This thing legitimately looks great. Valve really helped not only make this market viable and cheap enough but its also created heavy competition with companies making amazing devices that are almost as cheap and high quality. Before the Steam Deck these devices were many times more expensive and nowhere near this level of quality
If I drop my steam deck or rog ally on the floor they will break. If my drop my aya neo pro 2021 on the floor, it will break the floor. 😂 It might cost more but they are also more premium.
Eh the brick couldn’t even sell 5M and it’s because of its terrible design if they made it smaller or gave it a bigger screen maybe it would sell more .
Free advice for Lenovo - the Legion L button opens the left menu, the Legion R button opens the right menu, and you press them both to open the full LegionSpace menu. I know it seems petty to complain about something as small as opening a menu, but that's just simple quality of life right there that needs to be addressed properly! Who presses a button in the hopes of getting one option vs. the other? That's just bad UX right there. Solid review, Rich. I feel if if I were to consider a Windows handheld, this would be a solid pick.
You know somthing i thought that was not a big deal at fist but it really really is just push a button and play not have to wait load overheat fans all that crap so your RIGHT
@@DrMrPersonGuy it's not very reliable though nor does it have good hardware integration, so it's not as good of an experience. I installed windows on my deck and found that to be the case anyway.
this is the first handheld PC since the Steam deck that actually interests me. it's really the only one thats actually trying to push the boat out further than valve. But I probably won't pick one up until their heavily discounted on the second hand market in a few years
I'd also wait until I could just run SteamOS on this thing and have all of the features running. Not sure what the drivers for those controllers would look like. Not sure if we can map the Legion button to the 3 dot button of the Steam Deck, etc. When those problems are solved and I can run Linux on this thing, it will look way better to me.
I think that 1600p screen is still awesome to run at 800p, because you get nice pixel doubling so it looks less blurry than running 800p on a 1080p/1200p screen.
I have the y700 gaming tablet and can tell you that screen (same panel used for the legion go) is BEAUTIFUL but the VRR absence is a literal deal breaker for me. I'd love to ditch my ally but the vrr is what keeps me coming back and not using my steam deck.
@@alexmcdaniel116 you know, it’s smart for battery life to not run an unlocked framerate anyway. I dunno why having to use vsync is so scary to you people that you’ll use an inferior device over it alone
@Emma_madison lmao didnt think i was crying but ok 🤣fsr is ok but vrr is king. always will be. you can enjoy your legion go, i hope you do, looks great, but no vrr=no buy for me. ill wait for a v2 hopefully with vrr. vrr is the sole reason i play my ally and dont touch my SD. buttery smooth, all the time. no frame hitches, hangs or stutters. idk how people think vrr is a gimick :shrug: not my loss. the switch is a p*ss poor example of a comparison btw, its like 10 years old and was underpowered from the start.
@@Misfit626 When will you ever really utilize 32gb of RAM though? These devices haven't got to a point yet of being able to run AAA titles, max settings at high refresh rates. 9/10 times you're going to be running at a much lower resolution and using a mix of low - medium settings with FSR, 32GB RAM is null and void. Older games that can run on one of these devices at higher refresh rates, higher settings, still won't utilize 16GB RAM let alone 32GB RAM. RAM speed for a device like this is much more important than the amount of RAM. With regards to VRR, it seems like it's just a buzz word at this point, it gets thrown around a lot without the majority of people actually knowing what it is. Granted, it's a good feature, but when you factor in everything else the Legion Go has to offer, it's not really that much of a dealbreaker.
It should be noted that the Z1E apu in both the Ally and Legion Go tends to see diminishing returns in most games after 18W, the difference between 20W/25W is very small. Doing a like for like wattage comparison would have been more fair for comparing performance and battery life
Finally!! The first thorough review. Great job and thank you. I’m excited to get one soon. It looks great and love how super intuitive it is in fps mode with the detached controllers. Lenovo knows something here… The track pad is a huge bonus over the Ally. Performance comparison is pretty much identical when you factor in the resolution. Hopefully, Lenovo will provide the same support like asus has with its ally when it comes to software.
Trackpad is handy, Tired of connecting a hub to a blue tooth mouse on Rog Ally and battery for mouse dies when you need it the most. That was a smart option to include a touch pad.
I’m happy that Lenovo continues to innovate on pointer inputs! Back when trackpads sucked and were universally small and sometimes unresponsive, Lenovo laptops included the little eraser nub-mouse in the center of the keyboard, and people loved it because they could mouse without taking their hands off the typing keys. Here, the Legion Go makes sense to have a trackpad since the mouse-nub was like a stiff analog stick, but Lenovo innovates again with the right controller stable to serve as a vertical mouse. Though the trackpad here has the disadvantage of being small, it is at least responsive, and I’m impressed that Lenovo included three options for solving the “mouse pointer” need (vertical mouse, trackpad, and touchscreen).
@@scarecrow9501why would this scare you? It’s a mini handheld pc as they’ve said so if they restrict you from buying from another place, that goes back on their word and could ultimately lead to unload all fan base and mad coustomers.
This looks really neat, especially the mouse mode. That is one thing that IF I was going to grab a different handheld PC, this would probably be the one.
I'm getting one of these in part with the Christmas money I get from parents and grandparents each year. Seems the perfect time as it will allow a couple of months for the software to get into a good state. The fact that 1600p is evenly divisible with 800p should be one of the devices biggest assets. I'll play undemanding indies at 1600p and demanding AAAs at 800p. Hopefully the detachable controllers will mean that if one of them develops a fault out of warranty, you can just buy a new controller instead of needing a completely new device. I also went for a Lenovo Legion for my new gaming laptop which will be here any time now. Might go for one of their tablets too with all the rewards points I'll have at Lenovo from my laptop and Legion Go purchases.
Bro take off the controllers and its a full tablet computer. I'm not huge on needing a ton of raw power so I'm selling my PC and laptop and replacing all these with just this Go.
@@ItsMrLee I do need the power of a gaming laptop too, but I can see where you're coming from. If I didn't play some fairly hardware demanding games (Starfield is my game of choice at the moment), I might do the same as you. As I've not used a Go yet I can't be sure, but I think it will be an 800p machine for the AAAs I play, which is fine handheld but not docked (I'd want 1080p medium or better before I even thought about selling my gaming laptop). In truth 75% of my gameplay on the Go will be indies, 25% AAAs and I'll mostly play it in handheld mode. Different machines for different purposes I guess.
Awesome review my man, this device looks great; small software problems aside, but that’ll get fixed and improved with time. Thanks for making this as detailed as you did. It really made me excited for this handheld in a way I haven’t been since the steam deck! Keep being awesome!
**really** good review! 👍👍👍 - 800p Benchmarks: Would've been nice to see how this compares against the steam deck with 800p benchmarks - Onscreen Keyboard: would've been nice to see how to type on this thing. I know with the Steam Deck, I really enjoy typing with the dual trackpads, so without the left-hand trackpad, it would confine me to tap typing with the touchscreen, or using the DPAD or Left Joystick to navigate the on-screen keyboard. Single trackpad is nice, but I really would've liked to see dual trackpads on this. Perhaps someone can make a left controller replacement that includes a trackpad! - HDR: Can this device do HDR? - 144hz: What is it like to game at 144hz? Is it Smooth? Does it kill battery life? I know even 2D sidescroller games like Steamworld Dig 2 would benefit substantially from the higher refresh rate. - Portrait Mode: For the games that did crash due to portrait mode, were you able to workaround this issue somehow by launching the game in Windowed mode, or modifying an INI file or registry file to get the game to run? - DPAD: You mentioned the DPAD is great! How does this work in games like Celeste where diagonal movement is super critical? I use a Dual Sense controller for 2D sidescrolling games that require accurate diagonal DPAD movement because when you press 2 directions simultaneously, you get a diagonal movement 100% of the time with confidence. This is something you simply don't get with the Steam Deck's DPAD and that's unfortunate. The Steam Deck's DPAD is very imprecise and you only get diagonal movements maybe 50% of the time, maybe 60% to 70% if you really practice it. - Screen Ghosting - I know the Steam Deck has a slight bit of ghosting especially noticeable in side scrolling games. It's really not a good screen. Does the Lenovo Legion Go's screen have any ghosting?
