Lenovo Legion Go images leaked: looks more like the Nintendo Switch than the Steam Deck
A couple of weeks ago, rumors about a gaming handheld made by Lenovo surfaced. And now, the first images of the Lenovo Legion Go have been leaked.
It's a Steam Deck...it's a Nintento Switch... it's the Lenovo Legion Go
The Lenovo Legion Go images which were leaked by Windows Report show us a design that is reminiscent of the Steam Deck and the ASUS ROG Ally. But if you look closer, you may notice that the device looks a lot more like the Nintendo Switch.
The Legion Go has two removable controllers, that are undeniably similar to the Switch's joy-cons. It will probably function like a regular tablet when the controllers are detached. The handheld PC gaming device is said to feature an 8-inch screen, which is an inch larger than Valve's and ASUS' offerings.
As for the ports on the handheld, the report mentions that the Legion Go has two USB Type-C ports; one at the bottom and one at the top. The device has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, volume rocker keys, a power button, and a micro SD card slot for expandable storage. The right controller on the Lenovo Legion Go has a trackpad, while the Steam Deck has a touchpad on either side of the screen. The Legion Go has a kickstand on the back, that you could pop out to place the handheld on a table. Again, this is quite similar to the Nintendo Switch, specifically the OLED-version which has a larger kickstand.
The Legion Go has all the buttons you would expect on a modern controller, such as the shoulder buttons and side triggers. It also appears to have triggers on the back, and a wheel on the side of the right controller, though it is unclear what it could be used for, besides scrolling.
Another interesting aspect in the design of the Legion Go is the large air vent on the back of the device, this may suggest that the handheld could have a large fan (or fans) to help keep the device's thermal levels in check when there is a heavy load and/or during long gaming sessions, hopefully it won't be too noisy. The Legion Go seems to be a bit on the chunky side, but the thickness could mean something positive, maybe it will have a big battery. Battery life has been a problem for portable gaming devices, notably on the ROG Ally.
Windows Central had mentioned that the Lenovo Legion Go could be powered by an AMD Phoenix 7040 series chip, and that it would run on Windows 11. This may help users install games from various stores like Steam, GOG and Epic Games without looking for workarounds to sideload them.
It's worth noting that Lenovo wanted to release a handheld gaming console called the Legion Play, but the Android device was cancelled for unknown reasons. Let's hope that the Legion Go comes to light. I'm not sure Nintendo would be happy to see a rival console that uses a similar design to its Switch, but PC gamers might appreciate the Lenovo Legion Go, especially if it ticks the right boxes in terms of performance and battery life. And like I mentioned in the previous article, the more competition we see in the handheld market, the better these devices are going to be, and perhaps they will become more affordable.
