Uh, I really hope you haven't bought a swish handheld hybrid console in the last few weeks. For those attempting to escape the heat under a cool, mossy rock, the Nintendo Switch 2 launched on June 5th, shifting 3.5 million units in its first four days on sale alone. The Switch 2's success is undeniable—but that doesn't mean everyone wants a Switch 2.
For folks who don't mind missing out on Nintendo exclusive games, the handheld arena offers a number of compelling options. The Lenovo Legion Go still holds a spot in our best handheld gaming PC guide for a number of reasons I'm about to get into, but chief among them is the fact that it's now only $500 from Amazon. That means yet another $20 has been knocked off the price since the last time I wrote about it.
So, why would anyone want this Lenovo handheld over Nintendo's latest console? Well, for one thing, the Legion Go has a bigger touch screen measuring 8.8 inches compared to the Switch 2's 7.9 inches. It's such a crowd pleaser that the Lenovo Go still wears the 'best big screen' crown in our aforementioned best handheld guide. That snazzy screen comes with detachable controllers to boot, and the ability to play your Steam library of games (at the cost of obviously missing out on Nintendo's pricey exclusives).
To be fair to it, the Switch 2 is no slouch in terms of tech specs, thanks to its bespoke Nvidia Arm and Ampere chip. The Lenovo Go instead features the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, a chip based on AMD's Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures—that means a straight tech comparison is more of a game of apples versus oranges. Let me try to put it another way: the Legion Go can play Baldur's Gate 3, but the handheld's processor means you won't be getting the absolute most out of the handheld's great big screen; it really is better suited to smaller indie releases.
A straighter comparison could instead be made between the Legion Go and the Legion Go S. Our Jacob was positive about the newer handheld in his Lenovo Legion Go S review. However, he writes that it's "peculiar because compared to the original Legion Go, it features an upgraded design, it looks and feels more premium, and yet it packs in a substantially worse processor." That's right—despite costing $150 more on Amazon, the Radeon 600M-series iGPU inside the Legion Go S offers performance that's decidedly second place to the original Legion Go.
So, that's one reason why you may not necessarily want to pick up the newest, snazziest handheld. If you need a few more reasons beyond quirky performance comparisons, older handhelds also benefit from more readily available stock (which in turn means a higher likelihood of generous discounts like the one referenced above). As for the Legion Go specifically, it's also a handheld with access to an established library of games via Steam.
To be clear, yeah, I have been having a whale of a time playing Mario Kart World as much as the next racer. However, it's early days in the Switch 2's lifespan, and the small library at present means that I've also been spending a lot of time playing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, a re-release of a game that first came out in 2020. Obviously, this is likely to improve over time, but if you want a handheld for the games you already own, the Lenovo Legion Go presents a cracking deal.
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