Lenovo Legion Go Is Nonetheless Making an attempt Develop into the Nintendo Swap of Handheld PCs

Lenovo is taking extra design inspiration from Nintendo’s tremendous profitable Switch console for its $750 Legion Go. Greater than half a yr after its launch, Lenovo decided to drop a number of new equipment for the hand held that got here with a built-in kickstand, together with, surprisingly sufficient, a dock. Extra importantly, there’s a Pleasure-Con Grip-like system for turning your Lenovo handheld into a really moveable PC with a controller most players would acknowledge. 

First, now we have the $50 Legion Go Charging Connector, which will probably be acquainted to you for those who’ve ever held the Pleasure-Con Grip. It’s meant to cost every of the removable controllers on the Legion Go, but it surely turns them right into a controller that will probably be much more acquainted to anyone who has performed a single sport prior to now three a long time. There’s a USB-C port on the connector to maintain it charged up for longer.

Lenovo’s personal Home windows-based rendition of the Steam Deck already sports activities a kickstand and removable controllers, however now it formally has its personal particularly constructed dock. The Go has two USB-C ports, one on prime and one on the underside, but when you have already got a dock constructed for a Steam Deck, you know the way the cable is reverse the place you want it for the Legion Go. The dock has the additional advantage of an ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, and two USB sort A ports. 

There’s a $30 carrying case that’s bigger than the one you get with the Legion Go, which can be higher for schlepping round with all of your new equipment. Ignoring a number of the thumbstick caps, many of those equipment appear constructed to show your Legion Go right into a PC. Alongside the dock and connector, the PC maker is promoting that you should purchase a Lenovo-brand keyboard or monitor to go together with your $750 moveable console. If you happen to contemplate the price of gaming PCs, turning your handheld into the cell gaming system you’re taking from room to room isn’t the worst thought. 

It’s been greater than eight months since Lenovo unveiled its Legion Go, and it’s a greater system now than on launch after updates to its software program. Lenovo remains to be hoping to entice customers to its system, particularly because it’s been a couple of weeks since Asus’ $800 ROG Ally X discovered its means into our hearts and stole an enormous chunk of our wallets. Our benchmarks discovered that the Ally X has higher efficiency and much better battery life than the Legion Go, although Lenovo’s handheld has a much bigger show.

Lenovo isn’t doing a mid-cycle refresh of its handheld, so as an alternative, it’s opting to point out how its system might be that Swap-like PC you’ve been in search of. Identical to my Swap, I’d hold it on dock 90% of the time and solely sometimes take it out once I know I’ll be touring to a pal’s home to plug instantly into their TV.

The Lenovo Legion Go wasn’t my favourite handheld when Asus launched it late final yr; it wasn’t my favourite system for enjoying my PC video games on the go from Steam, Epic, or in any other case. A part of that was because of the cumbersome measurement and the general really feel of every grip. The distinctive factor concerning the Legion Go was how you can disconnect every handheld from the principle physique. You possibly can then connect an additional base to one of many controllers to behave as a pseudo-gamer mouse. This didn’t work in addition to hoped, and in contrast to the Swap, you possibly can’t cross off one controller to your pal to play somebody of the various Mario Kart clones you seemingly have within the drunk drawer of your Steam library. 

Maybe a Lenovo Legion 2 with some controller cap and Bluetooth constructed into every individually would allow us to get pleasure from one of the best of Home windows’ versatility and Nintendo’s landmark console design. Nonetheless, Home windows nonetheless must make a model of Windows 11 built for handheld. It might additionally should compete with the Nintendo Switch 2.

The dock needs to be accessible this month, however we’ll want to attend till October for the Charging Connector to grow to be accessible.