The Lenovo Legion Go S is a giant, brilliant beast...

With regards to PC handhelds, it is onerous to not play the comparability recreation. The

Steam Deck
is (pretty or unfairly) held up because the gold normal, whereas the

ROG Ally
sequence has the Home windows-powered market all however cornered due to its array of choices each when it comes to energy and value.

I would not say the hand held market is saturated simply but, however with MSI now making a respectable play within the high-end market and Acer about to launch their very own spin on the gaming handheld with the Nitro Blaze sequence, the house is getting greater than just a little crowded. You would be forgiven for questioning what precisely separates all these handheld gadgets from each other.

It’s on this surroundings that we discover the Lenovo Legion Go S, which is the second handheld providing from Lenovo, following their clearly Swap-inspired

Legion Go
mannequin, which was the one handheld PC I’ve ever seen to function removable controllers. After some combined opinions, it appears like Lenovo has gone for a extra back-to-basics strategy to the hand held PC with the Legion Go S, which eschews the gimmicky controllers for an ergonomic design and a really lovely display. However is that this sufficient to make this handheld value your whereas?

Largely, the reply is sure, however there’s one massive caveat.

Beneficial

Lenovo Legion Go S

$600 $730 Save
$130

The Lenovo Legion Go S handheld is powered by the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor with AMD Radeon graphics and includes a brilliant, 8-inch display, easy 120Hz refresh charge and ergonomic design. 

Execs & Cons

• Massive lovely show
• Ergonomic design is straightforward to carry
• Legion House is straightforward to navigate

• Home windows 11
• Costly
• Battery drains quick

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Worth, availability, and specs

It isn’t low-cost, however there’s some respectable horsepower below the hood

With regards to energy, the Lenovo Legion Go S sits in the course of the highway, powered by a zippy (however not best-in-class) AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor with 32GB of reminiscence. There’s additionally loads of house for video games right here, because the unit comes with 1 TB of onboard storage, expandable with a Micro SD port. The unit additionally has two USB-C ports, making it a breeze to hook up with energy whereas additionally utilizing an exterior show or a third-party accent.

On the skin, this unit sports activities an enormous 8-inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel decision IPS show that may show as much as 500 nits of brightness. The unit additionally has front-facing audio system and microphone, making Discord chats a breeze.

Although all this sounds good to this point for a gaming handheld, be ready for a letdown with regards to value. Sadly, this is likely one of the costlier handheld PC items, coming in at $760 retail direct from Lenovo.

What I preferred concerning the Lenovo Legion Go S

It is brilliant, comfy, and the efficiency is usually nice

Once I first picked up the Lenovo Legion Go S, I went into an instantaneous panic due to how heavy it was. At simply over a pound and a half, I used to be fearful that my wrists would get fatigued after an hour or two of playtime, however I used to be pleasantly stunned to search out that after my preliminary three hours with the unit, my palms and wrists felt positive, due to some spectacular ergonomics. The unit is undoubtedly cumbersome and heavy, however I used to be shocked by how little that ended up impacting my total gaming expertise.

Whereas I used to be testing the unit, I primarily performed two titles: Slay the Spire (one in all my favourite roguelikes ever, which I’ve performed on a number of programs) and South of Midnight, a brand new Xbox Studios title that I hoped would assist take a look at a few of this unit’s technical capabilities. And one factor that instantly stood out to me was how lovely the latter regarded on the Lenovo Legion Go’s display.

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It isn’t OLED, however the display was extremely brilliant and detailed, and at 8-inches was one of many greatest I’ve personally seen in a handheld. Once I picked up my (non-OLED) Nintendo Swap later within the night for a pair rounds of Mario Kart with buddies, I used to be shocked by how a lot duller and smaller the display on Nintendo’s console appeared by comparability.

With regards to efficiency, the Lenovo Legion Go handles a easy recreation like Slay the Spire with ease whereas each unplugged and plugged in, plus in efficiency and power-saving mode. Nevertheless, issues obtained just a little bit extra sophisticated with South of Midnight. The excellent news is that I used to be capable of rise up to a steady 50 FPS in efficiency battery mode, which went as much as 60 when the hand held was plugged in, and the 120Hz refresh charge and VRR have been put to good use right here, preserving issues wanting easy and buttery on that dazzling display.

