Lenovo Legion Go Lite tipped to do battle with the refreshed Asus ROG Ally X
The regular Legion Go has an 8.8-inch screen, providing plenty of scope for a rumored smaller Lite model.
The 8.8-inch Lenovo Legion Go will receive a sibling in the form of the Lenovo Legion Go Lite, according to sources cited by Windows Central. The precise details of what differentiates a Legion Go from a Legion Go Lite are not yet clear, but we expect the Lite handheld to be at least smaller and lighter, and perhaps significantly cheaper. This move seems to have been spurred by the recent unveiling of the ROG Ally X by Asus, which pushes the high-end PC handheld market slightly higher.
Unfortunately, any specific details beyond the name are currently not available. However, considering our existing coverage of Steam Deck alternatives and the wide gamut of gaming handhelds, including the Legion Go, we're confident we can establish some reasonable expectations for what a Legion Go Lite may actually look like.
So, the first thing we expect to see from a Lenovo Legion Go Lite would be a downsizing towards the 7-inch screen diagonal screen size offered by major competitors like the Steam Deck, Switch OLED, and ROG Ally. It's pretty much in the name.
Though the standard Nintendo Switch is only 6.2 inches, and the Switch Lite is 5.5 inches, so that "Lite" moniker could mean sizing closer to pre-OLED Switch than Legion Go's existing contemporaries. That may be the ideal gambit — do we really need another 7-inch Radeon 780M handheld on the market? Probably not. Additionally, a smaller screen size will likely result in a more reasonable final resolution.
Truthfully, I'm of the opinion that current-gen handhelds going above 720p/800p are doing so purely to inflate specifications, especially where 3D gaming is concerned. The 1600p resolution of the Legion Go is simply too much for any modern game to reasonably be pushed at on this hardware — Deck OLED adhering to 800p at 7.4 inches is still a clean 203 PPI. For your reference, that's higher than the pixel density of a 27-inch 4K monitor.
Besides the large screen size, the main boons of the Lenovo Legion Go compared to its competitors are its detachable controllers and a set of top and bottom USB-C 4.0 connectors. This makes charging and docking alike a breeze, and Switch gamers already understand the joy of playing with detached controllers in either hand, slouched back on a couch, or a comfy chair.
Hopefully, the Lite keeps these features — if it manages to do so in a form factor closer to the original Switch or the Switch Lite, it'll be meaningfully setting itself apart from other Z1 Extreme / 7840U-class handhelds.
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In terms of internal specs, it's hard to know what to expect just yet. If Lenovo is also hoping to make more significant price cuts, going down to the AMD Ryzen Z1 non-Extreme could be an option, though considering the compromised performance that would provide compared to Deck and the now-boosted gulf present between Go and Ally X, that might be unwise.
Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.
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phxrider The 780m iGPU can't do 1600p in games natively, but I do it just fine with my Minisforum V3 tablet (8840U) with upscaling, you just run the game at 1080p (or any lower resolution than the native 1600p) and let AMD's RSR scale it up to the monitor resolution. It actually works very well, even when using FSR in the game + RSR (something AMD says not to do). I had to scale it back to 1440p (close enough) for Starfield (set the display res to a 16x9 aspect ratio i.e. 1920x1080, RSR apparently always maintains the same aspect ratio when it upscales), as the "good playability" threshold just happens to hit between 1440p and 1600p, but for Far Cry 6 it has no problem running it very well at 1600p.Reply -
Guardians Bane Reply
Hey, I've been looking into the V3. I have been trying to make a choice between the V3 and the Legion Go mainly for the increased screen size. Plus id have a "mini pc" running windows. So I really like the V3 for that. How do you like it? What's it like using it for gaming and everyday tasks? I currently have a Deck and I (and my 47yr old eyes) have to use reading glasses to really enjoy it. Plus Linux isn't my go to OS for general computing.phxrider said:The 780m iGPU can't do 1600p in games natively, but I do it just fine with my Minisforum V3 tablet (8840U) with upscaling, you just run the game at 1080p (or any lower resolution than the native 1600p) and let AMD's RSR scale it up to the monitor resolution. It actually works very well, even when using FSR in the game + RSR (something AMD says not to do). I had to scale it back to 1440p (close enough) for Starfield (set the display res to a 16x9 aspect ratio i.e. 1920x1080, RSR apparently always maintains the same aspect ratio when it upscales), as the "good playability" threshold just happens to hit between 1440p and 1600p, but for Far Cry 6 it has no problem running it very well at 1600p.
Have you had any issues? Any interaction with customer service? And over all, do you feel like it was worth the price?
Thanks! -
TheyCallMeContra Replyphxrider said:The 780m iGPU can't do 1600p in games natively, but I do it just fine with my Minisforum V3 tablet (8840U) with upscaling, you just run the game at 1080p (or any lower resolution than the native 1600p) and let AMD's RSR scale it up to the monitor resolution. It actually works very well, even when using FSR in the game + RSR (something AMD says not to do). I had to scale it back to 1440p (close enough) for Starfield (set the display res to a 16x9 aspect ratio i.e. 1920x1080, RSR apparently always maintains the same aspect ratio when it upscales), as the "good playability" threshold just happens to hit between 1440p and 1600p, but for Far Cry 6 it has no problem running it very well at 1600p.
I mean, resolution scaling is definitely cool (and probably ideal for handhelds), but I still think it's just way more effective across-the-board to use 800p or at most 1080p with these kinds of devices and their current power level relative to AAA releases. -
phxrider Reply
I love it so far, it's perfect as a small and super light "real" PC that is also capable of AAA gaming. Just don't mistake it for a gaming laptop, you will be playing AAA games on low graphics settings, all bells and whistles off - but it can play them pretty well at that setting. No interactions with customer service as far as issues, which is good because it means I've had no issues. I also have a UM780XTX mini-PC that I built an Oculink eGPU box for with a 6800XT, I asked support a question about that and they answered it quickly (I wanted to confirm the need to attach and power on Oculink devices with the PC power off, and the answer was yes, you need to do that with the PC power off, as expected). I also needed a 2nd monitor for work in a pinch, and the V3 worked perfectly for that, just plugging in a Thunderbolt cable between the external monitor port and the PC's USB4 port. That's about all I have. Both Minisforum devices are very impressive performance-wise and very stable and quiet.Guardians Bane said:Hey, I've been looking into the V3. I have been trying to make a choice between the V3 and the Legion Go mainly for the increased screen size. Plus id have a "mini pc" running windows. So I really like the V3 for that. How do you like it? What's it like using it for gaming and everyday tasks? I currently have a Deck and I (and my 47yr old eyes) have to use reading glasses to really enjoy it. Plus Linux isn't my go to OS for general computing.
Have you had any issues? Any interaction with customer service? And over all, do you feel like it was worth the price?
Thanks!