Review of the Lenovo Legion Go S: What’s Missing?

In recent years, the handheld gaming PC landscape has burst into activity thanks to the Valve Steam Deck. With competitors like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go joining the scene, the market’s excitement shows no signs of slowing down. Lenovo, bolstered by AMD’s new Z2 Go processor built on Zen 3+ architecture, has thrown its hat in the ring once more with the release of the Legion Go S. This model showcases a fresh departure from its predecessor in terms of design.

Upon first glance, the Legion Go S distinguishes itself by moving away from the Nintendo Switch-like detachable controllers, opting for an integrated build akin to the ROG Ally and Valve Steam Deck. The device also embraces a more compact design, featuring an 8-inch display rather than the previous 8.8 inches.

Even with this redesign, the Legion Go S still maintains a relatively hefty and bulky presence, despite losing the mechanisms for detachable controllers. Before settling on the Legion Go S as your preferred handheld gaming PC, certain trade-offs from its predecessor warrant consideration.

### Design and Comfort of the Lenovo Legion Go S

While both the Legion Go S and its predecessor share the same fundamental purpose, many differences set them apart. The original Legion Go combined matte gray aluminum with plastic, while the Legion Go S fully embraces an all-plastic build. Outfitted in molded white with black buttons and triggers, this heavy reliance on plastic offers a less premium feel but doesn’t compromise its solid overall construction.

The more rounded design of the Legion Go S provides a notably more comfortable grip compared to the angular shape of the Legion Go. After hours of gaming on both the Legion Go S and the original model, my hands and fingers felt less strained with the former.

Another noticeable change is the absence of a built-in kickstand in the Legion Go S. The earlier model’s kickstand was useful when using the controllers separately, mimicking the Nintendo Switch. Without detachable controllers, the necessity of a kickstand was perhaps seen as redundant by Lenovo.

Another step back for the Legion Go S is its screen. Where its predecessor boasted an 8.8-inch 2560 x 1600 screen, the newer device’s 8-inch display maxes out at a resolution of 1920 x 1200. While some may view this as a downgrade, I found the changes in size and resolution reasonable, especially considering the gaming demands of the Z1 Extreme and Z2 Go processors.

The dimensions of the Legion Go S stand at 11.77 x 5.02 x 0.89 inches with a weight of 1.61 pounds, compared to the original Legion Go’s 11.76 x 5.16 x 1.60 and 1.88 pounds. For comparison, the Asus ROG Ally measures 11.04 x 4.38 x 0.84 inches and weighs 1.34 pounds, with the original Steam Deck at 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches and 1.47 pounds.

The main controls of the Legion Go S resemble an Xbox controller, with ABXY buttons positioned on the right and offset joysticks. Below the left joystick sits a D-pad, and below the right is a small touchpad. Four programmable buttons surround the screen, with quick settings and menu controls on the right and Legion Space and view buttons on the left.

Topping the device is the standard set of LB/LT and RB/RT buttons, with two additional programmable buttons (Y1 and Y2) on the back. The trigger travel is customizable via dials located on the back. The device includes two USB 4 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, volume buttons, and a power button along the top, with a microSD reader slot at the bottom.

### Lenovo Legion Go S Specifications

The new Legion Go S harnesses the power of AMD’s Z2 Go processor. In terms of performance, it’s a step down from the Z1 Extreme seen in the original Legion Go, featuring Zen 3+ architecture with four cores and eight threads at a base clock of 3 GHz and a turbo frequency of up to 4.3 GHz. By contrast, the Z1 Extreme is built on Zen 4 architecture, supporting eight cores and 16 threads. Graphics capabilities also decrease, with the integrated 12-core Radeon 680M GPU compared to the Z1 Extreme’s 12-core Radeon 780M.

The Legion Go S offers four performance modes accessible via the options button: Performance, Efficiency, Custom 1, and Custom 2. I found the default Performance setting suitable for unplugged gaming, while for plugged-in sessions, I opted for Custom 1, adjusting the TDP to a 40-watt maximum.

Overall, the Legion Go S presents a mixed bag in performance. It runs about 10 percent faster than its predecessor on battery but falls 10 to 20 percent slower when plugged in and utilizing the 40-watt TDP setting.

On the gaming front, during the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Medium settings, DX12), the Legion Go S slightly outperformed the earlier model with about a 10 percent lead at both 800p and 1200p on battery. However, when running off AC power with the 40-watt TDP, it lagged 25 percent behind. Battery performance aligned closely with the Steam Deck.

