Handheld gaming PCs are gaining in recognition, and there are actually fairly just a few choices on the market, together with a number of variations of Valve’s Steam Deck, the Asus ROG Ally, MSI Claw A1M and Lenovo’s Legion Go. I’ve been testing out the Legion Go for a number of weeks now and have fairly just a few ideas about it and PC handhelds general.
The Legion Go’s specs (full spec sheet beneath and accessible here) are arguably fairly normal fare for a PC handheld, however there are just a few notable options that assist it stand other than the gang. First, the Legion Go ships with Home windows 11 out of the field. It is a blessing and a curse, however for anybody who needs to entry a number of sport shops and Xbox Recreation Go, having Home windows put in from the beginning makes getting up and operating a lot simpler.
The opposite notable distinction is the Legion Go’s Swap-like detachable controllers. Once more, there are upsides and drawbacks I’ll get into extra beneath, however the detachable controllers add a stage of versatility that different handhelds battle to match.
However are these sufficient to justify the Legion Go’s eye-watering $899.99 price tag? Let’s discover out.
Specs
- Show: 8.8-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS, 16:10 side ratio, 144Hz refresh price
- Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive
- Reminiscence: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Dimensions: 40.7 x 298.83 x 131mm (with controllers)
- Weight: 854g/1.88lbs (with controllers)
- Working System: Home windows 11
- Battery: 49.2WHr
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
- Ports: 2x USB-C 4.0, 1x Headphone/mic combo, 1x microSD card as much as 2TB
- Graphics: RDNA Graphics
Swap meets PC
Now that we’ve obtained the specs out of the best way, let’s discuss these Pleasure-Cons TrueStrike controllers. I’m typically a fan of them as a result of considered one of my largest points with most PC handhelds is how heavy they’re. Longer play periods at all times find yourself making my wrists drained and sore, however the Go’s detachable controllers and built-in kickstand let me change how I maintain the hand held. It’s a minor profit however one which helps enhance the ergonomic number of utilizing the hand held.
Except for being detachable, the TrueStike controllers typically really feel fairly good. I discover them massive and chunky, however they’re fairly snug general, and I don’t have any points reaching all of the buttons. The joysticks use ‘Corridor Impact’ sensors, so they need to be immune to drift (I haven’t had any drift points throughout my testing) and final some time. There’s additionally RGB on the controllers – it seems cool however isn’t precisely sensible. You possibly can flip off the RGB if you happen to’re involved concerning the impression on battery life (not that the Legion Go will final lengthy sufficient for it to essentially matter). The larger flaw in my eyes is that the RGB lights up across the joysticks however doesn’t illuminate the buttons, which might make enjoying at midnight irritating till you’ve constructed up muscle reminiscence.
Sadly, that’s the place the positives finish. When the TrueStrike controllers are connected to the Legion Go, they really feel fairly stable. Nonetheless, eradicating them looks like they’re breaking off. They don’t slide in or out just like the Swap Pleasure-Cons. As a substitute, it’s essential to line up the TrueStrike’s connector with the hand held and push it in and as much as lock it in. Eradicating them requires pulling the controllers barely down and away from the hand held whereas holding a small button to open the locking mechanism. It’s awkward, and I’m by no means assured that I’m doing it accurately.
The TrueStrike’s haptics are finest described as aggressive, and it’s notably disagreeable when you may really feel the controller vibrating towards the hand held (fortunately, you may flip down the vibration depth, but it surely doesn’t assist that a lot). And whereas some individuals would possibly respect all the extra buttons and triggers on the TrueStrike controllers for remapping inputs, I discovered them annoying greater than something. I are inclined to grip my controller with a little bit of drive, particularly when enjoying more durable video games, and find yourself by chance clicking the additional buttons on a regular basis. One other annoyance is that you may’t go away one of many TrueStrike controllers linked and use the opposite wirelessly. It’s a must to join or disconnect each side, or the Legion Go stops receiving enter from them.
That half is very bizarre when you think about the TrueStrike’s unusual joystick mode. The hand held comes with a plastic base for the appropriate controller, the underside of which sports activities a sensor such as you’d discover in a pc mouse. This allows you to flip the appropriate controller right into a joystick/mouse hybrid, which Lenovo claims is nice for FPS video games if you happen to favor having mouse precision for aiming. I fall squarely into that camp, however discovered the controller’s mouse mode to be uncomfortable as finest. Lenovo will get some factors for the concept, however the implementation positively wants work.
However can it sport?
You possibly can drop the appropriate True Strike controller right into a magnetic base to create a bizarre joystick-like enter choice.
