If you’re in search of a new handheld gaming device equipped with AMD hardware, you’ll likely have four options: the Steam Deck OLED, ROG Ally, one of the Chinese handhelds, or Lenovo’s latest Legion Go, which debuted in October and prompted ASUS to temporarily reduce the price of their Ally.
Legion Go boasts distinctive features not found in Ally, including a bigger 8.8-inch QHD screen with a 144Hz refresh rate (in contrast to Ally’s 7-inch screen with Full HD and 120Hz specifications), detachable controllers reminiscent of the Nintendo Switch, and the option for storage upgrades directly from retailers.
Like ASUS, Lenovo also released two variants of their system, but gamers should pay attention to the Ryzen Z1 Extreme version, boasting significantly superior GPU specifications. The Z1 Extreme features three times the number of cores compared to the non-Extreme version, which is equipped with four RDNA3 Compute Units. This crucial particularly for a handheld device with a resolution surpassing 1080p.
Legion Go made its debut at a $699 price, undoubtedly on the higher side, but it appears that companies in the high-end handheld market are consistently aiming for this price point. Even the upcoming MSI Claw, featuring an Intel Core Ultra CPU, is expected to be priced similarly. However, the Claw might be weeks, if not months, away. For gamers unwilling to wait and seeking comparable graphics performance, the revised pricing for the Go on Amazon and BestBuy could be worth considering.
Legion Go is currently offered at a reduced price of $50 for both the 512GB and 1TB variants. This translates to a purchase cost of $649 for the 512GB option or $699 for the 1TB option. Another perspective is that Lenovo is now providing double the storage at the original price.
Anticipate additional price reductions upon the release of the MSI Claw. It seems that pricing will be the primary competitive strategy for these brands, as newer console versions are not expected to emerge in the near future.