Switching to Cyberpunk 2077 (Steam Deck preset), the Legion Go S maintained similar performance on battery but lagged significantly behind the Legion Go and the ROG Ally when plugged in. These rivals managed 49 fps and 55 fps, respectively, while the Legion Go S only managed 35 fps at 800p and a choppy 18 fps at 1200p.

In Forza Horizon 5 (High settings), the Legion Go S came up short against the Z1 Extreme competition but held a satisfactory 56 fps at 800p on AC power. This paled in comparison to the Legion Go’s 75 fps and the ROG Ally’s 72 fps.

The Legion Go S maintained over 30 fps in Red Dead Redemption 2 (Lowest settings) at 1200p, regardless of power source. Lowering the resolution to 800p on AC power boosted performance to 52 fps. Yet, under similar conditions, the Legion Go led the pack with 67 fps.

Lastly, in Borderlands 3 (Medium settings, DX11), the Legion Go S narrowed the gap with its rivals, achieving 50 fps at 800p and 33 fps at 1200p. Meanwhile, the Legion Go hit 60 fps at 800p and 42 fps at 1200p.

### Windows 11 on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Out of the box, the Legion Go S runs Windows 11, with a scaling factor of 200 percent set by default at its native resolution of 1920 x 1200. Although the large taskbar improves touchscreen usability, the size of taskbar icons can lead to a cluttered interface with more than one active app relegated to a separate menu.

The device proved troublesome in other areas too. Often, the on-screen keyboard failed to appear when text input was necessary, such as in Steam and the Epic Games Store. Even more frustrating were moments when the on-screen keyboard would appear and then vanish instantly within the Steam app.

While finger navigation and multi-touch function as expected, the Legion Go S also sports a small touchpad beneath the right joystick to simulate a mouse. While it suffices in a pinch, I preferred the touchscreen. An irritating quirk emerged when attempting to use the touchpad in games: pressing down to click would inadvertently shift the mouse, causing misfires. This issue wasn’t present in non-gaming software.

Interestingly, the touchpad’s default force feedback feature via the Legion Space app made navigating the screen buzzy and intrusive. The app’s settings for touchpad vibration default to Medium, but even the Weak setting was a tad distracting, leading me to ultimately disable the vibration entirely.

One downside of the streamlined design is the absence of a kickstand, which prevents the device from propping up like a standard Windows 11 PC with a mouse and keyboard.

### Legion Space on the Lenovo Legion Go S

Legion Space is a versatile application that centralizes access to system settings, game launches, and controller settings. You can access it via the Legion Space button located beside the left joystick. Let’s examine the app’s tabs from left to right.

The My tab opens access to your Lenovo account, and the Store tab facilitates purchasing games through platforms like Steam, GOG, and Gamesplanet. The Library tab organizes installed games and apps in a tile format for easy access. Game data is sourced from popular launchers like Steam, the Rockstar Games Store, and the Epic Games Store.

The Settings tab, perhaps the most frequently used, features dials monitoring fan speed, CPU temperature and frequency, and GPU temperature and utilization. You can also view VRAM speed and the memory currently in use.

Performance modes (Performance, Power-Saving, Custom 1, and Custom 2), Thermal, and fan profiles are adjustable through the Performance menu. Display settings allow adjustments to screen brightness, scaling, resolution, and refresh rate. Additional buttons permit audio adjustments and drive health checks, with the Controllers tab offering joystick customization, RGB settings, trigger adjustment, and button remapping.

The Options button triggers a Quick Settings overlay, providing straightforward access to frequently used settings from Legion Space. You can adjust power modes, fan profiles, display options, touchpad settings, rumble features, and more directly from this overlay—even while in-game.

### Display on the Legion Go S

This new iteration of the Legion Go series features a smaller, lower-resolution display. Unlike its predecessor’s 8.8-inch screen, the display size now measures just 8 inches, and the resolution has decreased from 2560 x 1600 to 1920 x 1080. Holding both devices side-by-side, I found these changes barely noticeable. The resolution downgrade didn’t bother me much either, as I often played newer titles at 1280 x 800 resolution. On the smaller 8-inch display of the Legion Go S, visuals at 800p appeared refreshingly sharp.