I'd love to se how this works with a Thundebolt Docking (from Lenovo) and using this as both a productivity PC and a gaming PC/Handheld with external display, keyboard and mouse.
I’m excited to see the accessories that come out for this device. This will probably be a laptop replacement for me to do college work when I’m out and about.
It would be really great if the Legion Go is modular. Hopefully Lenovo and other third-party manufacturers will make different types/ configurations of detachable controllers to fit different control and play styles.
I have a friend who works for Lenovo and is currently testing these. So far they plan to introduce three types of controllers that will suit different ergonomic needs. Logitech are developing them as well but we won't see this until the next iteration by the looks of it.
@Fan The Deck; your video review was on point. Already ordered mine. Can not wait. Was holding off on a gaming handheld for two years now. However, the Lenovo Legion Go, hands down, is the runner up. 1. Lenovo Legion Go 2. Steam Deck OLED 3. AYANEO (newest) 4. Asus Ally 5. Nintendo Switch OLED
If they want to use one button for two different slide out menus, I'd recommend to make the right side menu to show up on a single press & the left one for a longpress
Awesome review, so on your test: 1080p vs 1200p is a 11.11% pixel increase and its doing well compared to the ROG Ally (20w Go vs 25w Ally) - looks like the 30w was bugged/early issue = hopefully they fix this soon for plugged in mode (release patch maybe) - My one ships on the 3rd from Lenovo - Can't wait. Going to be watching heaps of content on the GO until i get mine.
Been looking into handhelds and the alternatives to steamdeck look really good but I feel like SteamOS is such a huge QoL thing especially on the road. Still torn what to get. Also feels like something new is coming every month so the fear of getting buyer remorse is very real
Yeah, can't see myself moving off of SteamOS. I'm looking forward to the moment where more SteamOS devices will appear, or better support for it from those manufacturers with drives and stuff like that.
You're going to get better image quality out of an integer scaled 800p on a 1600p screen than you are running at 1200p, plus a significant performance boost or battery life gain depending on how you set your TDP. Not sure why the reviewer didn't even mention this as its one of the biggest benefits the Legion has over the competition.
Yeh the perfect integer scaling with 800p should have been mentioned. It will massacre the Steam Deck at the resolution in terms of performance at the same tdp, while having more battery life due to the 23% larger battery.
@@Trikkie87 This is completely wrong. 800p integer scales perfectly to 1600p. 1080p does not scale evently to 1600p so the image is going to be blurrier, even though it is higher resolution.
Great review thanks! If I had gotten an Ally, I think I’d be second-guessing my choice a bit. But having gotten a Deck, obviously I sacrificed a lot… but only paid half as much. Still loving my Deck.
Got a Steam Deck and a Ally. I'd feel more inclined to get this if it had different hardware than the Ally but not feeling it since it's the same. The detachable controller stuff seems neat but I have a Switch and the times I've ever used it on a flat surface with the joycons is probably less than 5. Handhelds for me are always a bed or couch thing and can't really lay a tablet and play comfortably like that. I think it's an interesting choice if you don't have any UMPCs though
I'm setting the legion go on my chest with the kick stand and playing with controllers in my hands by my side laying down in bed.... Works pretty great so far. Won't always play like this but when my arms need a bit of a break from being bent at the elbow so long it works great! I'm glad I got rid of the ally for this!!
I'm wondering how easy it is to reinstall the OS after upgrading the SSD, the Ally automatically recognizes a new drive installed and will have you connect to wifi and reinstall the OS and have it properly configured in a fresh out of the box unit. GPD Win 4 has a file you download and extract onto a usb flashdrive, insert the flashdrive into the Win 4's usb port, turn the device on and boot into the flashdrive and it will format and install the OS and all it's drivers onto the new ssd. So if Lenovo were to have a setup scheme in place to make it easy to setup and reconfigure a new M.2, that would be a welcoming feature to have. Aya Neo forces you to first install the OS then install all it's required drivers one at a time or use a program to clone the original drive's OS to the new M.2.
Great review! I think the most interesting thing for me in this device is the 16:10 screen and resolution. The screen effectively has a 2:1 ratio with 1280x800 (the Steam Deck's res). I'd probably play everything in 800p for more fps or battery life and it'd probably still look really good.
Thank you for your great in-depth review. And for the comparison with the ally. 👍 I have an ally and a steam deck. I still don't think there is for me a justifiable reason to buy the Legion go. I bought the Ally because it was a obvious bump in performance to the Steam deck and it was lighter to hold. I'm happy that the legion go exists and I will be checking it in stores to see if it's something I would have a use-case for. Thanks. Great work!
I returned my 3rd ally a week ago and got the legion go delivered on Tuesday... Same price so no extra cost and it's a significant improvement in many ways over the ally. Performance obviously about the same but the bigger screens and what I consider much better ergonomics (and multiple back buttons on each side) It's a big step up and the only thing that needs some more work is their own software it's pretty bare bones compares to ally but honestly it's not something I need to interact with regularly so not a huge deal. Would like the sticks to work as as a page scroll ans the mouse like ally but they have their own alternative with the touch pad and and a scroll wheel.
@@TJ.85 good to hear that you are enjoying the Lenovo LG. Wait... 3rd ally or 3rd RMA ally?? 😅 I also heard most complains about the Go where with the software and fan noise. For me the Legion Go software being so unpolished as reports say is pretty disappointing. Even the ally's software, being unperfect as it was when it launched, had: per-game tdp/key mapping profiles, updated drivers, quiet fan, some sort of communication from asus team, you could assign a key combination to Xbox button, you could assign any button to a keyboard action. Of course, the Ally's SD card reader scandal is just unacceptable... I had upgrade the ssd to start enjoying the device and now I'm pretty happy. But man.... Lenovo really messed up this launch with the bad software and support for the device... I'm definitely waiting to see if Lenovo says something and steps up to support this device before I pull the trigger.
FPS mode is cool, but when would anyone ever use it without being plugged into an external monitor and would likely already have a real mouse with them? Who wants to sit hunched over a 7in tablet staring down at it with a makeshift mouse? If that's the biggest reason to get this over another pc handheld I think it falls flat pretty hard.
Awesome review. I had the deck now have the Ally which I love. This looks compelling for the big screen but I really love the Ally, I’ve had nothing but a great experience. Having a switch, I’ve never used it in tabletop mode so this is more of a niche market IMO.
Thank you for the superb review!. I received the Lenovo Legion today and will test it starting tomorrow. I have the Steam Deck and had a Rod Ally. I'm hoping the Legion will be my go to portable , as I just prefer as big a screen as I can get, added in with that 800p being a nice sweetspot where settings can be raised higher then the Ally's 1080p. I really thought the Ally was my best option but the right trigger was not registering my presses and even DF noted this issue. Plus that 7" screen was just too small (for me) overall. I'm really hoping the Legion is the perfect balance/combo of the SD and RA. Having said all that, each of these portables has pros and cons. SD is the most console like as far as not dealing with Windows hassles. However it's limited to Steam, so no Gamepass or other launchers will work ootb. The Ally is the most compact portable, great screen, and vrr, and good performance all add to a superb portable. But it's battery drains really fast, as in 60 minutes on a full charge. The Legion, has the best performance (by a bit), biggest screen, fps mode, longer battery, most versatile. However it's not as portable due to size, and missing vrr. Honestly, I love the SD for playing older games that don't support controllers (Deus Ex, Condemned, HL2, ect), and the Ally or Legion for more demanding games along with the option for over 60+ fps gaming. But personally, I'm hoping the Legion will tick all boxes for me and I love the large screen, battery, and versatility. And I'd much rather deal with Windows then proton of the SD.
