It seems like the portable PC gaming handheld market is hotting up even more as yet another Steam Deck rival joins the fray, following the launch of the the Asus ROG Ally. The Lenovo Legion Go is the latest candidate and it sports the largest screen yet on any of these handhelds. Read on to find out everything we currently know about the Lenovo Legion Go release date, specs, and price, and check out our Lenovo Legion Go preview for our hands-on impressions of the new gaming handheld.
The Lenovo Legion Go is set to be the most capable handheld PC gaming device yet. It has an 8.8-inch screen, which compares to 7-inch screens for the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally. That screen also has a higher resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels and a 144Hz refresh rate than both its rivals. The Steam Deck has just a 1,280 x 800 resolution and 60Hz refresh rate while the ROG Ally is 1,920 x 1,080 at 120Hz.
The big challenge for the Legion Go will be whether its AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor – the same as in the ROG Ally – will really have enough power to deliver a quality experience at those screen specs. It’s challenging enough for desktop graphics cards to run smoothly at 2,560 x 1,600 at 144Hz, so for a mobile processor with integrated graphics it’s either going to be just running games at lower than that resolution (with the higher resolution only used for video and other functions) or relying on upscaling and perhaps even frame generation using technologies like AMD FSR 3.
Helping on the processing power front is an upgrade in RAM speed from the 16GB LPDDR5-6400 of the ROG Ally (16GB LPDDR5-5500 on the Steam Deck) to 16GB LPDDR5X-7500. With integrated GPUs being reliant on system memory for VRAM, any extra memory speed should make at least some difference to gaming performance.
A potential challenge will be the larger weight of this device compared to its rivals. While its dimensions are very similar, measuring 29.9 x 13.1 x 4.1cm compared to 28.0 x 11.3 x 3.9 cm (ROG Ally) and 29.8 x 11.7 x 4.9 cm (Steam Deck), its weight is 854g including its detachable controllers. The ROG Ally is just 608g while the Steam Deck is 669g – both significantly lighter.
Speaking of detachable controllers, they could be the Legion Go’s trump card. Attaching to either side of the screen, like on the Nintendo Switch, the controllers will allow you to control games while the screen sits further away. This also has the potential to make it easy to pack away for travel and gives the option to use the screen as a more compact tablet.
Tying into this idea of using the Legion Go from a distance, a set of Legion Glasses AR is also set to be available separately for $499/€499, along with Legion E510 7.1 RGB Gaming In-Ear headphones (€49).
Lenovo Legion Go specs
The Lenovo Legion Go specs list is:
| Lenovo Legion Go | Asus ROG Ally Extreme / ROG Ally | Steam Deck | |
| Architecture | AMD Zen 4 / RDNA 3 | AMD Zen 4 / RDNA 3 | AMD Zen 2 / RDNA 2 |
| CPU | AMD Z1 Extreme eight cores / 16 threads up to 5.1 GHz | AMD Z1 Extreme 8C/16T @ 5.1 GHz / AMD Z1 6C/12T 4.9GHz | AMD Van Gogh four cores / eight threads up to 3.5 GHz |
| GPU | AMD iGPU 12CU @ 2.7 GHz |
AMD iGPU 12CU @ 2.7 GHz 4CU @ 2.5 GHz |
RDNA2 8 CU @ 1.6 GHz |
| External GPU | TBC | ROG XG Mobile (up to GeForce RTX 4090) | N/A |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5X | 16GB LPDDR5 | 16GB LPDDR5-5500 |
| Storage | 1TB / 512GB / 256GB | 512GB / 256GB | 64GB eMMC (1x PCIe 2) 256GB/512GB NVMe (4x PCIe 3) |
| Display | 8.8-inch 2,560 x 1,600 144Hz | 7-inch 1,920 x 1,080 120Hz | 7-inch 1,280 x 800 60Hz |
| Connectivity | TBD | Wi-Fi AX, BT 5.2 | Wi-Fi AC, BT 5 |
| Battery | 49.2 Whr, 900 mAh (controllers) | 40 Whr, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion | 40 Whr |
| Weight | 854g | 608g | 669g |
| Dimensions | 29.9 x 13.1 x 4.1 cm | 28.0 x 11.3 x 3.9 cm | 29.8 x 11.7 x 4.9 cm |
| OS | Windows 11 | Windows 11 | Steam OS/Windows 11 |
| Price | $799 / €799 | $699 / €799 (Z1E+16G+512GB) $599 / €699 (Z1+16G+256GB) |
$399 (16G+64GB) $529 (16G+256GB) $649 (16G+512GB) |
Lenovo Legion Go release date
The Lenovo Legion Go release date is October 31, 2023.
Lenovo Legion Go price
The Lenovo Legion Go price is $699 / €799 / £699, making it $100 cheaper than the Asus ROG Ally in the US but the same price in Euros.
Are you excited about yet another portable PC handheld gaming device? Or does a conventional desktop PC provide all your gaming needs? Let us know your thoughts on the Custom PC Facebook page, via Twitter, or join our Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group and tap into the knowledge of our 400,000+ members.