The Lenovo Legion Go is a gaming handheld that has powerful hardware. This device could give the Nintendo Switch and Valve Steam Deck a run for their money. Oh, wait, we have to include the ASUS ROG Ally (2023) in the list as well because it's based on the same hardware platform as the Legion machine. The CPU options here are the AMD Ryzen Z1 and the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. We bought a device with the latter to see how good the cooling is when it has to tame an 8-core CPU alongside the snappy AMD Radeon 780M iGPU. Legion Go has more tricks up in its sleeve to top the competition. The most noticeable one is the hefty 8.8" 1600p IPS display. As you can imagine, this panel is notably bigger compared to the 7" 1080p screen of the ROG Ally (2023). On the other hand, the resolution of the Lenovo creation is too high to play graphically demanding games on decent picture quality. Still, the high ppi values are great for content consumption like watching movies, videos, or just browsing the Web. The OS here is Windows 11 which definitely gives you more freedom when it comes to buying games from different stores like Steam, GoG, Uplay, etc. This also means that you can use the Legion Go as a standard Windows device. Since you get two USB4 ports, you can attach a wireless mouse and keyboard while charging the device via the other connector. This is a huge advantage compared to the ASUS console, where you have to buy an expensive ASUS XG Mobile external station to connect more peripherals when the AC adapter is plugged in for full power during gaming. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-legion-go/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this console can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/legion-series/legion-go-8apu1/downloads/driver-list What's in the box? The device is placed in a sturdy box case that offers good protection. The optional Legion Glasses are fitted in s small box. Inside, you'll find the fancy glasses alongside adjustable nose pads, a prescription Lens Frame, an anti-slip adapter, and a cleaning cloth. Design and construction Well, the Lenovo Legion Go looks a bit similar to the Nintendo Switch. Of course, the device in front of us is much bigger in size. The body is made of glass fiber-reinforced polycarbonate while the controllers are plastic. The weight is 854 grams with the controllers attached and if you detach them, the result is 640 grams for the main body (that is also called "gamepad"). This means the full-blown package is more than 200 grams heavier than the ASUS ROG Ally (2023). The profile thickness with the side controllers is 40.7 mm and 20.1 mm without them. The machine is surprisingly grippy which is good news if you plan to use it for long hours of gaming. The weight distribution is spot on but the hefty mass becomes a problem after an hour or two of usage. If money isn't a problem, the Legion Glasses are a great compliment to the console. In short, when you connect them to a fully functional USB Type-C port (at least USB 3.2 Gen 1 + DisplayPort 1.2) they'll act as a virtual display. The two Micro-OLED screens on both sides deliver a big-screen experience in front of your eyes. The picture quality is good (1080p@60Hz) so you can use the glasses for watching movies or playing games. It's a bit challenging to find the right position of this wearable product without seeing blurry edges. Thing is, these glasses have to be as close as possible to your eyes to see a crystal-clear picture. You have to choose the right size nose pad, then adjust it, and maybe you can also use the anti-slip adapters for better wearing stability. They are a bit heavy (96 grams) but that's fine since you can lay on your couch in a comfortable position to enjoy some content for a long time without feeling neck strain (of course, you have to find the right wearing position for yourself). The built-in speakers are a nice extra. You can tune the brightness and the volume of the speakers via the Lenovo software. Low Blue Light Mode is also available. All these functions can be controlled with the aid of the built-in buttons on the inside of the earpieces. When the controllers are detached, the Legion device looks like a typical tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition. Thanks to it, you can place the console on your desk, connect the charger, and maybe you can attach an external controller or wireless mouse + keyboard combo for a desktop-like experience during gaming. As you can see, the two controllers lead to a thicker profile. The detachable units are full of different switches and buttons. Aside from the typical LT / RT controls + joysticks on both sides, on the left, you get a D-pad and shortcuts for "Menu" and "View" functions. On the right, there is a small mouse pad (that is super useful for navigating through the Windows menus) and a "Legion R" button that summons on-screen menus for performance, display, and general device control. On the backside of the right controller is placed a scroll wheel and the bottom is home to an FPS mode switch. When this function is active, you can place the unit on a controller base for a mouse-like experience thanks to the optical sensor on the lower side. This sounds great on paper but in real life, the situation is different. Using this method for FPS games feels weird and unnatural. On the bright side, this mode is suitable for Web browsing. On the bottom plate, we can spot a kickstand and two small ventilation grills that reveal part of the cooling system. The hot air is being exhausted through a vent on the upper side of the gadget. Ports On the top, you can see the power button, an Audio combo jack, a microSD card slot, and a multi-purpose USB4 connector. On the bottom, there is an FPS mode switch, a mouse sensor, and another multi-purpose USB4 port. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Lenovo Legion Go is equipped with an IPS Quad HD+ Touch panel. It comes with a 144Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 8.8" (22.3 cm), and the resolution - 2560 x 1600p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 343 ppi, and their pitch – 0.07 x 0.07 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 25 cm which is excellent for such a device (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 473 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 452 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 9%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 8800K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 38% Brightness (White level = 142 cd/m2, Black level = 0.12 cd/m2). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1140:1. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo Legion Go's color gamut coverage. Its display covers 97% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 89% of DCI-P3. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. Below you can compare the scores of the Lenovo Legion Go with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right). The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. The first five levels of Grey (1%-5% White) are demonstrated by the five squares in the bottom part of the chart. Whether you can see it or not, depends on the display on which you’re reading this article right now, its calibration, your vision, the ambient light, and the viewing angle. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13.5 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. Lenovo Legion Go display doesn’t flicker at any brightness level. This makes the screen pretty comfortable for long periods of use. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Sound Lenovo Legion Go's speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo Legion Go configuration with 8.8" (2560х1600) IPS panel. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the "Performance" profile activated in the Legion Space app. The "OS Power Mode" is set to "Performance". Also, the "UMA Frame Buffer Size" is set to 4GB in the BIOS. The default value is 3GB but we wanted the dedicated RAM size to be the same as the one of the ASUS Rog Ally (2023) in order to compare the two devices correctly. CPU options You can find this console with AMD Ryzen Z1 or AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. GPU options Depending on the processor model, you get AMD Radeon 740M or AMD Radeon 780M. Gaming tests Far Cry 6 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 58 fps 44 fps 38 fps Gears 5 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 80 fps 53 fps 43 fps 34 fps CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 218 fps - - DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 143 fps 108 fps 82 fps The gaming performance of the Legion Go is slightly better (with a few exceptions) compared to the ROG Ally (2023) results. Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp. AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Lenovo Legion Go 3.32 GHz @ 66°C @ 35W 3.11 GHz @ 76°C @ 32W 2.25 GHz @ 67°C @ 22W ASUS ROG Ally (2023) 4.08 GHz @ 64°C @ 48W 3.66 GHz @ 94°C @ 41W 3.19 GHz @ 80°C @ 30W The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme inside the Lenovo Legion Go can sustain lower clocks compared to the ASUS ROG Ally (2023). On the other hand, the CPU temperatures of the Lenovo device in medium and long loads are notably lower. Comfort during full load You can hear the single fan during gaming and the noise is average. You can also set a desired custom fan curve. During heavy loads, the device's surface doesn't become scorching hot which is good. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device's 49.2Wh battery lasts for 5 hours and 16 minutes of Web browsing or 4 hours and 46 minutes of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the "Power-saving" preset in the Legion Space app. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance If you want to open this console, you have to undo six Phillips-head screws. Then, you can use a plastic tool to pry the bottom, and then you can work your way around the sides and the front. Here's how the bottom plate looks on the inside. As you can see, around the plastic shroud, there are a lot of wires and we have to disconnect most of them. As always, the first thing to do is to detach the battery connector. Three antenna connectors are placed around the SSD and one of them is hidden below the drive. Remove the NVMe to safely disconnect the three wires. The next step is to unplug three connectors, one beneath the battery and two on the left of the cooling. Now, we have to unscrew 5 Philips-head screws. One for each plastic bumper in the top two corners and three above the battery. You can use a plastic lever to pop the bumpers and the shroud. With that out of the way, you can undo the two Philips-head screws on the left of the fan. Detach the fan connector and you can lift it away from the chassis. Last but not least, let's undo the pair of screws on the right which are holding the large metal plate in place. You also have to remove the central screw, but we already did that. To remove the cooling system, carefully raise it while holding the heat sink on the left. Now we have a clear view of the PCB, the SoC, and the memory chips. Of course, they are soldered. The battery is held in place by two pull tabs but we aren't going to pull them out. The 49.2Wh capacity is enough for 5 hours and 16 minutes of Web browsing or 4 hours and 46 minutes of video playback. You get 16GB of LPDDR5x-7500MHz RAM. For storage, you can rely on a single M.2 slot for 2242 Gen 4 SSDs. The cooling has a single fan, one heat sink, a heat pipe, and a large heat spreader. That's the back side of the thermal system. Storage performance Our machine is equipped with a 512GB SKHynix_HFS512GEJ4X112N. This is a snappy Gen 4 NVMe. It reaches 78°C during benchmarking but the thermals under normal usage are much lower. Legion Space app The Legion Space software can be paired with different game launchers such as Steam, Xbox, Epic Games, etc. The app is also full of useful performance extras and that can be handy for the enthusiasts who like to tweak their devices. That's the main menu. You can use the launcher for standard things like changing the resolution, controlling the RGB light around the joysticks, updating the drivers, and tune the controller settings. You can also change the refresh rate of the screen, activate Radeon Super Resolution (RSR), and set the fan to their max possible speed of 7500 RPM or use a custom curve for lower noise. You also get "Performance" and "Power-saving" presets plus you can bump the TDP to 30W and select different OS Power modes. The on-screen controls are great for faster tuning on the fly. Verdict The Lenovo Legion Go is a snappy gaming console that is full of features. The hardware is powerful for that kind of form factor. The optional 8-core AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme and its iGPU are potent enough for light gaming. You can play titles such as CS:GO, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, etc with bumped visuals and good FPS. On the other hand, the high-res display is a challenge for the SoC if you want to have fun with more demanding games such as Far Cry 6 where you have to drop the resolution to 1080p and lower the details to achieve acceptable FPS. The overall gaming performance of this Lenovo handheld is almost the same or a bit higher (with a few exceptions here and there) compared to the ASUS ROG Ally (2023) no matter the fact that the latter can maintain higher CPU clocks. This reminds us that the cooling of the Legion Go may look modest but the processor temperature under full load is pleasantly low. The display is the main advantage of this device. This big 8.8" IPS 1600p unit boasts a 144Hz refresh rate. The panel is also PWM-free and it covers 97% of the sRGB gamut. The max brightness is 473 cd/m2 and the color accuracy can reach an average dE value of 1.9 thanks to our "Design and Gaming" profile. That's a pretty good improvement compared to the default 5.2 score. The hefty screen leads to a sizable body. When the controllers are attached, the machine weighs 854 grams and the profile is 40.7 mm which may not sound like a lot at first glance. When you pick up the console it doesn't feel that heavy thanks to the good weight distribution. After an hour of gaming, the hand strain becomes notable (or at least in our case). The Legion Go impresses with its two USB4 ports and an adjustable kickstand. That's great because when the AC adapter is plugged in for full power during gaming, you can connect an external mouse, keyboard, or maybe an XBOX controller. Of course, perhaps you have to buy a USB splitter that offers more ports but in most cases, these products aren't costly. This is the area where the Legion device has the upper hand compared to the ROG Ally (2023) where you have to buy an expensive ASUS XG Mobile external station to connect more USB peripherals when the single Type-C port is used for charging. Don't forget to have a look at the Legion Space app where you have different power profiles at your disposal as well as custom TDP mode and you can also set a custom fan curve. The disassembly of the gadget is a bit more complicated than we expected. You have to disconnect a lot of connectors and pry plastic shrouds before you can remove the cooling to change the thermal paste. Inside, we found a snappy Gen 4 NVMe (that becomes hot during benchmarking) that is faster compared to the QLC NVMe of the ASUS ROG Ally. The Lenovo Legion Go also offers useful features such as a small touchpad, detachable controllers, and an FPS mode that is actually good for Web browsing. The battery life is okay given the large 1600p panel. At the end of the day, the Legion Go is a console with a high-res color-accurate display, snappy hardware, and a good I/O for the class. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-legion-go/