You and me? I think we may be clones of each other... We have the exact same history with these systems and the same opinions on why one is better than another... It's like freaking me out a bit almost like I wrote this myself from an alternate time line or something!! Crazy!! But yea replaced ally with LG still have the deck and feel like LG is best for me for exact same reasons and drawbacks to SD are the exact same for me. Dealing with windows is just better to me than limitations of steam os So awesome yet weird to find someone exactly like me!! 🤣🤣🤣
@TJ.85 Thanks! That's awesome how you think. It's like replying back to...me! 🤣 Heck, feel free to PM me if you wish. I'm curious on you're thoughts about these portables. I'm starting my YT channel soon, adding in my opinions and review of these portables..games, ect. What's you're take so far on the Legion Go? I've been busy since I received it yesterday but will open it(finally) tomorrow. I'm really interested on you're opinions on not just the LG but also the SD and RA..ect Thanks again!
As someone looking into getting either the Steam Deck OLED or the Legion GO as a first handheld PC, I am really impressed by both it's usability as a Windows PC and this review! A great job on this video. However I am still leaning more towards the Steam Deck for Development and overall enjoyment sake. The tablet mode of the Go is also a very compelling feature for both more relaxed gaming, FPS mode and for media consumption. A tough choice to make as a newcomer to this new PC segment xD
I’m also lol the windows based , the screen size , the performance on the legion is tempting But the steam deck oleds features , battery , screen , ease of use is becoming more appealing regardless of performance 😆👍
Can you feel the input lag when using the "Mouse" in FPS mode? I can't find latency numbers anywhere. Do you know if it's using bluetooth for the mouse?
Getting this alongside my Steam Deck. While I love the deck, I want this entire movement to grow. But I do hope for software improvements that sounds like a let-down so far.
Great review as always sir. I love that we’re getting more options, but steam OS is certainly the big draw other than price. I’ll hold onto my Deck for the time being! Probably will wait for a V2 at this point.
I'm with you. Valve stands alone on taking care of their customer. Them and toyota are a few of the companies I have a wholeheartedly positive opinion of.
@@XKitsuneX666 haven't had any experience with Lenovo at all. If that is the case, that is sad. That's the reason I have stuck with the steam deck because of the support both Valve and the community give it.
My pre-order's on the way, but not being able to run a 30W TDP correctly could be a potential dealbreaker, especially while on AC power. I realize higher TDPs have diminishing returns, but Lenovo promised 30W and I'm fully expecting that. Hope they fix this soon. I'd also prefer if the Legion buttons switched places with the menu and view buttons. Not a big deal, but I hope they're remappable. Everything else about this handheld looks very promising. Thinking it's only a matter of time before someone releases a 3D printable controller dock, too, if Lenovo doesn't release one of their own.
@@blackydevils I think that was a month or two back where Lenovo basically admitted that was a mistake. Fingers crossed for the TDP to actually be fully unlocked per the APU's max target, but I'm not counting on it.
The ROG Ally sounds fuller and the screen is a lot better. VRR is also give you perceived smoothness is games even a lower FPS. It's that reason why I want VRR.
I think VRR is overrated, about screen, technically it is better than Rog Ally, better res, better color accuracy, better refresh rate. In any case Asus did an excellent job and performance are so close, so it’s just about your use preference at this point.
@@AtrusDesigndo you already try rog ally, vrr is no joke. from many year i complain gameplay 30fps - 40fps but with vrr, i realize i can tolerate those gameplay., 144hz for what if mainly play at 70fps in low resolution setting. 😂
Great review! At last we saw the performance of the Go. Great feedback on the fps mode. I think it's really better than the Ally and the deck coz of the things that it can do. I'm really excited to get mine 🤩🤩
This one is perticularly good for those who play fps. But using it like this makes me wonder if i could live with a 7840h laptop, which is similarly priced and larger and with more juice (in terms of battery). Go is too heavy for a handheld. I also heard there will soon be 8040-based amd tablets (13.5-inch) coming up.
Noob question here probably, but can you use Steam's Controller configs on any of these new handhelds that are not the Steam Deck? I know they have their own software for mapping buttons to the controller, but what about complex stuff that you can only do in Steam? Like Action Layers, double/long press activation, Hotbar menus etc. Not to mention the ability to browse the community controls and Start from a base that someone has already created. I guess the way Lenovo could do this is have a "Map to Steam Deck controls" Profile, where the back buttons (for example) are mapped to the actual back button API commands of a Steam Deck, then you wouldn't be saying Y2 = Keyboard_R, but Y2 = Deck's_R5, which in turn you can configure to be Keyboard_R through Steam's menu. That way you can also configure other more complex stuff that I talked about just above as all it will take is for Steam to believe you're playing on a "Steam Deck Controller" (even if you're not and you're sort of emulating it somehow). Also, follow-up question: Anyone try installing SteamOS on these things or is it a no-go?
I've got the ally already and since getting it, it's been incredible performance wise and has come a long way in updates since it's release. The one thing that it sucked on was battery life. Playing an indie game like blasphemous or sea of stars only nets me 2.5-3 hours at 10watts 1080p for example. In your limited testing have you noticed an improvement on that end with the legions battery life? also playing game without vrr do you also notice a difference on that end?
I haven't used the Legion however I play my Ally every day, and every video I watch about the legion I immediately notice the lack of VRR and the extra 9wh will probably net you another 35-45 minutes at 1200p.
I know you spent a lot of time to review this and I respect that and watch all of your videos that come up on my feed. I must say that the legion box stuff wasnt covered very well, the fps game stuff wasnt super helpful besides just really broad strokes, frame time and resolution on the infographs really helps. I enjoyed the video up until the gaming fps and remarks about the legion experience. I just dont think they were detailed enough. It felt like a rushed video and I am very polite and dont want to offend, but I think this video could have used 2 or 3 more reworks to make it a very good video that competes with the likes of taki udon and retro. I hope this comment helps, I never leave comments and I want to see this channel improve.
Ive always wanted a portable computer with a built in mouse. Always right itd be a laptop where the trackpad detached and becomes a mouse, but I wasn't expecting this implementation! This feature makes this a must-buy for me over the Steam Deck, hands down!
I'm so curious if I'd be able to work with the mouse and other controller half. I've only ever known either full on controller, or full on mouse and keyboard. Never an in between. Maybe this would be a good compromise for gaming and even general computer stuff!
It's just weird that it's branded as an FPS feature, as im a keyboard and mouse player for all games. (Except 2d platformers, they have never worked with a keyboard for me at least, which is weird because I love mouse and keyboard for 3d platformers lol)
The fact that you said the trackpad is not meant for gaming makes me feel better about just getting a steam deck recently. I think the detachable controllers are really neat, I would take advantage of the tablet by itself often enough, but I don’t know I would care about playing a game with them detached. It looks really cool and I’m glad handheld pcs are growing in popularity.
@@nosidepressure We'll see. I doubt very much that they will change the display since this can't be fixed with software. If they are using a portrait display this late, I doubt they will change it.
Had the steam deck great machine but the fact you can't play certain game killed it for me. So picked a rog currently in for repair after 6weeks. Considering a change again 😅
I really like this one (compared to the Ally), but as much performance as this one has over the Deck, I still can't see myself justifying buying it, and that's because of one and only one reason: Windows. If Valve would announce that these handhelds will be compatible with steamOS I'd be the first one to buy one, but as it is right now, I really don't want to get a handheld to deal with Windows. It's frustrating enough on my PC. That's what I think pushes me towards the Deck: console-like OS and it's half as expensive. Because otherwise this is better in every single other aspect.
@@Kaylas1821 I haven't seen many of those or people complaining about them. Windows is just a pain in the ass, and it consumes so many resources just because, and battery. I just think a proper simplified minimalistic OS would be much better. steamOS is the best one out there, but if a better one releases, then that one.
@@argentinaomuerte i had the opposite experience. Though i agree that for handhelds windows must be simplified. But still it has more games supported out of the box rather than tweaking a lot of things just to get it run.
