a number of different methods. Its dimensions are going to be 11.8” x 5.15” x 1.61”, and it’ll weigh 854g (1.88 lbs). It should have a 2-cell 49.2WHr battery, and the controllers will every have 900mah batteries. There are many ports as nicely, together with a 3.5mm audio jack, 2 USB-C ports (USB 4, DisplayPort 1.4, energy supply 3.0), and a microSD card reader.
We acquired to play PowerWash Simulator on the Legion Go, and it labored fairly nicely. The controls felt pretty much as good as any Xbox or Ps controller, and the sport was completely responsive, although we’ll admit that this specific recreation would not actually require split-second response instances.
While you take the controllers off the facet, the Legion Go turns into a pleasant little moveable laptop, and naturally, the controllers nonetheless work for enjoying video games.
Identical to a Nintendo Swap, the detachable controllers work nice whereas hooked up, however they don’t convert into a number of controllers for two-player video games. There are many buttons, together with six programmable grip buttons on the underside.
Should you place a controller into the little plastic round accent, it turns into a pc mouse you could slide round to regulate the Home windows 11 laptop’s mouse pointer. This also needs to work with video games when you choose a mouse-like interface to the controller joysticks.
For the reason that Lenovo Legion Go runs Home windows 11, which means it’s also possible to reap the benefits of the Xbox Sport Move for PC if you wish to pay a month-to-month subscription price for entry to a whole bunch of video games to play everytime you really feel prefer it.
Above, you’ll be able to see the common Home windows 11 interface operating on the Lenovo Legion Go. The Home windows 11 interface isn’t very nicely designed for a small touchscreen like this. Home windows 10’s pill interface and even Home windows 8’s interface would have been significantly better on a contact display screen this measurement.
Utilizing Home windows 11 on a pill is extra like utilizing Home windows XP on a pill, which, actually, I used to be completely pleased with again in 2002. After all, one of many controllers can flip into an actual mouse, and you’ll pair any Bluetooth or wired keyboard with the Legion Go as a way to get a greater desktop Home windows interplay expertise.
With the Steam Deck, lots of people needed to put in Home windows 11 as a way to play Home windows video games. Steam made that attainable by offering drivers. Now, with the Legion Go that ships with Home windows 11 built-in, I’m wondering if individuals would possibly need to set up Steam OS as a way to get higher efficiency on Steam OS-compatible video games.
General, the Legion Go may be very spectacular based mostly on our quick time with a prototype. Anybody who likes cell gaming and/or PC gaming goes to need to contemplate pre-ordering one among these beauties severely. Lenovo Legion Go will probably be out there for $699 throughout most main retailers beginning October 2023.