Lenovo Legion Go is a console with an adequate price tag that can do everything, literally. This console is deservedly considered the most versatile solution in its segment, as it has modular gamepads, a mouse mode for shooters, the best screen on the market, and many compatible accessories. At first glance, it seems like an ideal product, but in reality, not everything is so smooth, as we have seen firsthand.
Content
| Technical characteristics | |
| Screen | IPS 8.8″ 2560x1600p 144 Hz 500 nits |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme |
| RAM | 16 GB LPDDR5 7500 MT/s |
| Drive | 1 TB SSD PCI-E 4.0 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon Z1 Extreme iGPU |
| Sound | Stereo 2 x 2 W |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Wired interfaces | 2 x USB Type C 4.0 |
| 1 x micro SD | |
| 1 x 3.5 mm jack | |
| Power supply | 65 W Type C |
| Battery | 49 W*h |
| Controller battery | 900 mAh |
| Dimensions | 40x298x131 mm |
| Weight | 640 grams |
| Additionally | Tactile feedback |
| Modular controllers | |
| RGB backlighting | |
| Folding stand | |
| Stand for FPS controller | |
| Xbox Game Pass (3 months) | |
| Carrying bag | |
| Accessories | Lenovo Legion docking station |
| Lenovo Legion Glasses screen | |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Home |
In addition to the basic configuration, Lenovo Legion Go has additional accessories that can be purchased separately. These include a proprietary docking station and a Lenovo Legion Glasses portable screen. A detailed review of the glasses is already available on the website.
The largest box contains a game console with a branded case. The docking station is packed in a smaller box. In addition to Lenovo Legion Go, the package includes paper documentation, a 65W charger with a USB Type C plug, and a controller stand.
When assembled, the console looks like its competitors based on x86 processors, but it differs from them in its modular design. Without controllers, the Lenovo Legion Go can be used as a tablet, albeit an extremely thick, noisy one with mediocre battery life.
The build quality is above average, despite the large amount of plastic. This device feels better in the hands than the Steam Deck, which seems to be printed on a 3D printer. The surface gets dirty easily and collects fingerprints. This applies to both the screen and the back with a metal stand.
There is one USB Type C connector on the bottom, another on the top, and a micro SD card slot next to it. On the same side are volume buttons, a power button, a 3.5 mm headset jack, stereo speakers, and cooling vents.
The lack of connectors is solved by a docking station that plugs into one of the Type C ports. The hub itself has two USB Type C, two USB Type A, RJ-45 LAN, and HDMI. You can also use any other hubs or docking stations (not just the original) that are compatible with USB Type C because the console has its own stand in the form of a flip-up plate on the back of the case.
The controllers can be detached, as in the Nintendo Switch, and used in various modes, including as a computer mouse. There are many, many controls. Each of the controllers has classic keys, like Xbox gamepads, as well as additional buttons on the back.
In addition to the game keys, there are two system keys that call up the game overlay and launch the proprietary Legion Space program, which we’ll talk about a little bit later. On the right is a touchpad, small but sensitive, with tactile feedback, just like the gamepads themselves.
In some games, you can customize the keys separately for both players (remake «tanks» from the NES) to play together on two different gamepads, but this is rare. By default, the controller is defined as a single unit, even if you remove both parts from the console. There is no such cool integration and local multiplayer mode as in the Nintendo Switch, and there will never be.
There’s a reason why the back of the controllers (especially the right one) is covered with additional buttons. It can work in optical mouse mode — the sensor is located at the very bottom, next to the «FPS» switch.
Press this key «FPS», put the controller in the stand that comes with the kit, and you get a full-fledged vertical mouse. The sensitivity is good, but it’s unusual at first. It takes 10-20 minutes to fully understand the ergonomics of vertical mice.
In a Counter Strike 2 match, we managed to get a 1:1 kill-to-death ratio, which already indicates that the controller is suitable for such video games. Still, a keyboard is very necessary because in this mode, the left controller turns into a simulator of several keyboard buttons, the keys need to be assigned for each game and it is inconvenient.
The display is the strong point of this console, as it is the only brand representative with a Quad HD matrix with 500 nits of brightness. The diagonal is also considerable — 8.8 inches, which is larger than that of competitors. The sensor is sensitive, colors are rich, brightness is sufficient, and viewing angles are excellent.
The problem is that Quad HD is really unnecessary for such a diagonal. This puts an additional burden on the not-so-powerful integrated graphics card, and many games simply don’t support the smart AMD FSR or Intel XeSS upscales.