@@Kaylas1821 oh yeah, the much bigger library is a plus for sure. But the thing is with how much community support the Deck has even setting that up is much easier. Another factor that stops me is that I know Valve will give the Deck support for the years to come, but idk how much Lenovo/Asus will care about these consoles in year or two
i like the bigger screen and that it has a track pad for windows but im not sure i trust Lenovo like i trust Steam for improving the software as time goes on, Steam seems into Deck long term support while Asus and the rest only see value in how much money the device will bring in in till they replace it with something else
@Emma_madison its the same CPU and GPU as the Ally so meh its nothing new, you gain frame rate at the cost of more heat and shorter battery life. I just want a bigger screen
this is my upgrade over the steam deck, its everything I have wanted, better screen, detachable controllers, and the big one for me is the screen being 1600p instead of 1080p, this allows for perfect integer scaling from 800p, which will look a billion times better then 800p on a 1080p screen, 800p is my go to resolution on a device this size, anything more is sacrificing to much performance for me, Ive been waiting for a Z1 extreme handheld with an 800p screen but this is even better then that, integer scaling is the best form of upscaling, I wouldn't even use FSR with it, the issue is that integer scaling only works with resolutions that are a perfect factor of 2x, so in this case its double 800p, this is what kept me away from the ROG ally, 1080p is losing to much performance and 800p looks worse then the deck because its having to upscale to 1080p since the display can not natively run in 800p (or in this case 720p since the rog ally is a 16:9 display) when a display is run in a lower then native resolution it upscales the image, you cant get rid of pixels so the display upscales to the native resolution, and as I said the best and honestly only good form of display upscaling is integer
I would love a smaller version of this. I love the kickstand and detachable controllers with FPS mode. Honestly if they were able to make this but with a smaller screen that brings it more in line with the ROG Ally in size and weight, I’d be all on board.
Totally understand that you wanted comparisons to the steam Deck. I did over 100 benchmarks and then I did many of them again and I'm only one person with one week to review so I had to choose what I was going to test. I didn't prioritize testing against Deck. Perhaps someone else will.
I've preordered mine and got it a few days after release. I really like the device, I only have a few things to point out. First: The edges on the front are quite sharp. After a longer gaming session it hurts a bit. This could have been avoided with more rounded edges. The second one is the weight. Depending on how you hold it it can get a bit cumbersome. But here the detachable controllers get to shine. You can always put the device down and just hold the controllers which are really lightweight. The last thing is the placement of the buttons on the back of the right controller. But I would still consider all of the above as minor flaws, this thing just makes a lot of fun.
Legion Go will undoubtedly be strictly faster than the Rog Ally (Assuming the same resolution. Note tthe tests here were 1200p vs 1080p due to the 16/10 aspect ratio, so the Legion Go is pushing more pixels) since they have the exact same Z1 Extreme, but the Legion Go has the faster Lpddr5x at 7500mhz which is notable advantage over Lpddr5 6400 mhz when it comes to Apu's. Keep in mind this is prerelease drivers and the like, in the coming days and weeks I'd expect the Legion Go to get faster and more polished, and quirks like the issue with 30w performance will be solved. Lenovo is pretty damn reliable and has many decades of experience, I doubt they will drop the ball. Hard to imagine a better Handheld from 2023 than the Legion Go. It ticks all the right boxes and is the only Handheld that by itself is great for Fps shooters due to the combination of : 144Hz refresh rate on a massive 8'8 screen, detachable controllers, and the unique Vertical Mouse from the controller. This gives the Legion Go extra flexibility and versatility, putting it Unmatched in it's class.
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This thing legitimately looks great. Valve really helped not only make this market viable and cheap enough but its also created heavy competition with companies making amazing devices that are almost as cheap and high quality. Before the Steam Deck these devices were many times more expensive and nowhere near this level of quality
If I drop my steam deck or rog ally on the floor they will break.
If my drop my aya neo pro 2021 on the floor, it will break the floor. 😂
It might cost more but they are also more premium.
Valve need to release steam os so other handhelds can ship with it
@@daveyhodgeNo
Eh the brick couldn’t even sell 5M and it’s because of its terrible design if they made it smaller or gave it a bigger screen maybe it would sell more .
@@ivand5699 explain
Free advice for Lenovo - the Legion L button opens the left menu, the Legion R button opens the right menu, and you press them both to open the full LegionSpace menu.
I know it seems petty to complain about something as small as opening a menu, but that's just simple quality of life right there that needs to be addressed properly! Who presses a button in the hopes of getting one option vs. the other? That's just bad UX right there.
Solid review, Rich. I feel if if I were to consider a Windows handheld, this would be a solid pick.
This 🎉
Well said. I hope they fix this one -it feels like an easy thing to fix.
Or a long press of Legion L to open LegionSpace. That would be more intuitive, imo.
LOVE THIS.
@@Moskeeto yeah, pressing two buttons for a menu seems annoying
Micro Center is the best. Great work on grabbing that sponsorship!
Only drawback is Windows and coming with it the lack of the immediate suspend / return into game function. Steam OS really rocks on that end.
You know somthing i thought that was not a big deal at fist but it really really is just push a button and play not have to wait load overheat fans all that crap so your RIGHT
I totally agree. I'll judge stick with the deck until valve release a follow up most likely, or another steam os handheld
Wouldn't it have a sleep option like on a Windows computer? That let's you return to an open game
@@DrMrPersonGuy it's not very reliable though nor does it have good hardware integration, so it's not as good of an experience. I installed windows on my deck and found that to be the case anyway.
It's not that bad on the ally maybe 10 seconds and I'm right where I left off 😊
this is the first handheld PC since the Steam deck that actually interests me. it's really the only one thats actually trying to push the boat out further than valve. But I probably won't pick one up until their heavily discounted on the second hand market in a few years
I'd also wait until I could just run SteamOS on this thing and have all of the features running. Not sure what the drivers for those controllers would look like. Not sure if we can map the Legion button to the 3 dot button of the Steam Deck, etc. When those problems are solved and I can run Linux on this thing, it will look way better to me.
Same here
Yeah I agree. I probably wouldn't actually pick it up as I'm not made of money, but if I was rich I'd probably think of getting it
Same I’m broke ,
Same here but the only thing I really don't like is the button layout. The Steam Deck just has that so dialed... I love the mirrored layout.
I think that 1600p screen is still awesome to run at 800p, because you get nice pixel doubling so it looks less blurry than running 800p on a 1080p/1200p screen.
Still nice having an option.
No vrr though 😫
I have the y700 gaming tablet and can tell you that screen (same panel used for the legion go) is BEAUTIFUL but the VRR absence is a literal deal breaker for me. I'd love to ditch my ally but the vrr is what keeps me coming back and not using my steam deck.
@@alexmcdaniel116 you know, it’s smart for battery life to not run an unlocked framerate anyway. I dunno why having to use vsync is so scary to you people that you’ll use an inferior device over it alone
@Emma_madison lmao didnt think i was crying but ok 🤣fsr is ok but vrr is king. always will be. you can enjoy your legion go, i hope you do, looks great, but no vrr=no buy for me. ill wait for a v2 hopefully with vrr. vrr is the sole reason i play my ally and dont touch my SD. buttery smooth, all the time. no frame hitches, hangs or stutters. idk how people think vrr is a gimick :shrug: not my loss.
the switch is a p*ss poor example of a comparison btw, its like 10 years old and was underpowered from the start.
This looks like the handheld PC of the year to me. I just hope that it doesn't have the same microSD card frying problem that the Ally has.
Just a shame it doesn’t have more RAM
I would say the lack of VRR and 32GB ram is a bummer
@@Misfit626I wouldn't vrr only works from 48-fps and up and 32 gb of ram is not necessary for most games.Just lower resolution settings.
@@Misfit626 When will you ever really utilize 32gb of RAM though? These devices haven't got to a point yet of being able to run AAA titles, max settings at high refresh rates. 9/10 times you're going to be running at a much lower resolution and using a mix of low - medium settings with FSR, 32GB RAM is null and void. Older games that can run on one of these devices at higher refresh rates, higher settings, still won't utilize 16GB RAM let alone 32GB RAM. RAM speed for a device like this is much more important than the amount of RAM. With regards to VRR, it seems like it's just a buzz word at this point, it gets thrown around a lot without the majority of people actually knowing what it is. Granted, it's a good feature, but when you factor in everything else the Legion Go has to offer, it's not really that much of a dealbreaker.
