Lenovo Legion Go is a Nintendo Switch for PC gamers, just a whole lot more powerful

Lenovo has officially announced its first full-fledged gaming handheld – the Lenovo Legion Go.

First leaked a couple of weeks ago, the device follows the likes of the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally, but also borrows heavily from the Nintendo Switch.

That's because it has detachable controllers, much like the Switch's Joy-Cons. And, also like the Switch, you get a kickstand to prop up the display unit in order to play in desktop mode wherever you are.

It also rivals the Ally directly, more than than the Steam Deck, as it runs on Windows 11 so is not limited to just one digital PC storefront. And it is similarly powered by the AMD Ryzen Z1 series – one of the most powerful mobile processors around.

You do get a larger screen though. The Legion Go sports an 8.8-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) IPS touch display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It is capable of brightness up to 500nits.

There's up to 16GB of LPDDR5X (7500MHz) RAM on board, plus up to 1TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD storage. You can also add extra storage through microSD, which supports up to 2TB cards.

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To keep things cool, the handheld houses a liquid crystal polymer 79-blade fan and proprietary Coldfront thermal technology.

As well as being able to be removed and used independently, its TrueStrike controllers come with a dedicated FPS mode for shooters. This works through an included base stand for the right controller to effectively turn it into an optical mouse.

There are dual USB-C ports for docking and/or charging, while DisplayPort 1.4 support means you can also use it with a separate monitor.

One of the good things about running Windows 11 on the machine rather than a Steam front end is that you can access different services, including cloud gaming platforms. Lenovo includes three-months worth of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership for good measure, so you can immediately access 100s of games through Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E are provided for connectivity.

The Lenovo Legion Go will be available from October 2023 starting at €799. We're still awaiting UK and US pricing, although we expect it to be around the same equivalent cost in each region.