Lenovo simply introduced this Legion Go handheld transportable gaming console at IFA 2023. We bought to check out a prototype for a short while, and it is fairly superior. We did not have sufficient time to check out lots of video games or actually check the efficiency, so that is primarily going to be a dialogue of first impressions.
The Legion Go is mainly an ultra-mobile Home windows 11 pill PC with detachable sport controllers on the perimeters. It is bought 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 can select between 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 storage.
The Legion Go seems nice! It feels similar to a Steam Deck, however we have additionally bought a pleasant kickstand on the again, in addition to just a few 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 properly, 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 bought to play PowerWash Simulator on the Legion Go, and it labored fairly properly. The controls felt nearly as good as any Xbox or Ps controller, and the sport was completely responsive, although we’ll admit that this explicit sport does not actually require split-second response instances.
Whenever you take the controllers off the facet, the Legion Go turns into a pleasant little transportable pc, and naturally, the controllers nonetheless work for taking part in video games.
Similar to a Nintendo Change, the detachable controllers work nice whereas connected, 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.
For those who place a controller into the little plastic round accent, it turns into a pc mouse that you could slide round to manage the Home windows 11 pc’s mouse pointer. This also needs to work with video games in the event you favor a mouse-like interface to the controller joysticks.
For the reason that Lenovo Legion Go runs Home windows 11, which means you may as well reap the benefits of the Xbox Recreation Cross for PC if you wish to pay a month-to-month subscription price for entry to lots of of video games to play everytime you really feel prefer it.
Above, you may see the common Home windows 11 interface working on the Lenovo Legion Go. The Home windows 11 interface just isn’t very properly 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 this measurement.
Utilizing Home windows 11 on a pill is extra like utilizing Home windows XP on a pill, which, truthfully, I used to be completely comfortable with again in 2002. After all, one of many controllers can flip into an actual mouse, and you may pair any Bluetooth or wired keyboard with the Legion Go with a view to get a greater desktop Home windows interplay expertise.
With the Steam Deck, lots of people needed to put in Home windows 11 with a view 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 ponder if folks may wish to set up Steam OS with a view to get higher efficiency on Steam OS-compatible video games.
Total, the Legion Go could be very spectacular primarily based on our brief time with a prototype. Anybody who likes cell gaming and/or PC gaming goes to wish to think about pre-ordering one in every of these beauties critically. Lenovo Legion Go will probably be accessible for $699 throughout most main retailers beginning October 2023.
