Does Lenovo Legion Go Hold Up? - 3 Month Review

I've been using the legion go for a few months now and I thought it's finally about time I gave my thoughts on it there was a lot of hype for this machine when it came out but does it hold up after using it for 3 months let's go over The Good the Bad and the Ugly of the Lenovo Legion go right after this video sponsor if you're looking for a pre-built gaming or office PC and want to buy from a reliable company who has your back check out PC bros. te and use my code Json 4 to get 4% off your order the entire PC Bros team is super awesome and they make great pre-builts at reasonable prices so be sure to click the link in the video description and use code Json 4 to get 4% off your next gaming PC the leging go kind of came out of left field and started this wave of large manufacturer starting to get into handfield space after the steam deck and sure we had the rag Ally from Asus previously but it wasn't 100% clear if that was just a one-off but since then we've seen the likes of Lenovo MSI and a lot of rumors of other Hardware companies getting into the mix but the legion go was special because it wasn't just a better steam deck a lot was promised about the legion go before it released so let's first talk about the form factor and the io the handheld comes in this handsome matte black finish although I wish we would be able to customize the color but I guess we will have to resort to just using decals the top of the device comes with volume up and down buttons a USB 4.0 type-c a combo 3.5 mm headphone and microphone port and the power button there's also a slot for expandable storage in the form of micro SD cards allowing for up to 2 TB cards to be installed on the bottom of the device we have another USB 4.0 type-c port and it should be noted that both of these are able to use pd3.0 for fast charging or display port 1.4 if you want to dock your device I really love that there's one on both ends as it gives a lot of flexibility especially while charging during gameplay the back of the device also has a large and sturdy kickstand in case you ever want to play on the desktop or prop up your device while it's docked now the entire device is pretty heavy compared to its predecessors the legion go comes in at 852 G with the steam deck and Rog Ally weighing 666 G and 608 G respectively now 200 g might not seem like like much but if you've picked up the steam deck and thought it was too heavy to play comfortably then the legion go will probably not be up your ally but for me an adult male with average sized hands the legion go didn't feel too heavy that it caused any uncomf over time as its Center of mass Works in a way that while it does feel cumbersome sometimes I was so immersed in my gameplay that I never had to stop playing due to discomfort on the left controller we have an elevated joystick d-pad start and select style button and the legion space shortcut button but we'll talk more about that later on the right controller we have the quick options menu button as well as the abxy face buttons another joystick and a singular trackpad as opposed to the two that you get on the steam deck the trackpad is large enough and gets the job done in a pinch when navigating windows but it does not have that same haptic feedback that the steam deck does the steam deck will give you incredibly satisfying feedback bumps every step of the way whereas the legion go just kind of gives you this pulsating feeling where you know something is happening but it's not 100% clear it's recognizable but only barely the buttons are quite standard and not too mushy while the d-pad is clicky and very satisfying I will say the d-pad feels a little too flush with the device and hard to use if you're playing something that repeatedly requires d-pad usage I wish they would have extended it just a millimeter or two there are a ton of buttons on the back of the controllers as well as the triggers and bumpers all of which are customizable so if you play a game that could require a lot of inputs you're in luck there's also a scroll wheel back here that can be useful while going through menus or websites and is easily accessible using your index finger I actually really like the feel of the Legion go in my hands and it's far more comfortable than it appears one annoyance I found is that I will constantly touch the screen with my right thumb when playing games and since the screen is touch it will usually send my camera flying in different directions I don't know if this is just an issue I have personally but I wish the right joystick was just a little bit more to the right to avoid the issue one of the defining gimmicks I mean features of the Legion go is that the controllers are detachable kind of like the Nintendo switch but unlike the Nintendo switch this doesn't mean that you can use these as two individual ual controllers it's purely here so you can play not attached to the screen which could be handy or to utilize what they call FPS mode where you continue to use the left controller for movement and then the right joystick comes with a little attachable base that turns it into a vertical Mouse I'll be honest I have not used this as often as I should but the few times I have tried it in games like team fight tactics and fortnite it was surprisingly useful as someone who doesn't do well with a controller and Shooters it was a nice alternative that took some getting used to I mostly found myself using the FPS mode when navigating Windows as I'm much prefer it over the trackpad now let's go over what I consider to be one of the best features of the Legion go the display it is an 8.8 in screen with a resolution of 2560 x600 PE and a Max refresh rate of 144 Herz the size of the screen is not to be understated the 8.8 in on the legion go makes the steam deck look like a toy anecdotally my sister-in-law who's not really a gamer has seen me play the steam deck before and didn't really think twice about it but when I brought out the legion go recently she literally said what is that and was very impressed by its size and immersiveness and while that kind of experience is unconsecrated should be noted as well navigating windows or plank Indie titles looks absolutely beautiful when utilizing the Larger than Life screen but it kind of feels like a waste when playing anything with decent Graphics from the last few years the legion go is utilizing the same AMD Z1 Xtreme processor as the original Rog allly was using so it isn't able to play a lot games at 1440p 144 Herz even easy to run games like fortnite aren't really able to hit those numbers and with the screen not having variable refresh rate you'll find yourself setting it to 60 HZ anyway so I'm left wondering what is the point of having these specs if you aren't able to use it all too often why build out an entire racetrack if you're just driving around a 2010 Toyota Camry for someone like me who is inherently a tinkerer I don't have that much of a problem going into my video settings every single new game and tweaking the resolution the refresh rate and the graphics set but for someone who just wants to pick up their handheld and play a damn game without worrying too much I think the steam deck has a legion go beat easily in