Review of Lenovo Legion Go S: What’s Missing?

In the bustling world of handheld gaming PCs, things got stirred up with Valve’s introduction of the Steam Deck. Not too long after, noteworthy contenders like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo’s Legion Go entered the scene. Now, with AMD unveiling their fresh Z2 Go processor based on the Zen 3+ architecture, Lenovo has launched the upgraded Legion Go S. This version takes a step away from its predecessor’s design approach.

A noticeable shift can be seen in its design, where Lenovo has steered clear of mimicking the Nintendo Switch’s detachable controllers. Instead, the Legion Go S embraces a unified design, reminiscent of the ROG Ally and Valve Steam Deck, albeit with a smaller 8-inch screen instead of the prior 8.8 inches.

Interestingly, despite shedding the mechanisms for detachable controllers, the Legion Go S maintains its heft and bulkiness. This brings to light other downgrades from its predecessor, which should be deliberated upon if the Legion Go S is under consideration for your gaming arsenal.

Design and Comfort of the Lenovo Legion Go S

The Legion Go S and its earlier model, the Legion Go, bear the same core mission but diverge in design. The previous Legion Go used a blend of matte grey aluminum and plastic, whereas the Go S adopts an all-plastic body. Its chassis presents itself in molded white plastic set against black buttons and triggers. While this abundance of plastic gives it a less luxurious feel than its predecessor, the build remains robust and reliable.

Moreover, the Go S’s more rounded design ensures greater comfort, beating the more angular feel of the original Legion Go. Having marathon gaming sessions on both the new Go S and the previous model left my hands and fingers less sore with the newer edition.

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One immediate change is the absence of a kickstand. The original Legion Go featured a kickstand to prop the system up while using detached controllers, akin to the Nintendo Switch. However, with the controllers now being part of the main body, Lenovo might have felt a kickstand was unnecessary this time around.

Another step back with the Legion Go S is its display. The prior 8.8-inch 2560 x 1600 display has been scaled down to 8 inches and maxes out at a resolution of 1920 x 1200. Personally, the reduction in size and resolution doesn’t bother me much since gaming at the higher settings with the Z1 Extreme, and particularly the Z2 Go, challenged usability.

When examining size and weight, the Legion Go S measures 11.77 x 5.02 x 0.89 inches, weighing in at 1.61 pounds. In comparison, the original Legion Go stood at 11.76 x 5.16 x 1.60 inches, weighing 1.88 pounds. It’s a notable difference considering the Asus ROG Ally’s dimensions of 11.04 x 4.38 x 0.84 inches and weight of 1.34 pounds, while the Steam Deck originally measured 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches and 1.47 pounds.

In terms of controls, the Legion Go S mimics an Xbox controller layout. It hosts ABXY buttons on the right, with offset joysticks. A D-pad sits below the left stick, and a small touchpad is beneath the right. Above the display, four programmable buttons exist, with two adjusting quick settings and menus on the right and two for Legion Space and view controls on the left.

On the top, you’ll find the typical shoulder and trigger buttons, along with two extra programmable buttons (Y1 and Y2) on the back. Additionally, you can adjust trigger travel using the dials on the back. The rest of the device houses two USB 4 ports, a headphone jack, volume controls, a power button, and a microSD reader below.

Lenovo Legion Go S Specifications

The hardware sits at the heart of the Legion Go S, featuring the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor. The Z2, however, falls somewhat short in performance compared to the original Legion Go’s Z1 Extreme. Constructed on the Zen 3+ architecture, it houses four cores and eight threads, calibrating between a base of 3 GHz and a turbo boost of 4.3 GHz. Comparing it with the Zen 4-based Z1 Extreme, which features eight cores and can handle 16 threads, the Legion Go S integrates a 12-core Radeon 680M GPU, unlike the Z1’s more potent Radeon 780M.

