Lenovo Legion Go Unboxing

There are a TON of handheld consoles with Valve, ASUS, and Nintendo dominating the space, but Lenovo is coming in with an interesting idea -- taking features from all the existing handhelds and putting them together into one machine. With detachable controllers, a huge high-res screen, and a built-in mouse, is this the ultimate package, or is software the chief decider of a great device?

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE
---------------------------------------------------

CHAPTERS
---------------------------------------------------
0:00 This thing's a beast
1:17 Button/Port walkthrough
2:48 Steam Deck size comparison
3:37 Sponsor - dbrand
4:18 Trackpad woes
5:19 Charging options and even more buttons
6:20 More trackpad complaints and included accessories
7:29 Rocket League and LABS display tests
8:50 LABS Battery test results
9:40 Performance/Resolution options
10:22 LABS Gaming test results
10:47 The software needs a lot of work
12:02 The built-in kickstand and lighting effects
12:54 LABS Temperature test results
13:13 Playing Cyberpunk 2077 and speaker impressions
14:03 Trying out "FPS Mode" with built-in mouse
16:22 Pricing and overall thoughts
16:59 Outro

[cn]

What annoys me about these things are that all 3 have a little of something that I want, I just wish there was one that had everything.

[Alej]

Who would’ve thought in 2010-2020 that Lenovo of all companies would make a portable gaming device! 🤯 and they came out swinging hard!! Incredible story from a company that has focused on enterprise machines for most if not all of their existence!

[rubidium]

Valve’s decade-long learning experience of tailoring Linux software and controllers definitely shows when compared to their competitors.

[Mr.Funk]

I got mine about a week ago. As someone who travels for work, I love it. Takes some getting used to, but even legion space becomes simple once you use it.

[SirSpuddington]

I've had a Z1 Extreme ROG Ally since launch, and even though I've had to deal with a few serious technical headaches, I've come to enjoy having and using it more and more as time goes on. ASUS has also added some really sweet software features post-launch, such as a new 900p display mode, AMD's Hyper-X driver upscaling/processing technology, and just this week, full gyroscope control support and manually toggle-able CPU boost right from Armory Crate. The Legion GO looks like it has a lot of promise moving forward and it seems like a genuinely very cool piece of kit, but in its current state there's no reason for me to switch from the Ally even if I could afford it. It is very cool to see how much competition we're getting in the handheld PC space though, and so far it's led to some pretty great offerings. I'll definitely be watching the GO to see what kind of software support Lenovo gives it.

[KevanWalter]

I picked up the Ally and I absolutely love this space now. All these early devices have some notable flaws or omissions. Although in day to day use the only thing that ever gave me some pain was the custom software. Thankfully Asus has actually been hard at work fixing and upgrading that software every month or so since I picked it up. It's hasn't given me any noticeable annoyance in months.

Keep these little handhelds coming, give nintendo a reason to sweat a bit. Maybe they'll actually feel the need to do better.

[zacanderson]

Lenovo has been pretty open and direct with the community. Their software is a big pain point but they're already working on it. Unfortunately, these things are held together by and operate off of software black magic so it's pretty obvious when there are short-comings. I think it's a step in the right direction as far as the hardware goes though. Interesting times for sure.

[AlmostBrokeLbs]

1:56 looks like same power button that WAS used on framework case for motherboard before lenovo sued them :)

[ScottPigeon]

I like the clamshell form factor from GPD. It would be cool if one of the bigger brands tried.

[sijedevos]

I personally don't have many issues with the track pad but I always use the touchscreen for everything. Also integer scaling is awesome on this device. It's not officially supported but there's a easy regedit fix to enable it in the amd control panel and it works great. It looks really sharp compared to rsr, perfect for emulation

[rjsmith]

I really wish Valve would release an installable version for all these hand helds that worked instead of having to rely on this 3rd party software junk. These hardware vendors aren't software designers and it shows. Having a shared OS among all these would be game changing.

[TurtleSauceGaming]

I'm actually kinda liking the look and functionality of the Lenovo Leg Go. Personally, I think the steam decks' biggest strength (besides form factor and cost of course) is the input. Besides the cost of say an Aya neo, the custom inputs it has are awesome, even as somone who mostly doesn't use it. I also am one of the few who prefers steam deck's look to everything else competing with it. It's clean and smooth, compared to the Aya or other competitors which feel jagged. The Leg kinda meets in the middle, and has the detachable controllers, and I actually kinda dig it.

[systoxity]

Yeah, update all the devices and do an in depth comparison of the legion go, steamdeck OLED, and ROG ally.

[upkz]

Not mentioned in the kickstand review: you can also have the screen placed vertically with the controllers detatched for shmup play. The best of all the portables for shmups hands down

[brentoni]

I wonder if the fps mode would be more useful for navigating the desktop than the track pad they had so much trouble with.

[takeastepoutside]

I bought a LeGO a couple weeks ago. Hardware wise, it does alllot things right that the others do wrong. Where is goes wrong is OOB experience and the software learning curve. With Valve and Asus having months to years of user feedback, it is not surprising that Lenovo falls short on software, but also has an advantage on hardware. My two biggest gripes are all of the useless buttons that cant be mapped for gaming outside of remapping them in legion space to buttons that are already on the face...and the deadzones...I think the ALLY went through the deadzone woes, and LeGO users are right in the middle of it right now.

[zodoGames]

i see that power button design they couldn't let framework use

[nukers]

I love my Legion Go, use it at works when i'm waiting for loading or unloading

[LPcrazy_]

I am loving my Legion Go, and especially excited for the constant flow of communication from Lenovo. There is an active Discord and helpful Subreddit with people dding all sorts of stuff like upgrading the RAM to 64gb. It is such a breath of fresh air to see a manufacturer actually be involved with the community and being receptive. Can't wait to see how they improve this thing more especially with Legion Space given the mediocre state of it now.

[SquidwradThomas]

My friend got one and we immediately used it for VR! I ran blade and sorcery modded flawlessly! No matter what we threw at it, it was ran at amazing framez