Legion GO S Hands-On: In-Depth First Look, Gameplay, Benchmarks
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- The Lenovo Legion GO S is Here and in this video we take an In depth first look at this new handheld gaming PC. We do an unboxing, go over the specs, check out the Controls and Ergonomics, Run some benchmarks and test some games. How do the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go compare to the Ryzen Z1 Extreme? Is the Legion GO S worth buying? lets find out
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THIS VIDEO IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!
00:00 Introduction
00:17 Unboxing the Legion GO S
00:52 Overview
01:36 Look and feel
03:15 Legion Go S Specs
04:36 Go S VS Legion Go Steam Deck and Ally X
05:25 Gaming on the Legion Go S
06:38 D-Pad Testing legion Go S
07:35 Legion Go S Software
14:35 Touchpad on the legion GO
15:22 Legion GO S Benchmarks VS Legion GO
16:00 Ryzen Z2 GO Vs Z1 Extreame
17:21 Fortnite Legion GO S
17:44 Spiderman 2 Legion GO S
18:02 First Impressions
DISCLAIMER: Do not buy this! $730 for an igpu from 2021 in 2025 is robbery
I would not buy it b/c I have something more powerful already, but you shouldn’t underestimate the value of 32 gigs of RAM on devices that are integrated, have no dedicated graphics support, & the memory is always shared. This is the cheapest device you can buy brand new with 32 gigs of RAM. However, if you can stomach doing it, on the open market you can obtain used devices with 32 gigs of RAM & better chipsets for comparable pricing.
@@edwardlashley3572 for a little bit more, and "open box from Best buy" ROG ally X would be cheaper no?
@@edwardlashley3572it’s also a 4 core cpu, ram isn’t going to save you, I think his benchmarks prove this. My 6800u handheld that is old af is 8/16 with the same 680m. It doesn’t matter how much vram you throw at a 680m it’s not going to touch a 780m let alone the current gen 890m. While 32gb is nice I’ve never had an issue running out of memory on my 16gb ally as on these tiny screens most games never use over 4,5or6gb of vram
A Z1E version is coming later this year, thankfully.
if you have not gamed with a portable that has 32 gigs of RAM then you obviously don’t understand how ridiculously boosted the performance is due to that RAM. It’s night & day. You won’t ever contemplate purchasing 16 gigs of RAM ever again. It’s jaw dropping. But yeah b/c the chip isn’t the best it’s not a tremendous investment in the future here. No doubt. In general any portable pc with that additional RAM is going to completely annihilate the device a doesn’t have it. Put it straight in the dirt. It’s clearly the degree in which shared memory is impacting peak performance. You can run mid level performance with 16 gigs most of the time w/o much issue. But what you go do at the upper levels of performance with that RAM will blow your mind.
Honestly this should be $399 with the chipset it has.
And that would knock it out of the park, value wise. But noooo, lets charge close to a flagship level price for our bottom tier.
@@CrumpetsNBiscuitspeople need to understand pricing structure... That price has been set, likely because it's needed to properly be worth it. Just because you can easily cover production costs per unit it doesn't mean they can cover everything else. Given the low amount of units it'll sell, both at 400 and at 730 the amount of units it'll have to sell to justify an aggressive price is staggering. Perhaps they'll need to 10x their sales just to cut their price by 40%. Price is basically the most important leverage in business.
Exactly, I would buy a used ROG ally X with this price
@@mohdx77 fair enough, that's why competition exists.
This ☝️
It's $730 on best buy... at that price you should get the Original Legion Go instead
The original legion GO is $549 for best buy membership
Fair point but Legion Go would still be bulky to just to play Hollow Knight on
@@worldbear927 i would still pay $549 current chip
@@worldbear927 being bulky will be the least of my worries
More money for a much worse chip is insane
Z2 GO : paying more for less
I'm waiting for the Z2 extreme
same! Wonder when that will be
Unfortunately, these are getting a z1 extreme version later this year, that's it. They are only putting the Z2E in the full-blown Leigon go 2 that has no release date yet. 😢
@@fuzzymuppet1990 it releases in the 2nd half of 2025.
MSI claw 8 AI+ ❤
Damn the performance is terrible. Why would I get this when the original legion go is cheaper
Wait 6 months and this will be less than $399 on sale
@soreyJr by then the original legion might be even lower
Probably wanting a few guppies that don't know any better
@@soreyJrIt's not even worth that. The original Ally is a better buy than this.