The Legion Go S provides four performance profiles accessible via an options button: Performance, Efficiency, Custom 1, and Custom 2. Testing on the default Performance while unplugged, and Custom 1 with a 40-watt cap when plugged in, shows a decent performance. It’s roughly 10% faster than its predecessor when on battery, though 10 to 20% slower when plugged in using adverse power settings.

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During testing on ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ at Medium settings in DX12, the Legion Go S showed a 10% lead over its predecessor at resolutions of 800p and 1200p when unplugged. Yet, using the 40-watt TDP while connected, it lagged 25% behind. On par with the Steam Deck when unplugged, but still lagging when connected.

Switching to ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ at the Steam Deck preset, the Legion Go S maintained consistency in battery mode but lagged significantly once plugged in, hitting 35 fps at 800p against the 49 and 55 fps of competitors. A similar pattern played over with ‘Forza Horizon 5’, with the Legion Go S managing 56 fps at 800p, trailing well behind the others hitting 75 fps.

In ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ at the lowest settings, the Go S hovered above 30 fps whether connected or not, reaching 52 fps when plugged in at 800p, but it couldn’t quite hit the 67 fps seen on the Legion Go. Lastly, ‘Borderlands 3’ gaming on medium settings showed the Go S tightening its lag but still not catching up entirely as it clocked 50 fps at 800p and 33 at 1200p.

Windows 11 on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Coming pre-installed with Windows 11, the Legion Go S defaults at a display scaling of 200% on its native 1920 x 1200 resolution. The taskbar’s enlargement assists touchscreen utility, yet it’s so large, more than one open app pushes the extras into a separate menu.

Several issues arose using the device, like the on-screen keyboard often refusing to emerge when text input was needed. This occurred in apps such as Steam and the Epic Games Store. Occasionally, tapping a text box to type would see the on-screen keyboard pop up and immediately vanish in the Steam app.

Despite the navigational hurdles using the touchscreen and multi-touch, Lenovo offers an added touchpad below the right joystick for mouse control. While it can save the day, I found the touchscreen just more convenient. Using it in gaming was exasperating, though, as pressing down for a click would jostle the cursor, missing the target. Non-gaming applications didn’t face such frustrations.

Another quirk was the active force feedback set by default on the touchpad via the Legion Space app, causing the whole unit to buzz unpleasantly when maneuvered. Tackling this in the Space app let me choose a weaker vibration, and eventually, I opted to turn it off entirely.

A bummer of Lenovo’s trimming with the Go S is the absent kickstand, limiting its use as a typical Windows 11 PC with mouse and keyboard accessibility.

Legion Space on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Legion Space is an integrated app covering Legion Go S’ settings access, unified game launching, and controller customization features, navigable via the button next to the left joystick. Exploring these sections, the My tab links you with your Lenovo account, the Store tab connects you with Steam, GOG, and Gamesplanet for game purchases, and the Library tab shows system-installed games and apps ready for launch.

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Settings might emerge as your frequent destination within this app, displaying fan speeds, CPU/GPU statistics, VRAM pace, and usage rates across three significant dials. At the screen’s bottom, a Performance button helps alter Performance modes, tap into Thermal configurations, and switch fan profiles. In display settings, you can configure brightness, scale, resolution, and refresh rate, while other modes allow dotted adjustments in audio levels and drive status checks. In the Controllers section, tweaks for joysticks, RGB, trigger tuning, and button mapping can be carried out.

The Options button grants a Quick Settings overlay to fiddle with settings, allowing ease while gaming.

Display on the Legion Go S

Moving from the bigger 8.8-inch, the Go S sports a reduced 8-inch display with lower resolution, from 2560 x 1600 to 1920 x 1080. Positioning both versions adjacent while keeping the smaller display didn’t feel much of a setback. I primarily prefer gaming at 1280 x 800 for newer games, and sharper on-screen details were welcome with the Go S’s smaller display.

The device retains the IPS display, though it lacks the profound contrast seen in Steam Deck’s OLED screen, competently adjusting to a 120 Hz refresh rate, compared to the earlier 144 Hz.

