The Lenovo Legion Go S: A Handheld PC Review

Handheld gaming PCs have surged in popularity, largely thanks to the Steam Deck. Lenovo's Legion Go S aims to compete, offering a design closer to the Steam Deck than its predecessor. Unlike the original Legion Go, the Go S boasts a unibody design, ditching removable controllers and extraneous buttons. A SteamOS version is slated for later this year, a first for a non-Valve handheld, but this review focuses on the Windows 11 model. However, at $729, the Legion Go S struggles to justify its price against the competition.

Lenovo Legion Go S – Image Gallery

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Lenovo Legion Go S – Design and Features

The Legion Go S resembles the Asus ROG Ally more than its predecessor. Its unibody design enhances usability. The rounded edges provide comfortable grip despite its 1.61-pound weight (slightly lighter than the original Legion Go, but heavier than the Asus ROG Ally X).

The 8-inch, 1200p IPS display boasts 500 nits of brightness, delivering stunning visuals in games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Horizon Forbidden West. It's arguably one of the best handheld PC displays, rivaled only by the Steam Deck's OLED.

Available in Glacier White and Nebula Nocturne (the latter exclusive to the SteamOS version), the Go S features RGB lighting around the joysticks. The button layout is more intuitive than the original, though the placement of Lenovo's menu buttons above the standard 'Start' and 'Select' buttons initially causes some confusion.

The integrated touchpad is smaller than the original, hindering navigation compared to its predecessor, which benefited from a mouse wheel. This will be less of an issue with the SteamOS version. Lenovo's custom menu buttons offer quick access to system settings and shortcuts.

Rear programmable paddle buttons are clickier and offer more resistance than the original. Adjustable triggers have only two settings: full and minimal travel. Two USB 4 ports are located on top, while a MicroSD card slot is oddly positioned on the bottom.

Purchasing Guide

The reviewed Legion Go S ($729.99) features a Z2 Go APU, 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD. A more affordable 16GB RAM/512GB SSD model will be available in May for $599.99.

Lenovo Legion Go S – Performance

The AMD Z2 Go APU, a Zen 3 processor with 4 cores/8 threads and an RDNA 2 GPU with 12 cores, underperforms compared to the Legion Go and ROG Ally X. Despite a larger 55Whr battery, battery life is shorter (4 hours 29 minutes in PCMark10) than the original Legion Go.

3DMark benchmarks reveal significant performance deficits compared to competitors. Gaming performance is mixed; while it slightly outperforms the original Legion Go in Hitman, it lags behind in titles like Total War: Warhammer 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Horizon Forbidden West proved particularly challenging, even at low settings. Less demanding games like Persona 5 run smoothly.

Value Proposition

The $729 price tag for the 32GB RAM/1TB SSD configuration is perplexing, exceeding the original Legion Go's price despite inferior performance. The excess RAM is largely unnecessary for the Z2 Go APU, especially considering the slower 6,400MHz memory speed. Manually allocating more memory to the frame buffer improves performance, but this requires BIOS manipulation.

The May release of the $599 16GB RAM model significantly improves the value proposition, making it a more competitive option.

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In conclusion, the Lenovo Legion Go S's high-resolution display and comfortable design are assets, but its performance and pricing need refinement. The cheaper 16GB RAM model offers better value.