Unfortunately, reality does not reflect those expectations.
This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Lenovo.
The company had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.
The Legion Go S' retail packaging is a bit weird, but it gets the job done.
That’s nowhere to be seen, though.
This machine is covered by Lenovo’s one-year “Legion Ultimate Service” warranty.
Here’s hoping future configurations offer better value.
The Legion Go S sports a two-tone white-and-black chassis that puts its excellent 8-inch display front and center.
You’ll also find a 3.5mm audio jack next to those ports.
Visually, this display is gorgeous.
The moment you pick it up, the Lenovo Legion Go S feels like a cut above most other gaming handhelds.
One area where this display impresses is brightness.
In terms of everyday performance, the Lenovo Legion Go S does run fine.
32GB of RAM and a decently fast 1TB SSD make short work of those casual tasks.
From left to right; the power button with LED indicator, two volume buttons, 3.5mm combination audio jack, two USB Type-C 4.0 ports, and top ventilation.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
Looping an HD video at 50% volume drained 15% of its battery.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, there was a 6% dip in framerate.
The Lenovo Legion Go S hasnoneof this.
On the bottom, you’ll find the lone microSD card slot.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
From a software perspective, the ASUS ROG Ally is the clear winner.
The rear remappable buttons are also well-placed.
If you need them.
Even without being OLED, this is an excellent gaming handheld display.
It’s significantly more powerful, and its versatile design includes detachable controllers and a built-in kickstand.
This handheld is more expensive but dominates in performance, battery life, and software support.
The SteamOS variant may fare much better.
The Legion Go S doesn’t have the most color-accurate display, but it still looks amazing.
Other hardware
4.5/5 Excellent controls and great hardware all around remind me just how polished this hardware is…
It’s a pity what’s on the inside falls short.
The Lenovo Legion Go S should’ve been the best.
The Legion Go S performs fine… But not when you compare it to the other handhelds in this price range.
The foundation is here, the result of Lenovo’s investments to succeed in the PC gaming handheld space.
Here’s hoping the SteamOS version fixes that with a more palatable price tag.
The Legion Go S' SSD is more or less the same as other PC gaming handhelds, including being swappable.(Image credit: Windows Central)
In Cinebench 2024, the ROG Ally X achieves more than double the multi-core score of the Legion Go S.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The gap isn’t much smaller in Geekbench 6, where the ROG Ally X scores nearly 84% higher than the Legion Go S in multi-core performance.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The Legion Go S falls behind its competitors in general productivity, too.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The Ryzen Z2 Go’s GPU is stronger than the entry-level Ryzen Z1, but falls behind the ROG Ally X by over 25% in 3DMark Time Spy.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Stylish ventilation helps keep things running cool enough.
Any attempts to extend battery life also cut performance, and the Legion Go S doesn’t have much headroom to spare.
Armoury Crate doesn’t look quite as slick, but it’s far and away the better gaming handheld software.
The Legion Space categorizes all kinds of apps and programs as games, and there’s absolutely no way to organize this view or remove unwanted items.
You wouldn’t think such a tiny touchpad could be useful, but now I think every PC gaming handheld should have this.
I’ll be very interested to see how Lenovo positions the SteamOS version, but for now the Legion Go S leaves a lot to be desired.