@@Misfit626if it had that you’d just pick something else you wish it had. For 700 this machine is the best available
It should be noted that the Z1E apu in both the Ally and Legion Go tends to see diminishing returns in most games after 18W, the difference between 20W/25W is very small. Doing a like for like wattage comparison would have been more fair for comparing performance and battery life
Finally!! The first thorough review. Great job and thank you.
I’m excited to get one soon. It looks great and love how super intuitive it is in fps mode with the detached controllers. Lenovo knows something here…
The track pad is a huge bonus over the Ally. Performance comparison is pretty much identical when you factor in the resolution. Hopefully, Lenovo will provide the same support like asus has with its ally when it comes to software.
A part of me kinda wants the legion and steamdeck to be like PlayStation and xbox but the idea of a console wars and exclusive games scares me.
@@scarecrow9501don’t worry that won’t happen, this industry doesn’t work that way. Also that’s a really stupid idea.
Trackpad is handy,
Tired of connecting a hub to a blue tooth mouse on Rog Ally and battery for mouse dies when you need it the most.
That was a smart option to include a touch pad.
I’m happy that Lenovo continues to innovate on pointer inputs! Back when trackpads sucked and were universally small and sometimes unresponsive, Lenovo laptops included the little eraser nub-mouse in the center of the keyboard, and people loved it because they could mouse without taking their hands off the typing keys. Here, the Legion Go makes sense to have a trackpad since the mouse-nub was like a stiff analog stick, but Lenovo innovates again with the right controller stable to serve as a vertical mouse.
Though the trackpad here has the disadvantage of being small, it is at least responsive, and I’m impressed that Lenovo included three options for solving the “mouse pointer” need (vertical mouse, trackpad, and touchscreen).
@@scarecrow9501why would this scare you? It’s a mini handheld pc as they’ve said so if they restrict you from buying from another place, that goes back on their word and could ultimately lead to unload all fan base and mad coustomers.
I very much appreciate you highlighting the game title when you show game-play in your clips. I find so many new games to follow this way!
I'm still tempted by that screen... I love big screens and I feel it would be an awesome upgrade from my deck.
You love em big and it's an upgrade from your deck?
@@KennyMaximum yeah 7 inches just doesn't quite do it for me
@@finraziel Good on you for playing along lol. You're gonna live a long life👌🏾
@@MAMNOLIG I'm driving home from work now to play with my Deck, I need to blow off some STEAM.....
@@KennyMaximum when I was younger I would play with my wii, but now my deck rules the day.
I love how there are so many options to handheld pcs now. 5 years ago, it wasn't as big as today.
Scheduled for release day at midnight, lets goo
Fr
I'd definitely wait to buy it in case there are some serious flaws in it's design
This is the best review I have ever seen so far. Thank you!
This looks really neat, especially the mouse mode. That is one thing that IF I was going to grab a different handheld PC, this would probably be the one.
Epic review and very thorough! Keep em coming Rich!
I'm getting one of these in part with the Christmas money I get from parents and grandparents each year. Seems the perfect time as it will allow a couple of months for the software to get into a good state. The fact that 1600p is evenly divisible with 800p should be one of the devices biggest assets. I'll play undemanding indies at 1600p and demanding AAAs at 800p. Hopefully the detachable controllers will mean that if one of them develops a fault out of warranty, you can just buy a new controller instead of needing a completely new device.
I also went for a Lenovo Legion for my new gaming laptop which will be here any time now. Might go for one of their tablets too with all the rewards points I'll have at Lenovo from my laptop and Legion Go purchases.
Bro take off the controllers and its a full tablet computer. I'm not huge on needing a ton of raw power so I'm selling my PC and laptop and replacing all these with just this Go.
@@ItsMrLee I do need the power of a gaming laptop too, but I can see where you're coming from. If I didn't play some fairly hardware demanding games (Starfield is my game of choice at the moment), I might do the same as you. As I've not used a Go yet I can't be sure, but I think it will be an 800p machine for the AAAs I play, which is fine handheld but not docked (I'd want 1080p medium or better before I even thought about selling my gaming laptop). In truth 75% of my gameplay on the Go will be indies, 25% AAAs and I'll mostly play it in handheld mode. Different machines for different purposes I guess.
Awesome review my man, this device looks great; small software problems aside, but that’ll get fixed and improved with time.
Thanks for making this as detailed as you did.
It really made me excited for this handheld in a way I haven’t been since the steam deck!
Keep being awesome!
**really** good review! 👍👍👍
- 800p Benchmarks: Would've been nice to see how this compares against the steam deck with 800p benchmarks
- Onscreen Keyboard: would've been nice to see how to type on this thing. I know with the Steam Deck, I really enjoy typing with the dual trackpads, so without the left-hand trackpad, it would confine me to tap typing with the touchscreen, or using the DPAD or Left Joystick to navigate the on-screen keyboard. Single trackpad is nice, but I really would've liked to see dual trackpads on this. Perhaps someone can make a left controller replacement that includes a trackpad!
- HDR: Can this device do HDR?
- 144hz: What is it like to game at 144hz? Is it Smooth? Does it kill battery life? I know even 2D sidescroller games like Steamworld Dig 2 would benefit substantially from the higher refresh rate.
- Portrait Mode: For the games that did crash due to portrait mode, were you able to workaround this issue somehow by launching the game in Windowed mode, or modifying an INI file or registry file to get the game to run?
- DPAD: You mentioned the DPAD is great! How does this work in games like Celeste where diagonal movement is super critical? I use a Dual Sense controller for 2D sidescrolling games that require accurate diagonal DPAD movement because when you press 2 directions simultaneously, you get a diagonal movement 100% of the time with confidence. This is something you simply don't get with the Steam Deck's DPAD and that's unfortunate. The Steam Deck's DPAD is very imprecise and you only get diagonal movements maybe 50% of the time, maybe 60% to 70% if you really practice it.
- Screen Ghosting - I know the Steam Deck has a slight bit of ghosting especially noticeable in side scrolling games. It's really not a good screen. Does the Lenovo Legion Go's screen have any ghosting?
I didn't expect switch 2 so soon.
Ordered
"so soon" nibba its been 7 yearss
I'd love to se how this works with a Thundebolt Docking (from Lenovo) and using this as both a productivity PC and a gaming PC/Handheld with external display, keyboard and mouse.
I’m excited to see the accessories that come out for this device. This will probably be a laptop replacement for me to do college work when I’m out and about.
It would be really great if the Legion Go is modular. Hopefully Lenovo and other third-party manufacturers will make different types/ configurations of detachable controllers to fit different control and play styles.
I have a friend who works for Lenovo and is currently testing these. So far they plan to introduce three types of controllers that will suit different ergonomic needs. Logitech are developing them as well but we won't see this until the next iteration by the looks of it.
@Fan The Deck; your video review was on point. Already ordered mine. Can not wait. Was holding off on a gaming handheld for two years now. However, the Lenovo Legion Go, hands down, is the runner up.
1. Lenovo Legion Go
2. Steam Deck OLED
3. AYANEO (newest)
4. Asus Ally
5. Nintendo Switch OLED
If they want to use one button for two different slide out menus, I'd recommend to make the right side menu to show up on a single press & the left one for a longpress
Exactly. This was a baffling decision but they can easily fix it 🤞🏼🤞🏼
Def intrigued! Can't wait to get it in the lab! Great review!
Awesome review, so on your test: 1080p vs 1200p is a 11.11% pixel increase and its doing well compared to the ROG Ally (20w Go vs 25w Ally) - looks like the 30w was bugged/early issue = hopefully they fix this soon for plugged in mode (release patch maybe) - My one ships on the 3rd from Lenovo - Can't wait. Going to be watching heaps of content on the GO until i get mine.
Why didn’t he test 1080p vs 1080p? Am I dumb😂😂
Unfortunately I couldn't force a 1080p resolution on Legion Go. The Phawx tried to help me set one with Custom Resolutions Utility but it was a no go.
