Initially of the 12 months, Lenovo gave us an early design preview of its subsequent flagship gaming handheld — the Legion Go 2. Right this moment, at IFA 2025, the corporate is fleshing out the remainder of the system with extra particulars concerning its specs, worth and availability.
When it comes to its general look, not a lot has modified on the skin of the Legion Go 2. It has the identical basic form and removable controllers because the preview mannequin, alongside an 8.8-inch OLED with a variable 144Hz refresh price and VESA HDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. Lenovo has saved the power to make use of the precise controller as a vertical mouse (aka FPS mode) when paired with the hand held's included puck/stand. And as earlier than, you continue to get Corridor Impact joysticks, a built-in touchpad and kickstand and twin USB 4 ports.
The one main change from what we noticed in January is barely completely different paint colours on parts like its shoulder buttons. That mentioned, I do respect that not like a whole lot of its rivals (apart from the Steam Deck), Legion Go 2 nonetheless comes bundled with a case, identical to its predecessor. On the flipside, one factor I want Lenovo had modified is the detachment course of for Legion Go 2's controllers. Like earlier than, you’ll be able to press a button in again earlier than sliding every joypad off a small hidden rail. And whereas it really works, after utilizing the brand new magnetic system for the Swap 2's Pleasure-Con, doing the identical factor on the Legion Go 2 simply feels clunky.
In the meantime, the Legion Go 2's internals are the place most of its upgrades have gone. The hand-held can now be outfitted with as much as an AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive chip, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. And if that's not sufficient, there's additionally a microSD card reader. However maybe essentially the most tantalizing enchancment could also be its battery life, because the Legion Go 2 comes with a 74Whr battery that's 50 p.c bigger than the 49.2 Whr cell within the unique.
Sadly, I solely had a short time with the demo unit and because it didn't have a whole lot of video games already put in (particularly extra resource-intensive ones), so I couldn't actually gauge how a lot better its efficiency was in comparison with the unique mannequin. Nevertheless, I did discover that Lenovo's Legion Area app felt a lot snappier and extra polished, although it most likely gained't be as seamless because the native sport integration and new UI that's approaching the ROG Xbox Ally.
All informed, the Legion Go 2 is shaping as much as be a extra refined, {powerful} and longer-lasting follow-up whereas retaining just about each main good characteristic from its predecessor like an enormous OLED display, removable controllers and stable connectivity. Granted, it's nonetheless fairly chunky even with its curvier and extra streamlined design, however that was at all times going to be the case contemplating its giant 8.8-inch show. So for those who can deal with a Home windows-based handheld (sorry SteamOS followers) that's on the heftier facet, that is one price maintaining a tally of.
However right here's the potential catch: the Legion Go 2 could also be considerably dearer too. It's anticipated to go on sale someday in October beginning at $1,049, which is a major bounce up from the $700 base worth of the unique (not to mention what it's going for now, which could be as little as $550 relying on reductions). And that determine is probably going for a mannequin with a Ryzen Z2 chip, which implies anybody who needs one with a extra {powerful} Z2 Excessive processor might want to maintain some wiggle room of their funds. So whereas I respect how Lenovo is chasing huge efficiency on a conveyable gaming machine, the Legion Go 2's worth has me appreciating extra inexpensive handheld rivals just like the Steam Deck much more than I already do.
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