The brief reply to this all-important query is: it relies upon. Typically, sure it might, however as with all PC gaming handheld, there shall be some hiccups alongside the best way. My recommendation is to set your expectations accordingly. For instance, if you wish to play the newest and best video games with top-tier graphics settings and excessive body charges, you’ll be sorely disillusioned. However if you happen to don’t thoughts turning down the settings, decreasing the decision, and gaming at 30fps or 60fps, the Legion Go is definitely succesful. Relying on the title, you may push the Transcend 60fps or maybe use larger graphics settings, however in the end, you’ll must do a good quantity of testing to seek out what works nicely with most video games. Lenovo additionally included some software program that may assist with this.
The Legion Go sports activities Lenovo’s ‘Legion Area’ software program, which brings a number of features to the gadget. Firstly is a gaming-focused, handheld-oriented launcher that overlays Home windows 11. The thought is to have a greater interface for the principle enter choices on the Legion Go — being the controllers and contact — than what Home windows 11 natively offers. Given how poor of an expertise utilizing Home windows 11 on the Legion Go is, it’s unbelievable to me that the Legion Area is by some means even worse. After attempting to acclimate to it, I made a decision it’d be higher to undergo with Home windows 11’s shoddy contact enter than proceed to undergo with Legion Area, and I solely stopped utilizing the launcher.
Legion Area works nicely with controller enter however is usually annoying to make use of and doesn’t look good.
Nonetheless, the launcher isn’t the one a part of the software program – there’s additionally a useful fast settings menu with a devoted button on the controller that you may name up nearly anyplace. The short settings menu has a lot of useful choices for managing efficiency on the Legion Go, together with organising efficiency monitoring, adjusting thermal modes, fan speeds, and extra. It additionally enables you to rapidly alter issues like decision and display screen refresh price on the fly, which is kind of useful. I favor the next refresh price, so I saved my Legion Go on the 144Hz choice, however the decision adjustment can assist eke out just a few extra frames from a extra demanding title.
The Legion Go’s IPS show has a 2560 x 1600 pixel decision that, whereas good, might be overkill on the 8.8-inch dimension. Fast settings allow you to bump the output decision all the way down to 1920 x 1200 and even 1280 x 800 – I went with the previous more often than not as a result of it nonetheless seemed fairly sharp however gave most video games a noticeable efficiency increase.
In the end, the Legion Go can sport pretty proficiently if you happen to’re keen to place within the effort to tweak and alter settings to get the kind of efficiency you need. It’s not precisely a pick-up-and-play expertise such as you’d get from the Swap, which may deter some individuals. However if you happen to’re accustomed to PC gaming already and don’t thoughts spending the primary half-hour of your time with a sport tinkering with settings, the Legion Go can nonetheless be fairly good.
Mood your expectations
For me, the Legion Go crammed a distinct segment of being an ideal choice to play video games I’ve picked up over time that I don’t favor to play on my desktop, or for attempting out indie titles I would in any other case not decide to. For instance, considered one of my favorite video games of all time, Darkest Dungeon, was nice on the Legion Go regardless of the sport’s mediocre controller help. Whereas I loved enjoying it on my desktop, it was at all times a sport I felt can be nice to take with me and play on the go – the Legion Go made that potential. I additionally discovered myself revisiting older titles, like Arkham Knight, that I beforehand suffered by way of with a keyboard and mouse however are typically higher with a controller. (Regardless of releasing in 2015, I nonetheless needed to run it at low settings to get a stable 60fps expertise.) Plus, there have been loads of smaller indie titles on Xbox Recreation Go that I most likely by no means would have gotten round to attempting if I didn’t have the Legion Go. For instance, Tunic felt proper at dwelling on the Go however was by no means a best choice on my Xbox or PC.
However after I ventured outdoors that area of interest to attempt extra intense titles, like Starfield and even Future 2, the efficiency didn’t lower it. Starfield wasn’t a lot of a shock when it got here to efficiency, however I couldn’t even hit a constant 30fps with it on the Legion Go. Future 2, then again, I anticipated would run higher, given how outdated it’s. I obtained it to run at 60fps, however the framerate would rapidly tank each time tons was occurring on display screen, making fight a stuttery mess. I additionally obtained Helldivers 2 operating on the Legion Go because it’s the sport of the second, however efficiency wasn’t nice and I rapidly realized I hate enjoying it with controller inputs.
Mouse sensor on the underside of the TrueStrike controller.
My spouse additionally used the Legion Go continuously to play some Recreation Go titles she loved on our Xbox when she didn’t really feel like utilizing the Xbox. Sea of Stars was nice for her on the Legion, and a survival sport she picked up referred to as Stranded Deep was additionally enjoyable, although she famous that the Legion Go used the PC model of the sport, which is kind of totally different from the Xbox model. She additionally performed a number of PowerWash Simulator and in the end most popular it on the Legion Go as a result of she preferred to make use of the touchpad on the appropriate TrueStrike controller to intention the powerwasher, discovering it extra correct than utilizing the joystick.