THANK YOU. Seeing people defend this shit in the comments is insane. They keep bringing up irrelevant shit like Steam Deck pricing and ignoring the fact that Lenovo themselves make a better handheld at a lower price already 😂
Lenovo really shot themselves in the foot with this price. If it was something like the steam deck oled pricing, they would be dominating. If this is in the 700s range imagine how much the Legion 2 is gonna be
@@majorastorm Around 1-1.2 k says the rumours and like 1 kg weight.... Big no for me, going for the Claw AI 8 instead
@@hazzehummuz6688Lunar Lake is better than AMD’s stagnating chips anyway. There have been so few gains since 780M
The Rog Ally (non x, or extreme) have better specs than this, and is like $300 on sale.
Still feels like it's the appetiser to the main course, Legion Go 2...
I think the z2 is going to be very expensive.
@@Rando31ableespecially if the GO S is 730, will definitely wait on ASUS to announce their next device cause this is ridiculous.
Legion Space needs a huge overhaul
needs a remake
@@thetg2117when is the release
Egpu support too. With an amd egpu i can't use the stock amd drivers from lenovo. I always need the 780m drivers which are not 100% compatible
lenovoi should partner up with the devs of Handheld Companion, their hotkeys and autoTDP configs are just superior but due to its state, the app isnt as integrated to windows the way the LS seem to stick to the OS.
😮
Imo the prices for what you get here is totally out of wack with what else is out there
Highly recommend buying the steam os version, it's the same specs but only costs $499
Less ram but be real, 16 GB ram on a 500$ handheld isn’t that bad.
With the ROG ALLY Z1 extreme selling for 499, this should be 399…
The rog ally is a flawed device. Smaller screen. Less ram. Smaller battery. Broken SD card.
@@aukett16 sd card issue is fixed and the ram advantage here doesn’t matter when the ally still outperforms it in every game
@@aukett16You can get the X which fixes most of those issues as the same price as this. Or worse yet, the original Legion Go with more features and better performance at a lower price. do you honestly recommend anyone buy this when Lenovo themselves sell a better device at a lower price?
@@igniatesch9664 How is the SD card fixed? Its only fixed in the Ally X and cost much more. Its unfortunate as the SD card issue is the main reason im not getting on. Id definitely consier an Ally X for around $400. Or the original Legion Go for $400
@@igniatesch9664sd problem is never fix
You know sometimes I really wonder if every day he goes in to get mail if it's like Christmas everyday lol. I would always be so excited to see what's coming everyday if I was him.
Maybe, it feels like he'd probably never have time to actually play anything. Just install the same storefronts and games, run benchmarks, and then edit videos
@@cooppp …I feel like that’s a lot of
People I kinda like setting things up
@@cooppp good point
I hate to criticize you. Because I love your videos. But where is the speaker section?That was by far one of the worst things of the original
This one got front firing speakers so it obviously better and also you can't compare it to original legion speakers because it kinda a different device you need to wait for legion go 2 which also going to have up firing speakers like og lego
Thanks for the benchmark information. Very informative.
You didn't really talk about the speakers but it kinda sounds like they were booming 'eh? Are they just the two in front or also some on top?
yo eta love the videos brother much love
I love ❤️ my Lenovo Legion Go still ZERO issues with it, launches and runs high end PC games NO problem even on 16 to 14 TDP performance settings low. Got a new nice monitor for it too but we all know the battery still sucks. Had to pick up few 100watt battery banks ANKER battery banks work really well. I'm waiting on Lenovo Legion Go 2
Please share your riva tuner settings, that FPS counter is amazing!! I love your videos
Not worth buying. That CPU is going to struggle on many games.
GO 2 with Z2 extreme is the way to upgrade
Yeah, I think I might hold onto my OG go and upgrade with Go2. I’m a little disappointed with the S even though I like the ergonomics and design of it the best
i still dont understand why these companies keeps placing the audio jack on top of the console.. instead on the bottom..
It's better at the top, you can't rest it down if you had it at the bottom lol
@@GrimAbstract Thank you for saving me the effort of explaining why the headphone jack is on the top.