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Gaming at 50% brightness proved enough for battery conservation, while games continued to flaunt their visual charm. Bright and vibrant tracks awaited driving aficionados like me in ‘Burnout Paradise Remastered’, ‘Forza Horizon 5’, and ‘Forza Motorsport’. The lively colors and real-life track details were awe-inspiring.

Enjoying some games like Burnout Paradise Remastered was a smooth endeavor at 60 fps at 800p, and even achieving the same 60 fps at 1200p didn’t falter.

However, with a step down in panel size and resolution, color performance was a bit of a compromise, noted through our color measurements. Covering 84.8% of DCI-P3 and 119.7% of sRGB, the Legion Go S didn’t quite match Legion Go or Steam Deck OLED but still outpaced the ROG Ally. Measuring 455.5 nits of brightness, it landed last within this grouping, though still sufficient for gaming sessions.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Battery life fluctuates drastically within handheld gaming PCs, influenced by resolution, refresh rates, and detail settings. Furthermore, performance and battery life are impacted by power profile tweaking.

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In our PCMark 10 Gaming bench, the Go S lasted an hour and 42 minutes, trailing 17 minutes behind the Legion Go. Gaming with ‘Burnout Paradise Remastered’ at 1280 x 800 resolution proved to deplete the battery to 40% in an hour. The device lasted roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes total, while the Power-saving profile extended that to over two hours.

Audio on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Sound quality on the Legion Go S is adequate for this device class. In automotive games, I sought the thrill of loud engine roars, screeching tires, and the metal-clanking crash sounds delivering satisfying experiences. The Legion Go S didn’t disappoint, especially with depth in engine sounds in Forza Horizon 5 and satisfying sound effects in Burnout Paradise.

Music listening isn’t this device’s forte, but it did justice with tracks like Guster’s “Center of Attention”, skillfully capturing drums and keys. Headphones became my go-to to delve deeper into gaming action, though.

Upgradeability of the Legion Go S

Tinkering around inside the Legion Go S isn’t too challenging but can be a bit daunting. Removing three screws on the bottom lets you pry off the top panel over the power and USB-C ports. Then, undo another central screw and free some screws securing the triggers, cautiously prying the back panel off after loosening it without damaging any clips. Inside, you’ll find the M.2 slot, welcoming 2242 or 2280 SSDs, providing storage options.

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The slot came pre-equipped with a 1TB Micron 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD — a commendable score for gamers needing expanded storage. Battery replacements seem doable in the future if necessary.

Heat on the Lenovo Legion Go S

The redesign means the Go S never got too hot in my hands during extended gameplay. Air gets drawn in through the back and expelled through the top, with fan noise audible in Performance mode but manageable. Turning up the volume during gameplay easily masked the fan rustle.

During Forza Horizon 5 adventures, Legion Space logged the Z2 Go CPU and Radeon 680M GPU operating at a cool 55 degrees Celsius or 131 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lenovo Legion Go S Configurations

The current Lenovo Go S iteration costs $729.99, featuring an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS 120Hz display, 32GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD, with presently no alternative configurations. However, a cheaper variant is expected, priced at $499, running SteamOS with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Lenovo provides a one-year manufacturer warranty for the Legion Go S.

Bottom Line

At its present form, recommending the Lenovo Legion Go S becomes challenging. On battery power, it competes with the original Legion Go’s speed but under higher power profiles, its performance wanes up to 20% behind the Legion Go.

Its design offers a lighter, more comfortable feel, yet the detachable controllers and kickstand omissions reduce its versatility. The smaller, slower, and dimmer display doesn’t help its case either.

Most critically, pricing draws the biggest red flag. The Go S, with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, goes for $729, just $20 shy of the original Legion Go with identical storage and memory, despite the performance tweaks. Were it priced closer to $600, the deal might strike sweeter. But until then, awaiting the $499 SteamOS version arriving in Spring might be a prudent pause.