Regardless of us each having fun with the Legion Go, we sometimes encountered friction with entering into video games that wouldn’t occur on a console. For instance, there have been cases the place a sport would launch however wouldn’t take over the display screen. Different video games launched effective however wouldn’t acknowledge the controllers — Stranded Deep, for instance, had me scrambling to open the contact keyboard to bypass a ‘Press enter to start out’ display screen earlier than I may entry the sport’s settings menu and allow controller enter.
Once more, if you happen to’re used to PC gaming, these moments of friction won’t bug you a lot, however they may deter individuals who need a smoother expertise.
Middling battery and fascinating smells
Although the efficiency wasn’t nice, I wasn’t stunned or bothered – it was just about consistent with my expectations from the Legion Go. What did disappoint me was the battery life. In my expertise, the Legion Go solely lasts just a few hours when gaming, although it fluctuates primarily based on the sport (e.g., a much less graphically intense sport would possibly allow you to get an additional hour of playtime in). For a tool designed to permit individuals to sport on the go, the battery life makes it actually tough to justify bringing it with me. Plus, the Legion Go is kind of giant and despite the fact that it comes with a carrying case, taking it out of the home was a ache. Most of the time, I used the Legion Go whereas sitting on my sofa with it plugged into the wall, which is precisely the place I’d be if I had been enjoying my Xbox.
Even with poor battery life, the Legion Go nonetheless provides extra portability than most different gaming programs. It was useful if I wished to get in a fast Darkest Dungeon run from the consolation of my mattress or if I wished to play one thing whereas on an extended drive or practice experience, however charger anxiousness hung concerning the Go like a foul odour.
Talking of foul odours, let’s discuss concerning the Legion Go’s vent. Valve made vent-sniffing a meme with the Steam Deck and whereas we’ve all had some laughs about it, I’m truly form of involved with the Legion Go’s vent, which emits a bitter, burnt plastic-like odor. It was most noticeable throughout longer gaming periods, particularly ones that pushed the Legion Go {hardware} to its limits and obtained the followers spinning up.
Maybe the worst incident occurred to me on the primary evening with the hand held. The Legion Go’s carrying case, neatly, has slightly flap you may open to entry the charging port so you may plug within the handheld whereas it’s within the case. This was how I made a decision to cost the Legion Go on that first evening. What I didn’t understand, nevertheless, was that plugging within the handheld turned it on. It sat within the carrying case all evening lengthy with the display screen on (I don’t know why the display screen didn’t flip off sooner or later).
Coupled with some warmth generated from charging, the Legion Go obtained heat sufficient to kick on the fan, but it surely wasn’t in a position to flow into cool air because it was within the carrying case. The entire room stank of that very same burnt-plastic odor after I walked into my workplace the following morning. I opened the case to seek out the Legion Go along with the display screen on and followers operating on max. It was fairly heat as nicely. There wasn’t any seen harm to the case or the hand held, and fortunately, the worst factor that occurred was the odor. Nonetheless, the entire thing was regarding sufficient that I didn’t cost the Legion Go within the carrying case once more and usually prevented placing it within the case until I wanted to hold it someplace.
Legion Go get one thing else?
After spending a number of time with the Legion Go, I feel it sits in a bizarre spot. There are tons of PC gaming handhelds available on the market proper now, and as I discussed at first, the Legion Go provides some notable advantages in comparison with opponents. To me, the detachable TrueStrike controllers, and that it ships with Home windows 11 as an alternative of operating on Linux, are each marks within the Legion Go’s favour. The larger query is whether or not these justify the upper value of the hand held.
In Canada, the Legion Go begins at $899.99. That places it above most different handhelds, aside from MSI’s $1,099 Claw A1M handheld. In case your essential purpose is a handheld that runs Home windows so you need to use Recreation Go, Asus’ ROG Ally is cheaper at $699, although it doesn’t have detachable controllers. And for players with intensive Steam libraries, the Steam Deck is tough to beat (and you may get Recreation Go engaged on it if you happen to’re keen to place within the effort). In order that leaves the detachable controllers as the one vital differentiator right here, and whereas I like them, I don’t suppose these alone justify spending an additional $200 or presumably extra for the Legion Go.
What number of buttons does one controller want?
In the end, I don’t suppose I’d decide the Legion Go if I had been out there for a gaming handheld proper now. A handheld is sensible to me as a companion to a major gaming gadget like a desktop PC or console. It’s best for taking part in video games after I can’t or don’t need to use that major gaming gadget. Frankly, the Legion Go has too excessive a price to suit comfortably in that companion place for me.
The Legion Go is offered beginning at $899.99 on Lenovo’s website and Best Buy Canada. It’s additionally on Amazon Canada for $1,200.
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