Lenovo Legion Go Is Still Trying Become the Nintendo Switch of Handheld PCs

Lenovo is taking much plan inspiration from Nintendo’s ace palmy Switch console for its $750 Legion Go. More than fractional a year after its release, Lenovo decided to drop several caller accessories for the handheld that came with a built-in kickstand, including, amazingly enough, a dock. More importantly, there’s a Joy-Con Grip-like instrumentality for turning your Lenovo handheld into a genuinely portable PC with a controller astir gamers would recognize. 

First, we person the $50 Legion Go Charging Connector, which volition beryllium acquainted to you if you’ve ever held the Joy-Con Grip. It’s meant to complaint each of the detachable controllers connected the Legion Go, but it turns them into a controller that volition beryllium acold much acquainted to anybody who has played a azygous crippled successful the past 3 decades. There’s a USB-C larboard connected the connector to support it charged up for longer.

Lenovo’s ain Windows-based rendition of the Steam Deck already sports a kickstand and detachable controllers, but present it officially has its ain specifically built dock. The Go has 2 USB-C ports, 1 connected apical and 1 connected the bottom, but if you already person a dock built for a Steam Deck, you cognize however the cablegram is other wherever you request it for the Legion Go. The dock has the added payment of an ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, and 2 USB benignant A ports. 

Image: Lenovo

There’s a $30 carrying lawsuit that’s larger than the 1 you get with the Legion Go, which whitethorn beryllium amended for schlepping astir with each your caller accessories. Ignoring immoderate of the thumbstick caps, galore of these accessories look built to crook your Legion Go into a PC. Alongside the dock and connector, the PC shaper is advertizing that you should bargain a Lenovo-brand keyboard oregon show to spell on with your $750 portable console. If you see the price of gaming PCs, turning your handheld into the mobile gaming instrumentality you instrumentality from country to country isn’t the worst idea. 

It’s been much than 8 months since Lenovo unveiled its Legion Go, and it’s a amended instrumentality present than connected merchandise aft updates to its software. Lenovo is inactive hoping to entice users to its device, particularly since it’s been a fewer weeks since Asus’ $800 ROG Ally X recovered its mode into our hearts and stole a large chunk of our wallets. Our benchmarks recovered that the Ally X has amended show and acold amended artillery beingness than the Legion Go, adjacent though Lenovo’s handheld has a bigger display.

Lenovo isn’t doing a mid-cycle refresh of its handheld, truthful instead, it’s opting to amusement however its instrumentality could beryllium that Switch-like PC you’ve been looking for. Just similar my Switch, I’d support it connected dock 90% of the clip and lone occasionally instrumentality it retired erstwhile I cognize I’ll beryllium traveling to a friend’s location to plug straight into their TV.

The Lenovo Legion Go wasn’t my favourite handheld erstwhile Asus released it precocious past year; it wasn’t my favourite instrumentality for playing my PC games connected the spell from Steam, Epic, oregon otherwise. Part of that was owed to the bulky size and the wide consciousness of each grip. The unsocial happening astir the Legion Go was however you could disconnect each handheld from the main body. You could past connect an other basal to 1 of the controllers to enactment arsenic a pseudo-gamer mouse. This didn’t enactment arsenic good arsenic hoped, and dissimilar the Switch, you can’t walk disconnected 1 controller to your person to play idiosyncratic of the many Mario Kart clones you apt person successful the drunk drawer of your Steam library. 

Perhaps a Lenovo Legion 2 with immoderate controller headdress and Bluetooth built into each individually would fto america bask the champion of Windows’ versatility and Nintendo’s landmark console design. However, Windows inactive needs to marque a mentation of Windows 11 built for handheld. It would besides person to vie with the Nintendo Switch 2.

The dock should beryllium disposable this month, but we’ll request to hold until October for the Charging Connector to go available.