It's time to hold back and see what comes out, We know there's going to be lots of better releases in the coming months. Lots of choices, PC gaming handhelds are booming but I feel it's best to sit on my money for the time being, I feel like there's better things just around the corner.
Little correction:
9:03 Disk and *drivers :)
Disk is the 1 TB drive, yet it also has the drivers entry for firmware updates etc.
Looking forward for the Steam OS variant of the Go S in comparison to the Steam Deck.
Are they ever gonna put decent audio DACs in these things, always the cheap Realtek codecs, would be nice to have a Creative Audigy chipset and decent DAC+HP-AMP, the audio is abysmal on these handhelds so far.
For real man I just use a USB c dongle 😂
Waiting on the go 2 😊
Thanks for the review. What about battery test?
Why do people keep acting as if you’re stuck with the Z2 Go if you buy this? Lenovo has confirmed multiple times that there will be a Z1E version if you don’t want to compromise on performance.
Please people, do your research before you form your opinions.
For even more? You're better off buying something else. Like the original Legion Go for less or the original Rog Ally.
@ The Ally has a much smaller screen than this, a much smaller battery (40-whr compared to the Go S’s 55-whr), and you’re basically limited to 2 TBs of storage due to the defective SD card slot and 2242 size SSD limitation.
As for the Go, a lot of people find it really uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time due to the weight and sharp controller edges, it has some of the worst speakers of any handheld out there, and it doesn’t have OLED or VRR (the Go S has the latter).
With a Z1E, it would probably enter Ally X territory with the only positive factor being the bigger screen, which I don't know if it's really positive because it's just going to make the upscaling more noticeable.
@@marcelosoares7148 You also get more RAM than the Ally X depending on what model you buy.
Because you are? It's not like you can just upgrade the chip if you buy this version. I'll hate to how expensive the z1 extreme version is if this is $740
it's probably going to seem like the Go S is as powerful as the Go 1 because of the VRR screen. But still a waste of a vrr screen.
Very good video 👍🏽
You can put Bazzite on it now to test SteamOS performance. The Bazzite team has already announced full support for the Legion Go S in the latest Bazzite images. IIRC the official SteamOS image doesn't support TDP adjustments on the Go S yet.
I will buying it over Deck Oled 👍
im curious does turning off the rgb if possible improve battery life?
I'll wait for SteamOS version with Z1E chip.
Why would people buy this? Future is about more power and performance , not less!!! Why would you down grade??
@@jaynosowsky9708 to take people than don't have 800 grand to spend but still wants to play even with some compromises don't forget That the most bought pc handleheld is the steam deck that is weaker than the legion go s
Big screen
Seems like a starter or entry level handheld to match the steam deck, not be an upgrade for it.
Simple because the more you add the more valuable it becomes and the more likely you are going to be mad if it gets lost, stolen, or if it breaks. People need to think less about specs and more about use cases. Regardless of where you are or live you would be fine losing a device like this especially the $500 Steam os version which is lighter to walk around with versus a $800+ LeGo 2 which is heavier.
Yes the one with steam os .. I agree with that one...but a more expensive less powerful windows handheld??? Big screen??? The reason they make window handheld is for portability.. .or you might as just walk around with a laptop. And one more reason....light weight!!!! You shouldn't have to go to the gym to play your handheld.
can't wait to buy it!!!
Damn, I bought a Steam Deck Oled not too long ago, even though I knew this was coming.
It seems I can say I made the right choice, the steam deck has been phenomenal
Call me when the steam os model arrives
Can u do a comparison between the steam deck oled and legion go s ❤
really just waiting for Go 2
Isn't it set to have a z1 extreme variant?
I feel people are taking handhelds for granted, we’re buying tech that can outperform even the best multi-thousand dollar phones in graphics performance for under 1k
All while having insane specs compared to them, 1TB of SSD Storage and 32GB of RAM is insane to think about in any other device for this price
Lol, my S24 ultra runs circles around this thing and pushed twice the resolution and double the framerate. Let alone the S25 Ultra which just came out. ARM is dominating x86 and its not even close.
Snapdragon is impressive but I’ve only ever seen its performance used for Samsung DEX, I haven’t seen its actual GPU performance for PC gaming.
And this still doesn’t address the fact that the ultra series is way overpriced.
This also isn’t about x86 vs ARM, that is CPU performance which doesn’t matter much when the GPU built in is being used.
