Lenovo is making its own move in the handheld PC gaming market - an area that was once the preserve of enthusiasts only but is now thriving.
With theSteam Deck and ASUS ROG Allyas prominent competitors, the newly-announced Lenovo Legion Go is doing plenty to stand out. Here are all the details we know about.
Lenovo Legion Go release date and price
The Legion Go was only first leaked at the end of July 2023, and while there were a lot of details in various reports we didn’t have to wait long to find out more officially.
After all, we gotour hands on the Lenovo Legion Go at IFA 2023and learned that it’s set to launch inNovember 2023, starting at $699 / €799.
That price puts it in direct competition with the more premium end of the models offered by both ASUS and Valve in their handhelds.
Lenovo Legion Go design
Like with the announcement of the Legion Go, we saw leaked images of the handheld a little while before Lenovo unveiled it at IFA 2023, but it’s all confirmed and official now.
The Legion Go is a chunky handheld that looks pretty similar to a Steam Deck, but with a slightly more angular and hard-edged design.
Its crucial stand-out difference is that it has detachable controllers, much like a Nintendo Switch on steroids - featuring loads of extra control options and hidden buttons.
One of these can even be clipped into an included stand to become a little portable mouse - an option that offers some real innovation.
The Legion Go is really nice to hold, with solid ergonomics and a distribution of its weight that makes it comfortable in the hand, and it comes with a nice hard-shell case to make storage and travel safer.
Like the Steam Deck, it has a USB-C port on both the top and bottom, so that you can charge (or power a display) in multiple orientations.
The screen is a massive 144Hz 8.8” QHD+ (2560 x 1600) IPS, much larger than the 7-inch displays on the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally - another major difference-maker as it tries to stand out.
During our hands-on, we also confirmed that the Lenovo Legion Go is 299 x 131 x 41mm, which is comparable to its competitors. It tips the scale at 854g.
Lenovo Legion Go specs
Lenovo showed off the device at IFA 2023 and revealed much more information about its specs. Namely, it will feature up to AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme with AMD RDNA Graphics.
Depending on the configuration, it also has 16GB of 7500Mhz LPDDR5X RAM and a 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.
During our hands-on, we could not run any benchmarks, so it’s hard to get a good feel for how powerful it is, but we were able to play a couple of games and found that they felt good.
Those specs mean that it’ll enter the market as a pretty immediate contender for the most powerful handheld gaming PC you can buy, so Lenovo certainly isn’t playing around with the Legion Go.
Lenovo Legion Glasses
Lenovo didn’t just unveil the Legion Go at IFA 2023, though - it also took the wraps off the Legion Glasses, a pair of AR glasses that will work hand-in-hand with the Legion Go (or with theLegion 9iif you want a more traditional gaming laptop).
They’re not included in the bundle, though, instead coming in as a $329 or £329 extra for those who are interested in a different way to play. They’ll launch inOctober 2023.
They have some interesting specs, too - with micro-LED displays that clock in at 1920 x 1080 per eye and with built-in speakers for sound.
The Legion Glasses effectively project a personal 27-inch monitor into space in front of you, for you to play your games on.