After the Steam Deck 720p, the image is phenomenal, the difference in screen quality is huge, but it’s not to say that Lenovo Legion Go in real conditions (not in the specifications from the table) has a fundamentally better screen than MSI Claw or Asus Rog Ally.
Full HD would have been optimal, but the manufacturer decided to stand out to interest a wider audience with better «on paper» parameters. The smoothness of 144 Hz is not felt everywhere because there are few video games that will run at such a high frame rate on this hardware.
The sound is good, loud, not too flat, and there is nothing to complain about. It’s nice that Lenovo Legion Go can be used with a monitor, docking station, keyboard, and mouse as a desktop computer for work because it already has built-in speakers (not all monitors can boast of this) and a microphone.
In the browser, the set-top box works confidently if you do not reduce TDP. In economy mode, you can often see random freezes when streaming heavy sites, but YouTube video 1440p works stably without skipping frames with limited power consumption of up to 5 watts.
Connecting the Lenovo Legion Go to a monitor, we get a modern and fast minicomputer, although not very quiet. It feels like a budget gaming laptop, not a silent ultrabook.
The 1 TB Western Digital drive is fast (up to 5200 MB/s read) and moderately heated. The RAM is soldered to the board, has a high frequency of 7500 MT/s, and operates in quad channel mode. Despite the high write speed of 99000 MB/s, the delays are far from ideal — 130 nanoseconds is a lot.
The system performance strongly depends on the selected power mode and can vary significantly. For example, with the most limited TDP in Geekbench, we get only 700 Single Core points, which is at the level of a budget Android smartphone, but in maximum performance mode, Legion Go is not inferior to modern laptops.
When connected to the network, the reviewer automatically allocates 30 watts to the chip, but you can also do it manually by setting the appropriate TDP level, although then the battery will last for about an hour.
The speed of integrated graphics also depends on the power mode. It is optimal to work and play with a TDP of 15-20 W, and you can watch videos at 5-10 W. The results of Geekbench Open CL and Vulkan are proportional to the gaming performance and frame rate difference between power modes.
A quad HD screen is good, but in games, the video card gets an exorbitantly high load. There will be no problem in modern games because there are AMD FSR or Intel XeSS technologies that can be set to the «performance» profile.
Older projects with high requirements don’t have a smart upgrade, and lowering the resolution makes the picture noticeably worse. For example, 1920×1080 on a Quad HD monitor looks much worse than 1920×1080 on a Full-HD monitor. We tested the console in its native resolution, as well as a few games in HD 1280×800 (they look bad on the screen):
Conventional notation:
As you can see from the diagram, the dependence on the power mode is huge. With a low TDP, the processor begins to run out of power, which causes performance to drop significantly. This is not to say that Lenovo Legion Go is faster than MSI Claw, but with a consumption of 20 watts (optimal for Z1 Extreme) it delivers more FPS. Competitors on Intel need more power to achieve the same result.
In the 5 W economy mode, you can only play Limbo and similar unpretentious games, and even those with lag. The game itself is stable, but the system interface hangs. For example, the sidebar with the settings can appear with a delay of 10 seconds!
With a TDP of 10W, you can already play undemanding video games with strong compromises Portal 2 is running at 25-30 FPS, and switching to maximum performance mode raises this figure four times. Of course, there will be drops in difficult locations, but the frequency will not drop below 60 FPS.
For undemanding eSports disciplines, 10 watts is not enough because in Fortnite In addition to the low average FPS, we also get terrible freezes. Games that require reaction and speed require maximum performance. At some points, you can see 100-130 FPS, but not in active battles.
The same applies to Apex Legends. With eSports graphics settings, the game works well if you set the dynamic resolution. The Quad HD screen of such a small diagonal allows you to do this without noticeable loss of image quality.
GTA V has no built-in upscale and is demanding on TDP. It’s impossible to play in 10W mode, but with the profile «performance» (20W), the frame rate is acceptable with high graphics settings.
Cyberpunk 2077 is not easy with Steam Deck’s optimized settings. Note that the resolution in four times higher than in a Valve console, so you have to turn on FSR in performance mode. The picture quality does not compare with Steam Deck in favor of the hero of the review.
Well-optimized projects like Forza Horizon 5, work well on medium graphics settings, and for Starfield or The Callisto Protocolyou need to go down to the minimum preset to get 25-30 FPS.
It was also interesting to see almost 100% utilization of RAM and video memory (which is allocated from RAM). 16 GB is actually enough, but the problem with the console is that after launching Windows 11 Home with the proprietary Legion Space utility, 6-7 GB of RAM is immediately clogged.
