Lenovo Legion Go has been officially announced along with detailed specifications that show a powerful combination of popular handheld game consoles.
Lenovo has brought something more special with the combination of Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, ROG Ally.
The Lenovo Legion Go is the latest handheld gaming device in this vibrant market of the past year. After a few rumors and leaks, the company has officially announced its entry into a field dominated by the likes of Valve, Asus, and Ayaneo. The Lenovo Legion Go draws inspiration from the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Nintendo Switch to deliver useful features like detachable controllers, faster CPUs, and a nifty trackpad.
The handheld game console market since the launch of the Steam Deck early last year has exploded in heat. Even before the Steam Deck there were companies like Ayaneo and others dedicated to making gaming more accessible wherever you are. But the Steam Deck caught everyone’s attention because of its appearance and value. It allows customers to play nearly the entire Steam library on the go. To capitalize on this market, Asus also stepped in and released the ROG Ally. It boasts better specs than the Steam Deck at but is more expensive. And now Lenovo has brought something more special with the combination of Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, ROG Ally.
Lenovo Legion Go Specifications
Regarding the design and functionality of the Legion Go, the device comes with a detachable controller similar to the Nintendo Switch.
Lenovo is the latest brand to release a handheld gaming device named Legion Go. As the name suggests, it’s part of Lenovo’s Legion gaming brand and has the same build quality gamers expect from the Legion lineup. It has a larger 8.8-inch 16:10 aspect ratio QHD+ display with a maximum brightness of up to 500 nits and a refresh rate of up to 144Hz. Legion Go comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5X (7500Mhz) RAM and up to 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD. It also has a micro-SD slot that supports up to 2TB.
Powering the device is the AMDRyzen Z1 Extreme processor with RNDA graphics, the same chip found in ROG Ally. Lenovo Legion Go has a maximum power consumption of 25W, 10W lower than Ally. Lenovo is using Coldfront cooling technology including a 79-blade liquid crystal polymer fan to keep the device cool. All this is backed up by a 49.2Wh battery (larger than both the Steam Deck and ROG Ally) which also supports fast charging and the company claims that it can hit 70% in just half an hour.
Regarding the design and functionality of the Legion Go, the device comes with a detachable controller similar to the Nintendo Switch. While the two controllers cannot be used as standalone controllers for two players, the right controller can be used as a vertical mouse using the accessory included in the box. This controller has a mouse wheel and a different arrangement of the buttons to support mouse-like ergonomics. The left controller has a joystick and D-pad along with three more buttons. The right controller has a joystick, ABXY buttons, menu buttons, and a trackpad. It uses a Hall Effect joystick for greater accuracy and longevity.
In terms of connectivity, the device has two USB Type-C ports that support DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0. The Lenovo Legion Go comes with Wi-Fi 6E3 as well as Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity. There is also a solid kickstand at the back similar to the one on Microsoft Surface products.
Lenovo Legion Go price and availability
While all three come with 16GB RAM as standard, Lenovo is offering “up to” the AMD Ryz1 Extreme with RDNA graphics with Legion Go.
The Lenovo Legion Go will be available for purchase starting in November, but the company has yet to share an exact launch date. It costs 799 EUR (about 20 million VND) for the base model with 256GB of internal memory. There’s also a 512GB and 1TB model, but pricing for those remains unclear at this time. While all three come with 16GB RAM as standard, Lenovo is offering “up to” AMD Ryz1 Extreme with RDNA graphics with Legion Go.
Lenovo’s announcement comes just days after Ayaneo announced its flagship product, the Ayaneo KUN. Unlike Legion Go, the KUN is powered by the Ryzen 7 7840U and will be sold through the Indigogo campaign. The KUN has a starting price of $999, which is the initial price until it starts retailing officially for $1209. On the other hand, the Steam Deck starts at $399 while the ROG Ally costs $599.