Using a Z1 Extreme on my device, I’ve managed to get Minecraft using ultra RTX.
It was only in 30fps but that is still impressive compared to any phone GPU
If anyone is curious about the RTX pack I used on Minecraft with my Z1 handheld, it’s “VANILLA RTX” you can find examples here on UA-cam.
What's the point in 32 gb of ram if it still underperforms compared to other cpus. This is a budget handheld being sold at a premium cost
@@benhawk4214 yeah, 32 was overkill, a handheld device is powerful but 16GB seems to be more than enough for one
please use losless scalling on the next video to see how it compare to native, please try FG and various upscaling methods
Hello I was wondering if to get the normal legion go z1 chip or get legion go S with Z2 is there any difference?
Wonder it things would get better by the time the steam version gets out? List of games I would like to see tested please, God of War Ragnarok, Final Fantasy Rebirth, Kingdom Hearts 3, Batman Arkham Knight, Megaton Musashi, Devil May Cry 5, Dragonball Sparking Zero, Mortal Kombat 11, Gundam Breaker 4, Space Marine 2.
Can you play with an external keyboard and mouse?
Damn 40w plugged in ?kinda crazy , wondering how much juice the proper go will get
@Bestyja fr o also hope the fan system get a ton better my legion go over heats at 30 Watts like just turning off over heating I even have a dock with fans with yes may not help a lot but it's still a serious issue I truly hope if it dose get a higher wattage that the fan can keep up
Day 14,710 asking for a pay phone booth review.
Comparison with the steam deck oled would be great as it helps speculate the value of the steam os version of the legion go s
Oh! btw who ended up winning the Jetson Nano? I forgot to check.
Nice device but recycled rembrandt SOC is pretty questionable.
I paused this video pretty quickly. Because, I think I am very confused now.
I thought the go "S" was to be the steam OS variant of the new legion handhelds.
I may need new glasses but I'm certain that's windows on that thing???
Maybe I should watch the whole video but I didn't have enough time when I first opened the video as I'm on a short break at work.
Wait hold on a minute... Why didn't they just use the pointer nub that the ThinkPads have for using the mouse?
Love this design. I wish they gave it a better processor OR priced it accordingly to the current spec
Price point for this in the states makes no sense what so ever.... UK fair enough
Tarifs
Yup, I liked Legion Go S more than Steam Deck OLED. It's looks more beautiful in my eyes. Performance improved from Legion Go Z1 Extreme SOC even though its only used Z2 Go SOC. Looking good for future Z2 Extreme SOC inside Legion Go 2 & Rog Ally 2 👍
Can we use this legion space on the regular legion go and have access to the dock tdp?
4 core with an outdated IGPU doesn’t makes sense price should be 399$ minimum
The Legion Go S is not a good option. The Legion Go 1 is better option by far.
There's a small mistake on the specs list where it says LSPPR5X instead of LPDDR5X for the RAM. Great video BTW.
It's 6400 Mt ram.
Another horrible device by Lenovo lol . Better wait for deck 2 or Asus to come with a better device .
Idk this version def might be, but the original Legion go it’s pretty phenomenal in my opinion… except for the battery 😂
It's not "early version" that has the Library tab items messed up. It's been borked for a few months now on the original Legion Go. The software is really buggy.
I'm starting to see why Lenovo decided to wait to release the Steam OS version. They probably wanted to use all of the immediate feedback from this launch to iron out the software kinks in that revision. Wouldn't want the first non-Steam Deck handheld using Steam OS to just be worse than a Steam Deck.
Remember it takes people coming up with this idea and again other people approving it 😂
Im so confused. Isnt this clearly more powerful than the steam deck? if both are on 800p and the legion go s is using 30W, then the legion go will be much more powerful then the steam deck? or am I missing something
Where are the small battery comments at ?
RDNA2 in 2025...oh my God. Rog Ally X remains king. Much larger battery and despite that a still more compact handheld format. Very disappointing of Lenovo not to throw in a bigger battery in there. Even for cheaper, I wouldn't recommend this over Ally given the performance/battery/size advantages.
"Thats nice but lets see it cheaper and with Steam OS"- Everyone
even first gen Claw with ultra 5 is more powerful than this 💀
I don't understand why make the z2 go why not just use the normal Z1 I'd like to see a comparison between those two chips
Disappointing to take a step back in performance.
