We’re massive followers of the Lenovo Legion Go. It is a cracker of a gaming handheld, with a improbable display screen, removable Change-like controllers and an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive APU that is able to some nice handheld gaming on the transfer.
About that final bit: it is moderately, how shall we embrace, massive, and because of this not probably the most transportable of handhelds. Nonetheless, there have been whispers in darkish corridors that Lenovo could have been cooking up a smaller, ‘Lite’ model of the substantial machine, and a few cryptic copy on Lenovo’s personal web site could have given the sport away.
Whereas the present Lenovo Legion Go has an 8.8-inch display screen, some (now deleted) textual content on its product web page reportedly talked about that the machine “comes with a 7-inch or 8-inch show” (by way of Videocardz). Not solely that however there was additionally a reference to the inclusion of an HDMI port (which the present model lacks) and a cooling system with twin followers.
Yep, you guessed it, the present Legion Go solely has one. One solitary spinning fan. So what is going on on right here then?
Nicely, the primary eyebrow raiser right here is the reference to each a 7-inch or 8-inch show. That does definitely counsel two fashions, one smaller than the opposite, though the truth that the present Legion Go’s show is 8.8 inches makes the point out of an 8-inch unit significantly mystifying.
Equally, the twin fan reference is simply plain odd. Whereas a smaller machine would virtually definitely have to alter up the cooling system, cramming two followers right into a smaller chassis strikes as an uncommon method to a extra compact design.
So, are we not only a reference to the Legion Go Lite, however doubtlessly the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go 2? It is tough to say, and let’s face it—what might actually be occurring right here is the results of an intern being let free with some copy on the product web page and getting the specs every kind of mistaken.
Nonetheless, a smaller Legion Go does make every kind of sense. Whereas the 8.8-inch show is an excellent factor to behold on the present mannequin, we discovered that its 2560 x 1600 decision was basically overkill for the frames the APU might push to it. Dropping right down to 1200p was a way more nice expertise, though there’s a picture high quality trade-off to be made.
Shrinking the display screen down makes that a lot much less of a problem, whereas additionally lowering our main critique—in its present type, the Legion Go is fairly massive and cumbersome. A lot so, actually, that whereas we charge it as our high decide for large display screen handhelds in our greatest handheld gaming PC information, it is with the caveat that the Legion Go is the kind of machine that is greatest used at house, moderately than out and about in your every day travels.
A smaller, doubtlessly lighter handheld can be a really sensible transfer to handle these issues. As for the {hardware} inside, we’re nonetheless left with greatest guesses at this level. Most likely the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive, once more, or maybe the common Z1? Perhaps even one thing Strix Level? There’s additionally Lunar Lake to contemplate, for a wild card (and doubtlessly very performant) choice. That is if it is launched in time, in fact.
All I do know is that this: I’ve desired a Legion Go because the first time I noticed one, and a smaller, neater model with these trick controllers strikes me as a really fascinating machine certainly. Time will inform whether or not that is merely an misguided little bit of copy, or a powerful trace in the direction of Lenovo handhelds but to come back.