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

In the case of PC handhelds, it is onerous to not play the comparability sport. 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 because of its array of choices each when it comes to energy and worth.

I would not say the hand held market is saturated simply but, however with MSI now making a authentic 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 area is getting greater than a bit of crowded. You would be forgiven for questioning what precisely separates all these handheld units 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 Swap-inspired

Legion Go
mannequin, which was the one handheld PC I’ve ever seen to characteristic removable controllers. After some combined evaluations, it seems 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 very lovely display screen. However is that this sufficient to make this handheld price your whereas?

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

Really helpful

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 vibrant, 8-inch display screen, easy 120Hz refresh fee and ergonomic design. 

Professionals & Cons

• Large lovely show
• Ergonomic design is straightforward to carry
• Legion Area is straightforward to navigate

• Home windows 11
• Costly
• Battery drains quick

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Value, availability, and specs

It is not low cost, however there’s some respectable horsepower underneath the hood

In the case of energy, the Lenovo Legion Go S sits in the course 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 surface, 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 in terms of worth. Sadly, this is without doubt one of the dearer handheld PC models, coming in at $760 retail direct from Lenovo.

What I preferred concerning the Lenovo Legion Go S

It is vibrant, snug, and the efficiency is usually nice

After 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 nervous that my wrists would get fatigued after an hour or two of playtime, however I used to be pleasantly shocked to search out that after my preliminary three hours with the unit, my arms and wrists felt effective, because of some spectacular ergonomics. The unit is undoubtedly cumbersome and heavy, however I used to be shocked by how little that ended up impacting my general gaming expertise.

Whereas I used to be testing the unit, I primarily performed two titles: Slay the Spire (certainly one of 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 screen.

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

In the case of 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 acquired 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 secure 50 FPS in efficiency battery mode, which went as much as 60 when the hand held was plugged in, and the 120Hz refresh fee and VRR had been put to good use right here, conserving issues trying easy and buttery on that dazzling display screen.

One other factor I actually appreciated concerning the Legion Go S is the improved Legion Area 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 characteristic 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 concerning the Lenovo Legion Go S

Do not go wherever with out a energy brick

Whereas I used to be very 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 nearly instantly dropped to an unplayable six FPS, and even after I edged up a few of the settings, with out particularly maxing out every part for prime efficiency, I encountered frequent freezes and sport crashes.

And sadly, that is fairly an enormous situation — like a whole lot of gaming handhelds, the battery on the Lenovo Legion Go S is completely 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 because of the sport needing fewer assets, it wasn’t sufficient for me to energy by a full afternoon operating errands with out having to recharge the gadget with an influence financial institution.

And whereas this would not be such a problem if the gadget was at a $600 worth level or decrease, at $760 retail, these points matter much more because it feels such as you’re paying a premium worth for a less-than-optimal expertise. Although I had nearly no points enjoying 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 wherever, and in that respect, this handheld simply is not on the stage it must be, particularly, once more, given its excessive worth level.

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

This is not a Lenovo situation per se, and to its credit score, the aforementioned Legion Area sport hub does work effectively for launching video games. However, in the event you’re like me and use Xbox Recreation Cross 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 really fairly loved my time with the Lenovo Legion Go S, and I do suppose it’s a stable gaming gadget, snug to carry and able to enjoying brand-new video games with ease on maybe one of the 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 presents its greatest efficiency when plugged in, and prices a whole lot of {dollars} greater than different transportable gaming PCs that characteristic related (or typically higher) specs.

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

Really helpful

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 vibrant, 8-inch display screen, easy 120Hz refresh fee 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)

Increase

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