One other factor I actually appreciated concerning the Legion Go S is the improved Legion House app, which has been up to date and refreshed to supply one-touch entry not solely to launch video games, but in addition to customise controls, modify energy choices, and extra. It is a very handy function and helped me bypass numerous Home windows 11, which was a significant plus.

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What I did not like concerning the Lenovo Legion Go S

Do not go anyplace with no energy brick

Whereas I used to be more than happy with my expertise with the hand held whereas plugged in, lower-power modes are sadly a difficulty. Once I tried out battery-saving mode, South of Midnight virtually instantly dropped to an unplayable six FPS, and even after I edged up among the settings, with out particularly maxing out every thing for prime efficiency, I encountered frequent freezes and recreation crashes.

And sadly, that is fairly a giant problem — like numerous gaming handhelds, the battery on the Lenovo Legion Go S is totally horrible. I used to be solely capable of simply barely eke out two hours in South of Midnight in efficiency mode earlier than needing to plug in, and whereas I used to be capable of play Slay the Spire just a little longer due to the sport needing fewer assets, it wasn’t sufficient for me to energy by means of a full afternoon operating errands with out having to recharge the machine with an influence financial institution.

And whereas this would not be such a difficulty if the machine was at a $600 value level or decrease, at $760 retail, these points matter much more because it feels such as you’re paying a premium value for a less-than-optimal expertise. Although I had virtually no points taking part in on the Lenovo Legion Go S when it was plugged in, on the finish of the day, the concept behind a transportable gaming handheld is the power to take it anyplace, and in that respect, this handheld simply is not on the stage it must be, particularly, once more, given its excessive value level.

It additionally bears mentioning that this machine runs on Home windows 11 and this OS continues to be completely horrible for handhelds. Navigating the Xbox app particularly for me was powerful, and making an attempt to calibrate OS settings was so irritating I needed to put the hand held down and take a stroll earlier than making an attempt once more.

This is not a Lenovo problem per se, and to its credit score, the aforementioned Legion House recreation hub does work properly for launching video games. However, for those who’re like me and use Xbox Recreation Go or Steam to buy and obtain video games (otherwise you need to customise your OS even just a bit), you may be caught utilizing Home windows 11’s crappy interface.

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Do you have to purchase the Lenovo Legion Go S?

Search for it on sale

I truly fairly loved my time with the Lenovo Legion Go S, and I do assume it’s a stable gaming machine, comfy to carry and able to taking part in brand-new video games with ease on maybe one of the best display I’ve seen on a handheld. However in a world of accelerating competitors, it’s powerful to completely suggest a handheld that solely presents its finest efficiency when plugged in, and prices a whole bunch of {dollars} greater than different transportable gaming PCs that function comparable (or generally higher) specs.

Nevertheless, if you could find a unit on sale (and I did pretty simply whereas scripting this evaluation), the Legion Go S is a wonderfully positive handheld for individuals who want to primarily play video games on a handheld console in their very own residence near an outlet, or who’ve loads of transportable energy banks readily available when out and about.

Beneficial

Lenovo Legion Go S

$600 $730 Save
$130

The Lenovo Legion Go S handheld is powered by the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor with AMD Radeon graphics and includes a brilliant, 8-inch display, easy 120Hz refresh charge and ergonomic design. 

Weight

1.61lb

Chipset

AMD Ryzen Z2 Go

RAM

32GB 6400MHz LPDDR5X

Storage

1TB

Wi-fi Connectivity

Wi-Fi 6E 2×2 AX & Bluetooth 5.3

Show

8-inch WUXGA 1920 x 1200 pixel decision, IPS, Glare, Contact, 100percentsRGB, 500 nits, 120Hz

Graphics

Built-in AMD Radeon Graphics

Ports

2x USB 4 (40Gb/s knowledge switch DisplayPort™ 1.4, + Energy Supply 3.0)

Develop

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