@@FanTheDeck so if I buy the go I cannot play on 1080p?👍🏻😂
@@l007Knightrideronly in an external monitor. Either way the sweet spot for this devices is 800p or 900p xD
@@FanTheDeckis that a software issue or you Just can't never go 1080p? I don't know a thing About that :D please tell me
Nice informative reveiw. Makes me even more excited for UPS to show up today to deliver my Legion Go.
cant wait to get mine in a few weeks
I wasn't interested in the device at first, but you made me. Great review. Literally answered all of my questions.
Been looking into handhelds and the alternatives to steamdeck look really good but I feel like SteamOS is such a huge QoL thing especially on the road.
Still torn what to get. Also feels like something new is coming every month so the fear of getting buyer remorse is very real
Yeah, can't see myself moving off of SteamOS. I'm looking forward to the moment where more SteamOS devices will appear, or better support for it from those manufacturers with drives and stuff like that.
The anti cheat cockblock is a big no go for me. makes me salty.
10:35 That comparison is night and day! The Allys speakers have much stronger bass. I wish Lenovo didn't cheap out on the sound quality.
You're going to get better image quality out of an integer scaled 800p on a 1600p screen than you are running at 1200p, plus a significant performance boost or battery life gain depending on how you set your TDP. Not sure why the reviewer didn't even mention this as its one of the biggest benefits the Legion has over the competition.
Yeh the perfect integer scaling with 800p should have been mentioned. It will massacre the Steam Deck at the resolution in terms of performance at the same tdp, while having more battery life due to the 23% larger battery.
Many games on the ally run 48 +fps on 1080p (like the witcher3, rdr2 etc).
1080p native is superior than 800p upscaled to 1600p.
@@Trikkie87 This is completely wrong. 800p integer scales perfectly to 1600p. 1080p does not scale evently to 1600p so the image is going to be blurrier, even though it is higher resolution.
Why no tests vs Deck, and why 1200p vs 1080p with different W modes?
Great review thanks! If I had gotten an Ally, I think I’d be second-guessing my choice a bit. But having gotten a Deck, obviously I sacrificed a lot… but only paid half as much. Still loving my Deck.
Ok but the most important thing you left out is, at WHAT GRAPHICS SETTINGS did you test the games ?
In my eyes seems a more well thought project tha the ROG Ally gonna see if it don't hve the same problems of use.
I'm just so stoked that there is a healthy competition out there for handheld consoles.
Really hoping for an OLED variant
Is it me or do the controllers look quite blocky? i wonder if that'll give fatigue over time?
Got a Steam Deck and a Ally. I'd feel more inclined to get this if it had different hardware than the Ally but not feeling it since it's the same. The detachable controller stuff seems neat but I have a Switch and the times I've ever used it on a flat surface with the joycons is probably less than 5. Handhelds for me are always a bed or couch thing and can't really lay a tablet and play comfortably like that. I think it's an interesting choice if you don't have any UMPCs though
I'm setting the legion go on my chest with the kick stand and playing with controllers in my hands by my side laying down in bed.... Works pretty great so far.
Won't always play like this but when my arms need a bit of a break from being bent at the elbow so long it works great!
I'm glad I got rid of the ally for this!!
I'm wondering how easy it is to reinstall the OS after upgrading the SSD, the Ally automatically recognizes a new drive installed and will have you connect to wifi and reinstall the OS and have it properly configured in a fresh out of the box unit. GPD Win 4 has a file you download and extract onto a usb flashdrive, insert the flashdrive into the Win 4's usb port, turn the device on and boot into the flashdrive and it will format and install the OS and all it's drivers onto the new ssd. So if Lenovo were to have a setup scheme in place to make it easy to setup and reconfigure a new M.2, that would be a welcoming feature to have. Aya Neo forces you to first install the OS then install all it's required drivers one at a time or use a program to clone the original drive's OS to the new M.2.
Great review! I think the most interesting thing for me in this device is the 16:10 screen and resolution. The screen effectively has a 2:1 ratio with 1280x800 (the Steam Deck's res). I'd probably play everything in 800p for more fps or battery life and it'd probably still look really good.
So why did you test them using different resolutions? Also, where are temp data in your benchmark?
Thank you for your great in-depth review. And for the comparison with the ally. 👍 I have an ally and a steam deck. I still don't think there is for me a justifiable reason to buy the Legion go. I bought the Ally because it was a obvious bump in performance to the Steam deck and it was lighter to hold. I'm happy that the legion go exists and I will be checking it in stores to see if it's something I would have a use-case for. Thanks. Great work!
I returned my 3rd ally a week ago and got the legion go delivered on Tuesday... Same price so no extra cost and it's a significant improvement in many ways over the ally.
Performance obviously about the same but the bigger screens and what I consider much better ergonomics (and multiple back buttons on each side)
It's a big step up and the only thing that needs some more work is their own software it's pretty bare bones compares to ally but honestly it's not something I need to interact with regularly so not a huge deal.
Would like the sticks to work as as a page scroll ans the mouse like ally but they have their own alternative with the touch pad and and a scroll wheel.
@@TJ.85 good to hear that you are enjoying the Lenovo LG. Wait... 3rd ally or 3rd RMA ally?? 😅 I also heard most complains about the Go where with the software and fan noise. For me the Legion Go software being so unpolished as reports say is pretty disappointing. Even the ally's software, being unperfect as it was when it launched, had: per-game tdp/key mapping profiles, updated drivers, quiet fan, some sort of communication from asus team, you could assign a key combination to Xbox button, you could assign any button to a keyboard action. Of course, the Ally's SD card reader scandal is just unacceptable... I had upgrade the ssd to start enjoying the device and now I'm pretty happy. But man.... Lenovo really messed up this launch with the bad software and support for the device... I'm definitely waiting to see if Lenovo says something and steps up to support this device before I pull the trigger.
FPS mode is cool, but when would anyone ever use it without being plugged into an external monitor and would likely already have a real mouse with them? Who wants to sit hunched over a 7in tablet staring down at it with a makeshift mouse? If that's the biggest reason to get this over another pc handheld I think it falls flat pretty hard.
Awesome review. I had the deck now have the Ally which I love. This looks compelling for the big screen but I really love the Ally, I’ve had nothing but a great experience. Having a switch, I’ve never used it in tabletop mode so this is more of a niche market IMO.
Weird because over %80 of the people who use the switch use it primarily in the dock
Blessed benchmarks!!! Love the midnight east coast time publish. Bless your heart
Lol you can thank micro center for the timing! They said I can post it as soon as people can buy it 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Thank you for the superb review!.
I received the Lenovo Legion today and will test it starting tomorrow. I have the Steam Deck and had a Rod Ally.
I'm hoping the Legion will be my go to portable , as I just prefer as big a screen as I can get, added in with that 800p being a nice sweetspot where settings can be raised higher then the Ally's 1080p.
I really thought the Ally was my best option but the right trigger was not registering my presses and even DF noted this issue.
Plus that 7" screen was just too small (for me) overall.
I'm really hoping the Legion is the perfect balance/combo of the SD and RA.
Having said all that, each of these portables has pros and cons.
SD is the most console like as far as not dealing with Windows hassles.
However it's limited to Steam, so no Gamepass or other launchers will work ootb.
The Ally is the most compact portable, great screen, and vrr, and good performance all add to a superb portable. But it's battery drains really fast, as in 60 minutes on a full charge.
The Legion, has the best performance (by a bit), biggest screen, fps mode, longer battery, most versatile. However it's not as portable due to size, and missing vrr.
Honestly, I love the SD for playing older games that don't support controllers (Deus Ex, Condemned, HL2, ect), and the Ally or Legion for more demanding games along with the option for over 60+ fps gaming.
But personally, I'm hoping the Legion will tick all boxes for me and I love the large screen, battery, and versatility. And I'd much rather deal with Windows then proton of the SD.
You and me?
I think we may be clones of each other...
We have the exact same history with these systems and the same opinions on why one is better than another...
It's like freaking me out a bit almost like I wrote this myself from an alternate time line or something!!
