The Lenovo Legion Go S is an enormous, shiny beast that may blow your price range

Relating to PC handhelds, it is exhausting to not play the comparability sport. The

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

ROG Ally
collection has the Home windows-powered market all however cornered due to its array of choices each by way of energy and value.

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

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

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

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

Really useful

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 contains a shiny, 8-inch display screen, easy 120Hz refresh charge and ergonomic design. 

Professionals & Cons

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

• Home windows 11
• Costly
• Battery drains quick

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We do not do arm-chair analysis. We purchase and take a look at our personal merchandise, and we solely publish purchaser’s guides with merchandise we have really reviewed.

Worth, availability, and specs

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

Relating to energy, the Lenovo Legion Go S sits in the midst of the street, powered by a zippy (however not best-in-class) AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor with 32GB of reminiscence. There’s additionally loads of area 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 connect 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 thus far for a gaming handheld, be ready for a letdown on the subject of value. Sadly, this is likely one of the dearer handheld PC models, coming in at $760 retail direct from Lenovo.

What I appreciated in regards to the Lenovo Legion Go S

It is shiny, comfy, and the efficiency is generally nice

After I first picked up the Lenovo Legion Go S, I went into a right away panic due to how heavy it was. At simply over a pound and a half, I used to be apprehensive 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 advantageous, 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 (considered one of my favourite roguelikes ever, which I’ve performed on a number of techniques) 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 stunning the latter seemed on the Lenovo Legion Go’s display screen.

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

Relating to efficiency, the Lenovo Legion Go handles a easy sport like Slay the Spire with ease whereas each unplugged and plugged in, plus in efficiency and power-saving mode. Nevertheless, issues obtained a bit of bit extra sophisticated with South of Midnight. The excellent news is that I used to be in a position to stand 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, holding issues wanting easy and buttery on that dazzling display screen.

One other factor I actually appreciated in regards to 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 a whole lot of Home windows 11, which was a serious plus.

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What I did not like in regards to the Lenovo Legion Go S

Do not go wherever with out a 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 problem. After I tried out battery-saving mode, South of Midnight virtually instantly dropped to an unplayable six FPS, and even after I edged up a number of the settings, with out particularly maxing out all the things for prime efficiency, I encountered frequent freezes and sport crashes.

And sadly, that is fairly an enormous concern — like a whole lot of gaming handhelds, the battery on the Lenovo Legion Go S is totally horrible. I used to be solely in a position to 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 in a position to play Slay the Spire a bit of longer due to the sport needing fewer assets, it wasn’t sufficient for me to energy by way of a full afternoon working errands with out having to recharge the machine with an influence financial institution.

And whereas this would not be such a problem 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 thought behind a transportable gaming handheld is the flexibility to take it wherever, 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 remains to be completely horrible for handhelds. Navigating the Xbox app specifically for me was robust, 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 concern per se, and to its credit score, the aforementioned Legion House sport hub does work effectively for launching video games. However, should you’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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Must you purchase the Lenovo Legion Go S?

Search for it on sale

I really fairly loved my time with the Lenovo Legion Go S, and I do suppose it’s a strong gaming machine, comfy to carry and able to taking part in brand-new video games with ease on maybe the very best display screen I’ve seen on a handheld. However in a world of accelerating competitors, it’s robust to totally suggest a handheld that solely provides its greatest efficiency when plugged in, and prices a whole bunch of {dollars} greater than different moveable gaming PCs that function related (or generally higher) specs.

Nevertheless, if you’ll find a unit on sale (and I did pretty simply whereas penning this assessment), the Legion Go S is a superbly advantageous handheld for many who wish to primarily play video games on a handheld console in their very own house near an outlet, or who’ve loads of moveable energy banks available when out and about.

Really useful

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 contains a shiny, 8-inch display screen, 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 information switch DisplayPort™ 1.4, + Energy Supply 3.0)

Broaden

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