Because of this, you have to close everything but the video game, and in some cases reduce the quality of textures to get rid of freezes. Microsoft’s operating system with the Legion launcher consumes too much memory, so in this regard, the optimized (albeit much weaker) Steam Deck has a definite advantage.
The 49 Wh battery takes 1 hour and 12 minutes to charge. The maximum power consumption was 68 watts. The battery capacity is smaller than in the MSI Claw, but the more economical hardware allows you to play longer. You can play Forza Horizon 5 with maximum brightness and performance mode an hour and a half.
You can play casual games with a minimum level of backlighting and a TDP of 5 W (the console may freeze) four hoursbut it’s better not to torture yourself like that by setting the processor power consumption to 10 watts.
You can use Legion Go in tablet mode to watch videos for much longer. YouTube videos with a minimum screen brightness level in economy mode last more than seven hours The result is excellent, given the continuous operation of the fans.
The controllers are charged from the console itself when connected, and they hold the charge for so long that it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they would be completely discharged. During a day of active use of the right controller as a wireless mouse, it went from 100% to 90%.
The cooler always works, no matter what the temperature of the components is. The hardware itself is relatively cold, the sensors record moderate readings, but the fan will rustle all the time, even while watching a video. In stress tests and heavy games, the console emits up to 49 dB when you attach a sound level meter to the ventilation system. At 30-40 centimeters, the noise is 37-40 dB.
The surface of the case heats up to 50 °C in the hottest spots. Most of the case heats up to 40-45 °C. In the Aida 64 stress test, the processor heated up to 75 °C, and its graphics up to 71 °C, with a maximum TDP of 30 W. If you reduce the power consumption to the standard 20 watts, then Legion Go becomes surprisingly cold — 60-63 °C on the processor.
The manufacturer has implemented the power modes in the most confusing way possible. There is a switch to «Performance», «Energy Saving», «Custom», and for each of these modes you can choose «Quiet», «Balance», «Performance», «Custom».
That is, in power saving mode, the set-top box can be more productive than in productive mode, or vice versa, or the same. It all depends on the selected TDP settings. With the minimum level of power consumption, the overlay freezes and appears with a significant delay.
As we have already mentioned, proprietary software consumes a lot of RAM, so after the operating system starts, another 6-7 GB of RAM is available. If we put aside rare bugs and incorrectly translated menu items, the software is not bad at all.
We should also take into account the fact that Lenovo Legion Go will soon be a year old, so the developers had time to put everything in order. The only serious issue was the Wi-Fi module. As with the Asus Rog Ally at the beginning of sales, the Internet sometimes fell off, or it was simply impossible to connect the set-top box to the network after restarting the system.
In Legion Space, you can customize your game library, change console system settings, manage screenshots, bind keys, set up macro combinations, change backlighting, and much more. It’s a heavy, but functional and concise program that’s easy to understand.
Lenovo Legion Go leaves mixed impressions, but they are mostly positive. This is not just a console, but a highly flexible device that can be used as a desktop computer, as a set-top box for a TV (with a controller instead of a remote), or as a classic portable game console.
The modular design makes Lenovo Legion Go a unique device that goes further than its competitors in terms of functionality. Not all users will appreciate all these «chips», but they definitely nice to have.
In addition to the removable gamepads, I liked the Quad HD display, a good docking station, and excellent compatibility with Lenovo’s proprietary Legion Glasses, which help the console hold the battery even longer (if you turn off the main screen).
For the terabyte version Lenovo Legion Go you’ll have to pay 33,000 hryvnias. The 512 GB version costs 30,000 hryvnias, and the 256 GB model is almost the same, so there is no point in going for the younger version at this point. If we put aside the low-quality Chinese second-rate consoles, the only competitors are Steam Deck, MSI Claw, and Asus Rog Ally.
Steam Deck is much weaker and has a low-resolution screen, but it is more economical OLED The 1 TB version costs from 33,000 UAH (unofficially), while the classic 512 GB version starts at 22,000 UAH.
MSI Claw in the top configuration will cost 33,000 hryvnias, but there is a more profitable version with Core Ultra 5 with 512 GB for 26,000 hryvnias. Powerful, with a large battery, but with a «hungry» processor.
Asus Rog Ally Z1 Extreme is a direct competitor to the hero of the review, although it cannot boast of a modular design. You’ll have to pay 28,000 UAH for it, although «gray» 512 GB models start at 23,000 UAH for the Z1 Extreme and 18,000 UAH for the Z1.