We’re big fans of the Lenovo Legion Go. It’s a cracker of a gaming handheld, with a fantastic screen, detachable Switch-like controllers and an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU that’s capable of some great handheld gaming on the move.
About that last bit: it’s rather, how shall we say, large, and as a result not the most portable of handhelds. However, there have been whispers in dark corridors that Lenovo may have been cooking up a smaller, ‘Lite’ version of the substantial device, and some cryptic copy on Lenovo’s own website may have given the game away.
While the current Lenovo Legion Go has an 8.8-inch screen, some (now deleted) text on its product page reportedly mentioned that the device “comes with a 7-inch or 8-inch display” (via Videocardz). Not only that but there was also a reference to the inclusion of an HDMI port (which the current version lacks) and a cooling system with dual fans.
Yep, you guessed it, the current Legion Go only has one. One solitary spinning fan. So what’s going on here then?
Well, the first eyebrow raiser here is the reference to both a 7-inch or 8-inch display. That does certainly suggest two models, one smaller than the other, although the fact that the current Legion Go’s display is 8.8 inches makes the mention of an 8-inch unit particularly mystifying.
Similarly, the dual fan reference is just plain odd. While a smaller device would almost certainly have to change up the cooling system, cramming two fans into a smaller chassis strikes as an unusual approach to a more compact design.
So, are we looking at not just a reference to the Legion Go Lite, but potentially the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go 2? It’s difficult to say, and let’s face it—what could really be going on here is the result of an intern being let loose with some copy on the product page and getting the specifications all kinds of wrong.
Still, a smaller Legion Go does make all kinds of sense. While the 8.8-inch display is a glorious thing to behold on the current model, we found that its 2560 x 1600 resolution was essentially overkill for the frames the APU could push to it. Dropping down to 1200p was a much more pleasant experience, although there’s an image quality trade-off to be made.
(Image credit: Future)
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Shrinking the screen down makes that much less of an issue, while also reducing our primary critique—in its current form, the Legion Go is pretty big and cumbersome. So much so, in fact, that while we rate it as our top pick for big screen handhelds in our best handheld gaming PC guide, it’s with the caveat that the Legion Go is the sort of device that’s best used at home, rather than out and about on your daily travels.
A smaller, potentially lighter handheld would be a very smart move to address those concerns. As for the hardware inside, we’re still left with best guesses at this point. Probably the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, again, or perhaps the regular Z1? Maybe even something Strix Point? There’s also Lunar Lake to consider, for a wild card (and potentially very performant) option. That’s if it’s released in time, of course.
All I know is this: I’ve desired a Legion Go since the first time I saw one, and a smaller, neater version with those trick controllers strikes me as a very desirable device indeed. Time will tell whether this is simply an erroneous bit of copy, or a strong hint towards Lenovo handhelds yet to come.
