“I cannot recommend the Lenovo Legion Go over other handheld gaming PCs, especially the Steam Deck OLED,” one reviewer wrote. Another called it “the finest Windows-based portable game console, despite some trade-offs.” Those two verdicts, on the same machine, sum up how the critics have split on Lenovo’s first Windows gaming handheld.
The Legion Go follows Valve’s Steam Deck and the Asus ROG Ally into the market for handheld PCs. It ships with Windows 11 and Lenovo’s Legion Space app, which gathers game libraries, settings and storefronts in one interface.
What reviewers liked
The screen drew the most praise. It has a 16:10 shape where its rivals use 16:9, it is larger than the displays on the Steam Deck OLED, the ROG Ally and the MSI Claw, and its 144Hz refresh rate is faster than the rest. The same reviewer also singled out the controllers: they detach, so the unit can sit on a table and the pieces act as a mouse and keyboard. “No other handheld does anything quite like that,” the review said.
A built-in kickstand won over another critic, who called it “absolutely game-changing” because it allows long sessions without the fatigue of holding the device. Notebookcheck’s listing shows individual scores such as 80%, 85% and 88% overall, with display marks as high as 100%.
What they did not
Size came up repeatedly. A review aimed at the Indian market said the handheld is “very large, and even larger when you place it inside its case,” and joked that buyers would need a whole backpack to carry it. Battery life was a second sore spot: one critic said it would not last more than a couple of hours.
Windows was the other. One review said the experience “is not great,” and added that Microsoft itself admits it needs to be better. Its author said Lenovo “did all it could” with Legion Space, but that the Steam Deck “just flat-out gets it right.” Another reviewer said the FPS mode was disappointing because every key mapping has to be set by hand.
Performance landed close to the ROG Ally in most tests. One reviewer said it fails to take full advantage of its QHD panel. On Far Cry 6, a tester had to drop the resolution to 1080p and lower the details to get acceptable frame rates.
Price
Pricing varies by market and reviewer. One UK review put the starting price at 699 pounds or 699 dollars. Another gave $650. In Malaysia a reviewer pointed to a price of RM3999 against RM3299 for the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme and wrote: “you do the math.”
“Personally, though, I feel Lenovo has a lot of good ideas for a future version of the Go,” one critic wrote.
