Right now, Lenovo’s Legion Go S is my favorite gaming handheld. I’m more of a PC person than a console one, and this handheld gaming PC has just enough over the Steam Deck to make it worth it to me, from a more powerful chip to a bigger and higher resolution screen. But even with all that, it was only ever intended as a stopgap between the full-fledged Legion Go and Legion Go 2. Now, Lenovo’s officially announced the Legion Go 2, and while it brings back some features that the Legion Go S cut, it also loses out on some of what made the Legion Go S so special, which puts it in an odd middle ground.
A new look and feel
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
Starting off with the positives: the Legion Go 2 is now a heck of a lot nicer to hold and look at. The first Legion Go set itself apart with detachable wireless controllers on a rail system, similar to the original Nintendo Switch. Lenovo got rid of these on the S, but since those controllers were a little squarish and sharp on the original Go, I didn’t mind their absence. The Legion Go 2 brings the detachable controllers back, but updates them with a rounder, more ergonomic design, seemingly inspired by the S. Apart from looking a little less boxy, these felt way nicer in the hand when I tried them out. They even use the same rail system as the original Go, so any accessories you’ve bought or printed for that device’s controllers will work here. And yes, that means there’s still an optical sensor on the bottom of the right-hand controller, so you can still use it like a mouse (just like a Switch 2 joy-con). These are small touches, but they go a long way towards making the device click as “new” in my brain.
Upgraded chips
The big upgrade here is the new chips, which have been punched up to AMD’s Z2 family and go up to the Z2 Extreme. That’s a generational leap over the processor in most premium gaming handhelds these days, including the Legion Go S and the Asus ROG Ally. Given that the Z1 Extreme in the S was already giving me a good 8 to 10 extra frames over the Steam Deck even while running at higher resolutions, you can expect even more performance from this model, although Lenovo didn’t give me any estimates or hands-on gameplay demos. The memory can also be pushed to up to 32GB now (double the previous max of 16GB), which will help ensure smoother play, and the storage now goes up to 2TB, which doubles the first Legion Go’s capacity.
An OLED screen
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
There are a few other extras as well, like an updated battery with 74WhR of capacity rather than the 49WhR on the first model, as well as a fingerprint reader. Most noteworthy is that while the screen is the same size as before, at 8.8 inches, it trades some resolution for OLED. While the prior IPS model was 1600P, this version is now 1200P, although that’s a compromise I’m willing to make for OLED-level contrast, especially since higher resolutions tend to have diminishing returns on handheld screens. Aside from that, it’s still 144Hz, touch compatible, and maxes out at 500 nits of brightness.
Otherwise, it’s largely the same unit, albeit a little thicker, which Lenovo says is for extra thermal headroom, and a little weightier, at around 2.03 pounds rather than 1.88 (I didn’t notice that during my short hands-on, although that could change over an extended play session). On top of those mouse controls, you still get a touchpad on the right controller, a sturdy kickstand across the length of the device, all the same buttons, and everything else you might have come to expect from the original Legion Go.
What do you think so far?
The downsides
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
I’ll admit that after the S, I’m a little torn. The first Legion Go always seemed a little over-engineered to me, with the controllers in particular being far less intuitive than Nintendo’s joy-cons. If you always struggled to remove or connect the Legion Go controllers before, or were disappointed that you couldn’t use them for two-player, this won’t change your mind, even if these controllers are easier to hold than the original model’s. The S was so seamless to use that, despite being more powerful, the Go 2 comes across as a little user-unfriendly. While keeping compatibility with previous accessories is a nice touch, after using the Switch 2, I can’t help but think magnets might have been the way to go here. Or even just controllers that are attached to the system, to be honest.
That user unfriendliness is also true of the operating system. Unlike the Legion Go S, The Legion Go 2 is only launching with Windows, and Lenovo refused to tell me whether SteamOS was planned to be added as an option further down the line. That’s a huge disappointment after the Legion Go S became the first non Steam Deck handheld to officially ship with Valve’s operating system as an option. While it sounds like a minor gripe, Windows has proven across multiple devices to be a pain to navigate with a controller, while SteamOS is built from the ground-up for controllers. It can also drag down performance, as it’s more resource hungry, and licensing Windows can inflate a device’s price. Microsoft says it’s working on addressing these issues, but we won’t see how that works out until the Xbox handheld hits the market. In the meantime, I would have loved to have more options.
Worth the price?
In other words, I don’t see this replacing the Legion Go S for me, and another big part of that is the price. The Legion Go S starts $200 more than the Steam Deck, and improves on that device just enough that I think it’s worth it. Meanwhile, the Legion Go 2 starts at $1,049, which is several hundred dollars more than the Legion Go S, the first model, or even competitors like the ROG Ally X. It’ll be available next month, and while I’d love for it to be a straight upgrade on the Legion Go S or even some kind of adult Nintendo Switch 2, I expect it’ll end up competing more with gaming laptops than anything else. That’s great for the rich kids who already go for devices like that, but after the Legion Go S, I can’t help but feel like Lenovo’s missing an opportunity to take the follow-up in a more attractive, less niche direction. I suppose I’ll wait for a Go S 2 in the meantime.