that regard but regardless of that the screen is impressive it really does make playing any game that much more immersive I don't really feel like I'm playing a dumb down version on my portable Game Boy and I get lost in games just as easily as I would on my desktop and that's something I don't think I experience very often on my steam deck or Rog Ally in terms of performance the Z1 extreme processor in 16 gigs of RAM is going to pump out similar performance as the rag allly but with slightly better battery life the legion go has a 5 hour battery just like the steam deck OLED while the rag Ally only has 40 so while this means you might get 20 more minutes of the Legion go it's still just around 2 hours so you wouldn't be able to make it on many domestic flights without using a power bank I don't really think the difference in battery life matters too much as I usually always have a power bank on me anyway and there's not often times that I'm playing for extended periods without a plug other than on flights but I know battery life is important for some people who play between classes or on road trips and might not have access to a plug now if you're into emulation the liigo can actually handle most consoles out there I've seen good numbers in emulating Wii U PlayStation 3 Xbox and even all the way up to the Nintendo switch pretty impressive thinking that you could have these huge libraries for all the old consoles on a singular handheld device I didn't do any emulation testing myself because I don't want Nintendo to shut down my channel but I'll link in the description to a video from retro gamecore where he tested out a ton of games on all the most popular emulators now if you crave even more power it's a good thing those USBC ports are actually USB 4.0 so you can plug in any external GP you have and Run games directly off that if you're docked at your desk I don't have any to test here but I've seen some people do it successfully and had good experience with it this is in comparison to the Rog Ally where the only external GPU they allow are the Asus proprietary XG mobile ones which work fine but they are just hella expensive plus one point to Lenovo for not being proprietary or locked down in this regard the software being around the device is Windows 11 no fancy handheld version or anything just a bog standard Windows 11 install which obviously isn't as seamless as Steam OS but it allows you to run anything you want with few exceptions on top of that there is a front-end software called Legion space that comes pre-installed this allows you to access all of your Launchers from a single place but to be honest it's a glorified advertisement so I usually just exit it I personally never use Legion space and instead installed an open source front end called play night and it's simple enough to allow me to organize all my games effectively but I can't outright uninstall Legion space as all the keybinds are assigned within and it opens access to the quick options menu this menu is actually pretty substantial and I use it a lot it allows you to change many things on the Fly Like thermal output performance overlays fan curves you name it there's also customizable shortcuts built in that can be changed like for example the legion space button and a essentially presses control up Leach for you using these shortcuts to navigate complicated keyboard shortcuts can be an easy way to exit games launch the virtual keyboard or do other simple tasks like take screenshots or screen record now I know a lot of people complain about Windows and I kind of agree but until Windows makes a handheld version that isn't so bloated this is what we get once you understand how to navigate it using the Windows operating system becomes second nature you're probably going to spend most of your time gaming on this thing anyway not going through old GitHub just to get games working the legion go can be docked using your old steam deck docs or most USBC docks out there realistically alternatively you can just plug in a USB keyboard and mouse and get to gaming the performance on the legion go for things outside of gaming is not too bad either I was able to edit this entire video on it and that includes 4K footage without much issue I also installed the meta software and tried out VR on my meta Quest 2 and it ran the games quite well without any noticeable hiccups or stuttering if you're already sold on the legion go or you already have one get subscribed for a future video that will go over all the best games to play on the device and best accessories that are worth your time and money personally speaking I actually love the Lenovo Legion go when the r Aly came out people were excited because a true steam deck competitor was coming out and it had most of the steam deck shortcomings taken care of a better screen smaller form factor and a stronger processor with the rag Ally suffered a lot out of the gate from a lot of bad publicity and early days issues and after talking to an employee at Best Buy they said it was their most returned item for months so much so that the rag alley went on a major sale quickly after launching and you can now Buy open box ones for dirt cheap but is that really solely because people were afraid their micro SD cards would burn up well probably not I personally believe that people went out and bought the rag Aly hoping it would be a better steam deck and that's what they got a better steam deck no innovation nothing that makes it stand out other than a higher price tag and a proprietary external GPU Port what we have in the legion go is not just a better steam deck it's different in so many ways the form factor the screen size FPS mode extra buttons I mean this thing screams I am not a steam deck and that's awesome that's what I want in my electronics I don't want the same thing with a different skin I want Innovation I want weird I want gimmicks that is what makes this hobby so fun and exciting playing on the legion go is a lot of fun with this huge beautiful screen and quirky controls it's some of the most fun I've had gaming on a handheld in a long time I think if you want something new different and immersive then the legion go might be perfect for you but if you already have a steam deck or Rog Ally and you're happy with them I don't know if there's enough of a change here to justify spending $700 on a new device this soon this thing might be Innovative but it's not revolutionary just yet the legion go is currently available on Amazon via Micro Center for $650 but that only comes with the 512 gate SSD if you want the 1 tab version it's going to be $700 over at Best Buy I would personally go with Amazon because they give you a 30-day return window as opposed to Best Buy 14 days just in case anything's wrong with your device or you just have a change of heart and if you're still unsure whether to grab the legion go Rog Ally or steam deck check out my reviews here and here of each of those devices and get subscribed for my future review on the steam deck OLED my name's Jason thanks for watching

Channel: Jason Witmer

Views: 30,614

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Id: HF_fWPG-QVg

Length: 11min 54sec (714 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 15 2024