Lenovo Legion Go Officially Revealed As Latest Steam Deck Competitor
In the last couple of weeks, two separate leaks introduced the world to the Lenovo Legion Go, the laptop manufacturer's attempt at a handheld gaming device to compete with the likes of the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch. On Friday, its arrival became official, with Lenovo officially announcing the device in a press release that fully laid out what the company is bringing to the table.
For starters, the Legion Go is, like the ASUS RoG Ally, a handheld Windows 11 Home-based PC, unlike how the Steam Deck runs a customized "SteamOS" version of Arch Linux. This opens up a massive array of compatible titles, as opposed to the more limited slate supported by the Steam Deck. To run these games, the Legion Go boasts "up to" an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor with AMD RNDA graphics, plus up to 16GB 7500Mhz LPDDR5X RAM, and PCIe 4.0 SSD storage in the amount of 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.
Lenovo promises 'Super Rapid' charging
The battery is a beefy one, rated at 49.2Wh. Ports and connectivity options include detachable controllers, a pair of USB Type-C ports (supporting USB 4.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and Power Delivery 3.0), a microSD slot supporting cards up to 2TB, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. The controllers have Hall effect joysticks, which are purportedly less prone to joystick drift from wear and tear than the traditional variety. Cosmetically speaking, there are also customizable RGB rings around them.
One feature that Lenovo seems particularly proud of is "Super Rapid Charge," with the press release touting that the device can charge to 70% in just 30 minutes. In the footnotes, it's explained that you can get to 30% in 10 minutes and 100% in 80 minutes. The device also has a "power bypass mode that protects the battery from extra degradation while eliminating heat normally produced while charging." Speaking of heat, Lenovo claims that the Legion Go's fan can stay under 25dB of noise in "Quiet Mode."
As for the touchscreen display, it's billed as an "8.8-inch QHD+ 16:10 Lenovo PureSight gaming display." In practice, Lenovo says that the screen can put out up to 500 nits brightness with a 97% DCI-P3 color gamut while supporting resolutions ranging from 800p to 1600p and refresh rates of 60Hz and 144Hz. By comparison, the Steam Deck and ROG Ally have seven-inch displays running at lower resolutions and refresh rates of 1280x800/60Hz and 1920x1080/120Hz, respectively.
Lenovo claims mouse-like precision in 'FPS Mode'
One feature that is particularly intriguing, being that this is primarily a device for playing PC games, is "FPS Mode." According to the press release, flipping the switch that enables "FPS mode" enables you "to detach the controllers from the Lenovo Legion Go body and use the kickstand at the back to prop it up on a surface." You then put the right controller into a magnetized controller base, and, per Lenovo, "the optical eye at the bottom of the controller" allows for more precise control as is required by competitive play in first-person shooters, comparable to using a mouse.
"As we scan the gaming landscape, we see that gamers are a versatile and varied group, and Lenovo Legion likewise endeavors to provide gamers with solutions that suit them," said Jun Ouyang, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of the Consumer Business Segment, Intelligent Devices Group, in prepared remarks. "With this in mind, we began designing the Lenovo Legion Go over two years ago in order to empower gamers around the world to game their way. With the introduction of the Lenovo Legion Go, we are excited to expand our Lenovo Legion gaming ecosystem with a device that allows gamers to — literally — game on the go."
The Lenovo Legion Go comes out in October with a starting retail price of $699. Distribution partners touted in the release include Best Buy, Micro Center, "select retail partners," and, of course, Lenovo.com.