I would love a comparison between the Go S and the Steam Deck OLED.
I’m looking to buy a Steam Deck OLED soon, but wondering if I should wait for the legion go S with Steam OS.
Which handheld would you get? My use case is gaming while traveling. I have a good desktop at home. Thanks for the video!
I think that you should go for leigon go , the bigger screen really makes the difference
I would wait and see. I got an LCD Steam Deck and I feel like it already reached its limit and many games I'd like to play on it can't run because of lack of processing power.
Go for The Steam Deck Oled, Best Screen, Best feling i Believe, it's better a 800p Screen Oled With HDR 90hz, That 1200p VRR IPS
@@mancado22same thing happened to me, that's why I sold it and bought an Ally X. Steam Deck was struggling to even hit 30fps consistently on many AAA demanding games.
I don't understand why they would put a weak chip in this??? If it had oled and and an amd AI370 chip I'd buy it at launch for sure even for 1k!
and 80Whr battery!
@SysyTube AI370 is way more power efficient in many usecases, I'm sure the battery life would have been better even with this battery...
The problem is the price. For the money, I could get an ROG Ally or the original Legion Go and it would still be better. It's probably more worthwhile just to wait for the Steam OS model coming in May
What was the point of giving a Legion Go lite/S when it's the same size as the original? Now it's lacking as far as portability.
It's a sales tactic, price it close to the flagship model and it makes people just spend more on the better one.
Losing 2 rear programmable buttons is unfortunate. I use all 4 on my LeGo 1 for many games. 4 rear programmable buttons should be standard on handheld PCs.
Could you do an Elden ring test on the next video?
Why is it over $700? 🤔🤦🏽♂️
It's a 6800u with less cores, it should be in the Stram Deck price range (even with windows)
Why would you pay more than the the OG LeGo to get worse performance? 🤷🏽♂️
I expected it to be better but im disappointed. The sell point of this device is the steamOS but at 700$ ?! Might go buy a steam deck instead or asus ally x
The SteamOS version will be a lot cheaper than this one.
It will be 499.... Valve rocks!
Pretty cool design though!
That power…. Even the Z1e isn’t that strong already and this is weaker. Maybe buy if you wanna emulate older consoles.
Please test the emulators as well
Cant the legion go s go up to 40 Watt's doing it 30 to the legion goes max in my opinion isnt fair as a person who daily drives the legion go i rarely put it to 30w only for docking it because simpley bad battery life and over heating issues but it is unfair in my opinion to max out the legion go but not the legion go s
Dredge @1200p high settings at 15 and 20w would be good to see
Helldivers 2 testing, please!!
So if this thing is getting cpu bottlenecked lowering the resolution shouldn't change much in most cases
How does it work on low tdp. At some point it could be better than wide Z1 extreme.
I got the original legion go and I've replaced the dpad and menu buttons with 3d printed resin versions and with the comfort grips it's an awesome handheld. Plus it has the better screen than the S version. Honestly Lenovo should have made this £499ish as a stop gap for the LeGo 2 but I might not upgrade if the new dpad sucks lol
I don’t understand this product lol who is going to buy something with a cpu that old, it’s a scam…
Compare it to the rog ally z1 non extreme!
There is a free benchmark called OCCT which could measure memory bandwidth for this device, will you please check memory bandwidth benchmark?
You shouldn't have to go to low settings with the z2. Wait until the z3 because there's not enough power jump from 1-2
Could you please test total war three kingdoms?
Feels like a Steam Deck 2.0 that should've launched a year ago. Still I'm interested in seeing the other models they launch. The hardware looks good albeit under-powered for the price.
jesus those are way less than the z1e. yikes. pass on this for the price.
What a shock, ETA prime acting like an as seen on TV channel
The device is solid but wildly overpriced. It makes absolutely 0 sense to buy this over the LeGo 1, and it should cost only slightly more than the Z1 non-Extreme Ally.
Does it support 144 Hz monitor if you connected to your device without using your own built-in 120 Hz display if it uses a larger screen without using a own bulletin screen so basically the handheld will use a monitor while the hand I use their own screenso much just wanna know if it will support higher refresh rate
Interesting is that I don't see lags in legion space in your vid so it looks like they optimized it for 32 GB ? On my LeGo it's super laggy, even quick settings are showing after ~3s lag :/