The shift to an IPS display, though lacking compared to the infinite contrast potential of the Steam Deck OLED, offers satisfactory quality. The refresh rate peaks at 120 Hz, stepping down from the original Legion Go’s 144 Hz.

I maintained the display brightness at 50 percent to optimize battery life and found the visuals sufficiently bright and appealing at that setting. Unless charging, I stuck with this setting. As a lover of racing games, titles such as Burnout Paradise Remastered, Forza Horizon 5, and Forza Motorsport delivered vivid colors and lifelike car models.

Since Burnout Paradise Remastered is an older title, achieving a smooth 60 fps at 800p was easy, even with the resolution maxed at 1200p.

Even with the reduced size and resolution, the panel’s color performance fell behind its peers like the Legion Go and Steam Deck OLED, capturing only 84.8 percent DCI-P3 and 119.7 percent sRGB—though it edged past the ROG Ally.

For brightness, we measured 455.5 nits, placing it at the bottom of this group, but still offering plenty of illumination for gaming.

### Battery Life on the Lenovo Legion Go S

In handheld gaming PCs, battery life varies substantially, depending on resolution, refresh rate, and graphical settings. This complexity is further increased when tweaking power profiles for better performance or battery conservation.

Our PCMark 10 Gaming suite benchmark revealed a battery life of 1 hour and 42 minutes—17 minutes shy of the Legion Go. Playing Burnout Paradise Remastered at 1280 x 800 resolution and 60Hz using the Performance profile drained 60 percent of the battery in an hour, and the device completely powered down after about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Switching to the Power-saving profile pushed it past two hours.

### Audio on the Lenovo Legion Go S

The sound quality of the Legion Go S, while not outstanding, suffices for its class. Enjoyment of engine roars, tire screeches, and the sounds of metal colliding is adequately captured in racing games.

The depth of these audio effects was present in Forza Horizon 5, and the impact sounds in Burnout: Paradise were equally satisfying. While it isn’t my device of choice for music playback, the Legion Go S managed tracks like Guster’s “Center of Attention” well, with pronounced drum beats and catchy keyboard riffs.

However, for true immersion, I used headphones for most of my gaming sessions.

### Upgradeability of the Legion Go S

Accessing the internals of the Legion Go S is relatively straightforward but requires care. Begin by removing three screws on the bottom edge. Use a plastic spudger to remove the top black plastic panel covering the power button, volume buttons, and USB-C ports. Next, unscrew two additional screws securing the triggers, carefully removing them without damaging clips, and pry off the back panel to reveal the chassis interior.

This effort gives you access to the M.2 slot, compatible with both 2242 and 2280 SSDs—an advantage for gamers seeking more storage upgrade options since 2280 SSDs are more plentiful. Our unit included a pre-installed 1TB Micron 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD. This sums up the physical upgrades, although battery replacement is likely feasible when needed.

### Heat on the Lenovo Legion Go S

One upside of the updated chassis design is that the Legion Go S stayed comfortably cool throughout gaming sessions. Air intake is facilitated through the back, with exhaust at the top. Even at performance levels requiring fan engagement, the audible hum wasn’t disruptive. Gaming sound at moderate volume handily muffled the fan noise.

During Forza Horizon 5 sessions, the device registered Z2 Go CPU and Radeon 680M GPU temperatures at around 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit).

### Lenovo Legion Go S Configurations

The Legion Go S is tagged at $729.99, equipped with a 120Hz 8-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS display, 32GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD. This remains the sole option currently, though a future $499 variant running SteamOS—with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD—will offer a budget-friendly alternative.

For added assurance, Lenovo backs the Legion Go S with a one-year manufacturer warranty.

### Bottom Line

As it stands, the Lenovo Legion Go S is a tough sell. While its performance on battery is comparable or occasionally outpaces its predecessor, its potential drastically lowers when set to peak performance profiles.

The all-in-one design may enhance comfort slightly over the Legion Go but at the price of losing the versatility of detachable controllers and a kickstand. Additionally, the Legion Go S underwhelms with a smaller, dimmer, and less vibrant display.

However, what truly undermines its appeal is the pricing. With a configuration of 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, the Legion Go S costs $729—only $20 shy of the Legion Go with a similar storage capacity and better specs. A more attractive price point for the Legion Go S would be around $600. Until then, waiting for the upcoming $499 SteamOS version slated for spring remains a prudent choice.