Crazy!!
But yea replaced ally with LG still have the deck and feel like LG is best for me for exact same reasons and drawbacks to SD are the exact same for me.
Dealing with windows is just better to me than limitations of steam os
So awesome yet weird to find someone exactly like me!! 🤣🤣🤣
@TJ.85 Thanks! That's awesome how you think. It's like replying back to...me! 🤣
Heck, feel free to PM me if you wish. I'm curious on you're thoughts about these portables.
I'm starting my YT channel soon, adding in my opinions and review of these portables..games, ect.
What's you're take so far on the Legion Go?
I've been busy since I received it yesterday but will open it(finally) tomorrow.
I'm really interested on you're opinions on not just the LG but also the SD and RA..ect
Thanks again!
I would add what settings you're using for each game in benchmarking, is it on low, medium, high, ultra?
As someone looking into getting either the Steam Deck OLED or the Legion GO as a first handheld PC, I am really impressed by both it's usability as a Windows PC and this review! A great job on this video.
However I am still leaning more towards the Steam Deck for Development and overall enjoyment sake.
The tablet mode of the Go is also a very compelling feature for both more relaxed gaming, FPS mode and for media consumption.
A tough choice to make as a newcomer to this new PC segment xD
What did you end up getting? I am torn between the Deck, Lenovo and Asus.
I’m also lol the windows based , the screen size , the performance on the legion is tempting
But the steam deck oleds features , battery , screen , ease of use is becoming more appealing regardless of performance 😆👍
Can you feel the input lag when using the "Mouse" in FPS mode? I can't find latency numbers anywhere. Do you know if it's using bluetooth for the mouse?
Getting this alongside my Steam Deck. While I love the deck, I want this entire movement to grow. But I do hope for software improvements that sounds like a let-down so far.
You knocked it out of the park with this one, Rich! Great in-depth review of quite a compelling device.
Thank you brother!!
Great review as always sir. I love that we’re getting more options, but steam OS is certainly the big draw other than price. I’ll hold onto my Deck for the time being! Probably will wait for a V2 at this point.
I'm with you. Valve stands alone on taking care of their customer. Them and toyota are a few of the companies I have a wholeheartedly positive opinion of.
@@DTMC00 yeah without a doubt. My wife has a Subaru (same deal there imo haha)
@BigJohn95 you gonna get the oled version or wait for a true v2?
Thank you been waiting for this great review.
Mentioning using the touch screen to navigate windows would definitely be a good tip to add. Great review!
Fair point - I do use the touch screen a bunch. Thank you!
Interesting Micro Center handed you a review unit. Makes sense they did with the Ryzen 5600X3D given it was exclusive to their store.
What a phenomenal looking device. Hope Lenovo supports it as much as Valve does Steam Deck.
Thats one of the main reasons i havent bought this yet, lenovo support sucks ass
@@XKitsuneX666 haven't had any experience with Lenovo at all. If that is the case, that is sad. That's the reason I have stuck with the steam deck because of the support both Valve and the community give it.
Should I get this or a gaming laptop for 1200$ - Asus TUF Gaming A15 (Ryzen 7, RTX 4060, 16GB RAM) ?
My pre-order's on the way, but not being able to run a 30W TDP correctly could be a potential dealbreaker, especially while on AC power. I realize higher TDPs have diminishing returns, but Lenovo promised 30W and I'm fully expecting that. Hope they fix this soon.
I'd also prefer if the Legion buttons switched places with the menu and view buttons. Not a big deal, but I hope they're remappable. Everything else about this handheld looks very promising. Thinking it's only a matter of time before someone releases a 3D printable controller dock, too, if Lenovo doesn't release one of their own.
I saw another RUclipsr who was able to use 45 watts in Custrom mode on Legion Go. Maybe in future it possible
@@blackydevils I think that was a month or two back where Lenovo basically admitted that was a mistake. Fingers crossed for the TDP to actually be fully unlocked per the APU's max target, but I'm not counting on it.
Bro it's prerelease software. No doubt within days at most the 30tdp issue will be fixed. You have nothing to worry about.
@@slickrounder6045 You never really know when it comes to PCs, bro.
How the heck did they not include VRR?
I’m tempted but damn windows is holding me back!
Wdym
Great review. I love how thorough you are with all the reviews you put out.
The ROG Ally sounds fuller and the screen is a lot better. VRR is also give you perceived smoothness is games even a lower FPS. It's that reason why I want VRR.
The colors look a hell of a lot better on ROG Ally to me , and the speakers sound better... And that's just at first glance and listen.
I think VRR is overrated, about screen, technically it is better than Rog Ally, better res, better color accuracy, better refresh rate. In any case Asus did an excellent job and performance are so close, so it’s just about your use preference at this point.
@@AtrusDesigndo you already try rog ally, vrr is no joke. from many year i complain gameplay 30fps - 40fps but with vrr, i realize i can tolerate those gameplay., 144hz for what if mainly play at 70fps in low resolution setting. 😂
Thank you for this perfect first review i'm very excited.
Great review! At last we saw the performance of the Go. Great feedback on the fps mode. I think it's really better than the Ally and the deck coz of the things that it can do. I'm really excited to get mine 🤩🤩
This one is perticularly good for those who play fps. But using it like this makes me wonder if i could live with a 7840h laptop, which is similarly priced and larger and with more juice (in terms of battery). Go is too heavy for a handheld. I also heard there will soon be 8040-based amd tablets (13.5-inch) coming up.
Noob question here probably, but can you use Steam's Controller configs on any of these new handhelds that are not the Steam Deck?
I know they have their own software for mapping buttons to the controller, but what about complex stuff that you can only do in Steam? Like Action Layers, double/long press activation, Hotbar menus etc. Not to mention the ability to browse the community controls and Start from a base that someone has already created.
I guess the way Lenovo could do this is have a "Map to Steam Deck controls" Profile, where the back buttons (for example) are mapped to the actual back button API commands of a Steam Deck, then you wouldn't be saying Y2 = Keyboard_R, but Y2 = Deck's_R5, which in turn you can configure to be Keyboard_R through Steam's menu. That way you can also configure other more complex stuff that I talked about just above as all it will take is for Steam to believe you're playing on a "Steam Deck Controller" (even if you're not and you're sort of emulating it somehow).
Also, follow-up question: Anyone try installing SteamOS on these things or is it a no-go?
I've got the ally already and since getting it, it's been incredible performance wise and has come a long way in updates since it's release. The one thing that it sucked on was battery life. Playing an indie game like blasphemous or sea of stars only nets me 2.5-3 hours at 10watts 1080p for example. In your limited testing have you noticed an improvement on that end with the legions battery life? also playing game without vrr do you also notice a difference on that end?
Google ally 90wh mod. I did it and now I have more than double battery life
I haven't used the Legion however I play my Ally every day, and every video I watch about the legion I immediately notice the lack of VRR and the extra 9wh will probably net you another 35-45 minutes at 1200p.
You Sir deserve more subs. Great review!
so lenovo sayi g final product was landscape was a lie...
Yup
Lenovo said review units were portrait and final product would be landscape. Now we wait and see.
@@baconcat02didn’t he pick his up at micro center?
I know you spent a lot of time to review this and I respect that and watch all of your videos that come up on my feed. I must say that the legion box stuff wasnt covered very well, the fps game stuff wasnt super helpful besides just really broad strokes, frame time and resolution on the infographs really helps. I enjoyed the video up until the gaming fps and remarks about the legion experience. I just dont think they were detailed enough. It felt like a rushed video and I am very polite and dont want to offend, but I think this video could have used 2 or 3 more reworks to make it a very good video that competes with the likes of taki udon and retro. I hope this comment helps, I never leave comments and I want to see this channel improve.
Hope Valve steps up on the next revision of Steam Deck. The Legion Go looks nice.
Ive always wanted a portable computer with a built in mouse. Always right itd be a laptop where the trackpad detached and becomes a mouse, but I wasn't expecting this implementation!
This feature makes this a must-buy for me over the Steam Deck, hands down!
