The Lenovo Legion Go S is a giant, vivid beast whi...

In relation to PC handhelds, it is exhausting 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 by way of 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 just a little crowded. You would be forgiven for questioning what precisely separates all these handheld units from each other.

It’s on this atmosphere 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 critiques, it seems to be 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 screen. However is that this sufficient to make this handheld price your whereas?

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

Advisable

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

Execs & Cons

• Huge 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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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 truly reviewed.

Value, availability, and specs

It isn’t low cost, however there’s some first rate horsepower below the hood

In relation to energy, the Lenovo Legion Go S sits in the midst 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 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 hook up 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 up to now for a gaming handheld, be ready for a letdown relating to worth. Sadly, this is without doubt one of the dearer handheld PC items, coming in at $760 retail direct from Lenovo.

What I favored concerning the Lenovo Legion Go S

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

Once 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 frightened that my wrists would get fatigued after an hour or two of playtime, however I used to be pleasantly shocked to seek out that after my preliminary three hours with the unit, my fingers and wrists felt nice, 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 general gaming expertise.

Whereas I used to be testing the unit, I primarily performed two titles: Slay the Spire (one among my favourite roguelikes ever, which I’ve performed on a number of methods) 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 isn’t OLED, however the display screen was extremely vivid and detailed, and at 8-inches was one of many largest I’ve personally seen in a handheld. Once I picked up my (non-OLED) Nintendo Change later within the night for a pair rounds of Mario Kart with pals, I used to be shocked by how a lot duller and smaller the display screen on Nintendo’s console appeared by comparability.

In relation 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. Nonetheless, issues acquired just a little bit extra sophisticated with South of Midnight. The excellent news is that I used to be in a position to 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 had been put to good use right here, retaining issues wanting easy and buttery on that dazzling display screen.

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 additionally to customise controls, modify energy choices, and extra. It is a very handy function and helped me bypass plenty of 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 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. Once 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 every part for prime efficiency, I encountered frequent freezes and recreation crashes.

And sadly, that is fairly a giant difficulty — like plenty 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 just a little longer due to the sport needing fewer sources, it wasn’t sufficient for me to energy by means of 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 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 degree 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 remains to be completely horrible for handhelds. Navigating the Xbox app particularly 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 difficulty per se, and to its credit score, the aforementioned Legion House recreation hub does work effectively for launching video games. However, should 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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Must you 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 suppose it’s a stable gaming gadget, snug to carry and able to taking part in brand-new video games with ease on maybe the most effective display screen I’ve seen on a handheld. However in a world of accelerating competitors, it’s robust to totally advocate a handheld that solely provides its finest efficiency when plugged in, and prices a whole lot of {dollars} greater than different transportable gaming PCs that function comparable (or generally higher) specs.

Nonetheless, if you could find a unit on sale (and I did pretty simply whereas scripting this overview), the Legion Go S is a wonderfully nice handheld for individuals who wish 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.

Advisable

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 encompasses a vivid, 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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