Highly effective upgrades however with an excellent increased value

At the start of the yr, Lenovo gave us an early design preview of its subsequent flagship gaming handheld — the Legion Go 2. As we speak, at IFA 2025, the corporate is fleshing out the remainder of the system with extra particulars concerning its specs, value and availability.

By way of its total look, not a lot has modified on the skin of the Legion Go 2. It has the identical common form and removable controllers because the preview mannequin, alongside an 8.8-inch OLED with a variable 144Hz refresh charge and VESA HDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. Lenovo has saved the flexibility to make use of the correct 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 totally different paint colours on parts like its shoulder buttons. That stated, I do recognize that in contrast to quite a lot of its rivals (apart from the Steam Deck), Legion Go 2 nonetheless comes bundled with a case, simply like 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 possibly can 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 Switch 2’s Joy-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 is 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 is 50 p.c bigger than the 49.2 Whr cell within the authentic.

Sadly, I solely had a short time with the demo unit and because it did not have quite a lot of video games already put in (particularly extra resource-intensive ones), so I could not actually gauge how significantly better its efficiency was in comparison with the unique mannequin. Nonetheless, I did discover that Lenovo’s Legion House app felt a lot snappier and extra polished, although it most likely will not be as seamless because the native recreation integration and new UI that is approaching the ROG Xbox Ally.

All instructed, the Legion Go 2 is shaping as much as be a extra refined, highly effective and longer-lasting follow-up whereas retaining just about each main good characteristic from its predecessor like a giant OLED display screen, removable controllers and stable connectivity. Granted, it is nonetheless fairly chunky even with its curvier and extra streamlined design, however that was at all times going to be the case contemplating its massive 8.8-inch show. So if you happen to can deal with a Home windows-based handheld (sorry SteamOS followers) that is on the heftier facet, that is one price maintaining a tally of.

However this is the potential catch: the Legion Go 2 could also be considerably costlier too. It is anticipated to go on sale someday in October beginning at $1,049, which is a major bounce up from the $700 base value of the unique (not to mention what it is going for now, which will 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 desires one with a extra highly effective Z2 Excessive processor might want to hold some wiggle room of their funds. So whereas I recognize how Lenovo is chasing massive efficiency on a transportable gaming machine, the Legion Go 2’s value has me appreciating extra inexpensive handheld rivals just like the Steam Deck much more than I already do.