*thought it'd be a laptop
I'm so curious if I'd be able to work with the mouse and other controller half. I've only ever known either full on controller, or full on mouse and keyboard. Never an in between. Maybe this would be a good compromise for gaming and even general computer stuff!
It's just weird that it's branded as an FPS feature, as im a keyboard and mouse player for all games. (Except 2d platformers, they have never worked with a keyboard for me at least, which is weird because I love mouse and keyboard for 3d platformers lol)
The fact that you said the trackpad is not meant for gaming makes me feel better about just getting a steam deck recently.
I think the detachable controllers are really neat, I would take advantage of the tablet by itself often enough, but I don’t know I would care about playing a game with them detached.
It looks really cool and I’m glad handheld pcs are growing in popularity.
I think you missed one of the larger differences as the Legion doesn’t support VRR compared to the ROG Ally.
I thought they were going to fix the screen before launch. Portrait is a dealbreakers for me.
He just said they will probably release a day 1 update and that this is prerelease build
@@nosidepressure We'll see. I doubt very much that they will change the display since this can't be fixed with software. If they are using a portrait display this late, I doubt they will change it.
@Pkgeno oh really that sucks then. What's the problem with portrait i honestly don't know the difference lol
@@nosidepressure It honestly has minor implications for most people. It affects old games and clarity in certain conditions.
@@nosidepressureIf you play older games it will be a problem. There are workarounds but this is a deal breaker for me.
Had the steam deck great machine but the fact you can't play certain game killed it for me. So picked a rog currently in for repair after 6weeks. Considering a change again 😅
Portrait display is little disappointment. the device look so good. i know i can use wrapper but much prefer landscape native display.
That just makes it just like every other PC handheld on the market except for the Ally
Lenovo said review units were portrait and final product would be landscape. Now we wait and see.
Yeah it's a little disappointing to me too. Not a deal breaker but would have been nice
Mine is not a review unit so it seems that Lenovo engineer was mistaken
What difference would it make if it was native landscape ?
still pretty cool, leaving the realm of portable in my opinion with almost 9in. Still the Ally for me! Nice vid!
I really like this one (compared to the Ally), but as much performance as this one has over the Deck, I still can't see myself justifying buying it, and that's because of one and only one reason: Windows.
If Valve would announce that these handhelds will be compatible with steamOS I'd be the first one to buy one, but as it is right now, I really don't want to get a handheld to deal with Windows. It's frustrating enough on my PC.
That's what I think pushes me towards the Deck: console-like OS and it's half as expensive. Because otherwise this is better in every single other aspect.
So it's better to deal with proton, runtime errors, etc?
@@Kaylas1821 I haven't seen many of those or people complaining about them. Windows is just a pain in the ass, and it consumes so many resources just because, and battery. I just think a proper simplified minimalistic OS would be much better. steamOS is the best one out there, but if a better one releases, then that one.
@@argentinaomuerte i had the opposite experience. Though i agree that for handhelds windows must be simplified. But still it has more games supported out of the box rather than tweaking a lot of things just to get it run.
@@Kaylas1821 windeckOS is (probably) just what you are looking for
@@Kaylas1821 oh yeah, the much bigger library is a plus for sure. But the thing is with how much community support the Deck has even setting that up is much easier. Another factor that stops me is that I know Valve will give the Deck support for the years to come, but idk how much Lenovo/Asus will care about these consoles in year or two
So if this is plugged in to a display and charger, it'll cap at 30W rather than the Allys 43W?
i like the bigger screen and that it has a track pad for windows but im not sure i trust Lenovo like i trust Steam for improving the software as time goes on, Steam seems into Deck long term support while Asus and the rest only see value in how much money the device will bring in in till they replace it with something else
@Emma_madison its the same CPU and GPU as the Ally so meh its nothing new, you gain frame rate at the cost of more heat and shorter battery life. I just want a bigger screen
LENOVO upgrades. My legion laptop since I bought it in 2021! STEAM I don't trust at all, they softwares are a bit lackluster
I have an ALLY and am very happy with it. This looks like another win for gamers.
this is my upgrade over the steam deck, its everything I have wanted, better screen, detachable controllers, and the big one for me is the screen being 1600p instead of 1080p, this allows for perfect integer scaling from 800p, which will look a billion times better then 800p on a 1080p screen, 800p is my go to resolution on a device this size, anything more is sacrificing to much performance for me, Ive been waiting for a Z1 extreme handheld with an 800p screen but this is even better then that, integer scaling is the best form of upscaling, I wouldn't even use FSR with it, the issue is that integer scaling only works with resolutions that are a perfect factor of 2x, so in this case its double 800p, this is what kept me away from the ROG ally, 1080p is losing to much performance and 800p looks worse then the deck because its having to upscale to 1080p since the display can not natively run in 800p (or in this case 720p since the rog ally is a 16:9 display) when a display is run in a lower then native resolution it upscales the image, you cant get rid of pixels so the display upscales to the native resolution, and as I said the best and honestly only good form of display upscaling is integer
Does this device has a suspension mode that can be activated during gaming like the steam deck?
I would love a smaller version of this. I love the kickstand and detachable controllers with FPS mode. Honestly if they were able to make this but with a smaller screen that brings it more in line with the ROG Ally in size and weight, I’d be all on board.
But is it a decent hand held ?. I am not interested in the switch style joycons as I will just use my gaming PC.
Is it a dream or a dirty camera lens?
Just an android
with dirty lens?
😂@@twistedmetal2290
Love when vids are available for people of all hours
5:06 For people like me who want to savor the unboxing experience for themselves.
preciate it
What would be the battery life when using it as a tablet using for, content consumption, reading, like daily life stuff without gaming.
That tdp 20w performance on cyberpunk is pretty shocking, my rogg ally balances between 30-45 at 18w with 6gb
Probably due to bigger screen
@@kami_1789 probably, personally a few extra pixels is not worth the FPS sacrifice to such an extent, but after a few months maybe it will get better
He probably has some settings turned up compared to you.
Is the lack of VRR a serious flaw? Trying to decide between an Ally or Legion Go, but the VRR sounds like a key feature
VRR makes a big difference
Wouldnt really call it an in depth review without 720p testing and conparing that to the deck.
Totally understand that you wanted comparisons to the steam Deck. I did over 100 benchmarks and then I did many of them again and I'm only one person with one week to review so I had to choose what I was going to test. I didn't prioritize testing against Deck. Perhaps someone else will.
I've preordered mine and got it a few days after release. I really like the device, I only have a few things to point out. First: The edges on the front are quite sharp. After a longer gaming session it hurts a bit. This could have been avoided with more rounded edges. The second one is the weight. Depending on how you hold it it can get a bit cumbersome. But here the detachable controllers get to shine. You can always put the device down and just hold the controllers which are really lightweight. The last thing is the placement of the buttons on the back of the right controller. But I would still consider all of the above as minor flaws, this thing just makes a lot of fun.
Legion Go will undoubtedly be strictly faster than the Rog Ally (Assuming the same resolution. Note tthe tests here were 1200p vs 1080p due to the 16/10 aspect ratio, so the Legion Go is pushing more pixels) since they have the exact same Z1 Extreme, but the Legion Go has the faster Lpddr5x at 7500mhz which is notable advantage over Lpddr5 6400 mhz when it comes to Apu's.
Keep in mind this is prerelease drivers and the like, in the coming days and weeks I'd expect the Legion Go to get faster and more polished, and quirks like the issue with 30w performance will be solved. Lenovo is pretty damn reliable and has many decades of experience, I doubt they will drop the ball.
Hard to imagine a better Handheld from 2023 than the Legion Go. It ticks all the right boxes and is the only Handheld that by itself is great for Fps shooters due to the combination of : 144Hz refresh rate on a massive 8'8 screen, detachable controllers, and the unique Vertical Mouse from the controller. This gives the Legion Go extra flexibility and versatility, putting it Unmatched in it's class.
What game is that at 11:54?
I was wondering the same thing
Grapple Dog. I love that game.
Let's gooooo!
Subbed! Hope to see more Go coverage!