Again on September 1, I used to be in a position to get my palms on Lenovo’s Legion Go, one other entry within the rising PC handheld market, and examined out its chops with a number of of the greatest PC video games.
After attempting out the likes of HiFi Rush and PowerWash Simulator amongst others, my admittedly meager expectations had been fully and totally blown into the stratosphere.
Not solely did the Legion Go itself really feel comfy and intuitive to make use of, but it surely additionally got here with some spectacular specs and options that instantly set it other than the Asus ROG Ally, a fellow competitor available in the market, in addition to the originator of stated PC handheld market, the Valve Steam Deck.
Now that I’ve had time to ruminate on the Legion Go correctly, my pleasure for the system hasn’t waned one single bit. In actual fact, barring some unexpected main points that solely floor after in depth benchmarking, I can confidently say that this handheld couldn’t solely be a real Steam Deck killer, however is already shaping as much as be a greater one than the ROG Ally.
Larger, higher display
The obvious and fast distinction between the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally is its show sizes. The Legion Go boasts an 8.8-inch IPS contact show at a 16:10 facet ratio, a 2560×1600 decision, 500 nits brightness, a superb 144Hz refresh fee, and a declare of 97% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.
In the meantime, the ROG Ally encompasses a 7-inch IPS contact show, a decrease 1920×1080 decision, a slower 120Hz refresh fee, and 80% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.
There are advantages to having a decrease show decision, primarily that it may be supreme for enjoying titles at increased settings and helps make the system simpler to deal with. Nevertheless, based on different ROG Ally critiques the framerate suffers at 1080p and sometimes must be lowered to 720p for extra demanding titles to easy out. The Steam Deck is barely in a position to surpass the ROG Ally with a third-party substitute for the built-in LCD panel referred to as the DeckHD.
Because the Legion Go begins off at a fair increased decision, the best-case state of affairs signifies that the decision will probably be QHD+ with a secure framerate. Even the worst-case state of affairs would nonetheless land a victory for Lenovo’s handheld as a superb framerate with 1080p decision remains to be far superior to what the ROG Ally is able to.
Far more quality-of-life options
One other clear benefit the Legion Go has over the ROG Ally and Steam Deck is its sheer variety of quality-of-life options. Taking a web page from the extremely profitable Nintendo Swap handheld, you may detach the controllers from both sides of the display and use them as separate joysticks.
There’s additionally an excellent FPS mode that’s activated by first urgent a button on one of many indifferent joysticks, after which propping it up on an included platform. You’ll be able to play any first or third-person title with practically the identical pin-point accuracy as a mouse, with all of the added customizable button motion that comes with an costly gaming mouse.
What’s even higher is the built-in kickstand behind the Legion Go, which provides you much more choices on how one can play. You’ll be able to preserve the controllers connected to your system and use the kickstand to play on a desk, protecting you from having to carry an in any other case heavy system for lengthy gaming periods.
When you determine to detach and use the controllers as joysticks, there’s no want for a separate stand or dock just like the ROG Ally or Steam Deck requires, because the kickstand handles that. Lastly, when taking part in in FPS mode, you merely prop up the display with stated kickstand and it’s like utilizing one of many greatest gaming screens with one of many greatest finances gaming PCs.
Home windows OS is simply higher on the Legion Go
Each the ROG Ally and Legion Go use Home windows, although the previous additionally makes use of Armory Crate to handle gaming libraries whereas the latter lets you immediately entry your library via both the desktop itself or via an put in storefront.
I couldn’t assist however discover that the Legion Go’s model of Home windows 11 was higher optimized, operating nearly in addition to the OS would on a pill. The taskbar disappears when taking part in a recreation however reappears seamlessly after I flick the display upwards. It labored completely with each direct touchscreen operation in addition to utilizing the haptic touchpad, one other options lacking from the ROG Ally.
It was additionally because of the well-optimized OS that I may even swap between completely different titles operating concurrently (although I would not suggest making a behavior of that).
Home windows 11 on the ROG Ally feels clunky and awkward as compared, so it’s wonderful how far a little bit of fine-tuning can go and the way a lot nearer the Legion Go feels to the Steam Deck—particularly since Valve makes use of an OS tailormade to its personal system.
Ultimate ideas
There are many different factors I may go on about that exhibit how way more potential the Lenovo Legion Go has versus the Asus ROG Ally. Chief amongst these is a extra strong set of options for a similar worth level, superior air flow mixed with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive CPU and AMD RDNA Graphics GPU (the identical inner specs because the ROG Ally) that might doubtlessly get higher long-term efficiency, the corridor impact joysticks which Lenovo claims will guarantee no joystick drift and minimal useless zones, and extra.
But it surely’s clear that Lenovo put its all into growing the final Steam Deck rival and a possible slayer of Valve’s in style handheld. By not being happy with making a product that’s merely similar to what Valve cooked up however one which addresses practically each criticism and missing characteristic, now we have a PC handheld that really pushes the boundaries of what might be achieved within the kind issue.
