Lenovo unveiled a Legion Go 2 prototype during CES 2025 that gave us a first look at the highly anticipated successor to one of our favorite handheld gaming PCs, the Lenovo Legion Go.
Lenovo also unveiled a SteamOS-powered Legion Go S, a budget model of the handheld series reserved for those who prefer a smaller device and can live without the detachable controllers.
Lenovo shared more than enough on the Lenovo Legion Go 2 for us to get a solid sense of what to expect from it, so we pit it against its predecessor to see how the two consoles compare. Keep in mind that what we know of the Legion Go 2 so far is based on a prototype, so anything is subject to change.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Lenovo Legion Go | Lenovo Legion Go 2 |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme | AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme |
| GPU | AMD Radeon 780M (Z1) | AMD Radeon 780M (Z2) |
| Display | 8.8-inch 2,560 x 1,600p, 144Hz, 500 nit, 97% DCI-P3, IPS | 8.8-inch 1,920 x 1,200p, 144Hz, 500 nit, 97% DCI-P3, OLED |
| Memory | Up to 16GB | Up to 32GB |
| Storage | Up to 1TB PCIe SSD | Up to 1TB PCIe SSD |
| Battery | 49.2Wh | 74Wh |
| Size | 11.8 x 5.15 x 1.61 inches | 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66 inches |
| Ports | 2 USB Type-C, 1 microSD card reader, 1 audio jack | TBD |
Lenovo Legion Go vs Lenovo Legion Go 2: Design
While we hope the Lenovo Legion Go 2's design provides improvements all around, I'm somewhat cautious about the weight of its prototype. The Lenovo Legion Go 2, weighing 2.38 pounds, is pretty heavy, especially when its predecessor weighed 1.88 pounds, which is half a pound lighter.
The Lenovo Legion Go was already the heaviest compared to competitors like the Asus ROG Ally (1.34 pounds) and MSI Claw (1.49 pounds), so it is worrying for it to increase its weight so drastically.
Especially considering they're similar sizes, with the original coming in at 11.8 x 5.15 x 1.61 inches versus the Legion Go 2's 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66-inch size.
It's especially amusing comparing this to the 10.95-inch Acer Nitro Blaze 11. While I scoffed at it due to its enormity, it's actually lighter than the 8.8-inch Lenovo Legion Go 2. Yup, the Blaze 11 is 2.31 pounds.
It's entirely possible that the Legion Go 2's enormity is due to the CES 2025 model being a prototype, but it's hard to say. We certainly hope that the official model is lighter.
Beyond just our concerns for its size, the Legion Go 2 is reportedly rounding its TrueStrike controllers (the detachable joy-cons), alongside it having a circular D-pad.
Lenovo Legion Go vs Lenovo Legion Go 2: Display
The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is boldly changing its display, shying away from the 2,560 x 1,600-pixel IPS resolution that some praised. Instead, it's opting for a 1,920 x 1,200-pixel OLED display.
While this may seem a bit strange on paper, it's an excellent choice: 2K resolution is unnecessary on an 8.8-inch display, and instead, Lenovo opting for OLED is the right move. OLED delivers deeper blacks and more vivid colors.
In contrast, a 2K panel requires far more graphical power to provide a resolution improvement barely visible on a small, 8.8-inch display; the benefits of OLED are more visible.
Lenovo is also fixing one issue with the display that many criticized the Legion Go for, as it had a portrait orientation, which created compatibility issues with certain games. This is changing with the Legion Go 2, which will now have a landscape orientation.
Lenovo Legion Go vs Lenovo Legion Go 2: Gaming and performance
The Lenovo Legion Go 2's performance will likely surpass that of its predecessor, as it features the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme.
Considering the original AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme launched back in June 2023 inside the Asus ROG Ally, we're anticipating a couple of years of graphical improvements coming to the chip.
In other words, we anticipate a huge improvement in both processing and graphics.
On paper, all we know is that the Z2 has 16 graphics cores and utilizes AMD RDNA 3.5 graphics, while the Z1 is built with 12 cores and is built upon AMD RDNA 3 graphics. Beyond that, we can only make educated guesses based on the performance of the chips surrounding it.
With the Z2 series, AMD has introduced three new chips: The Ryzen Z2 Go, Z2, and Z2 Extreme.
The Go is the weakest, and the Extreme is the strongest. This differs slightly from the original Z1 series, as there was no Go model beforehand.
YouTube channel FPS VN tested the new Lenovo Legion Go S against the Asus ROG Ally X. The critical distinction here is that the Go S is built with an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go, which is the weakest of the new chips, while the Asus ROG Ally X features and Ryzen Z1 Extreme is the strongest of the previous series.
The YouTube channel's tests showed that the Ryzen Z1 Extreme improved performance by around 10%. Considering that the Go chip is the budget option, that's still pretty impressive, and it will likely mean that the Z2 Extreme is far better.
Lenovo Legion Go vs Lenovo Legion Go 2: Battery
Longevity is vital on any gaming handheld, and it's good to see that newer devices like the Asus ROG Ally X and MSI Claw 8 AI Plus have taken note of this by including an 80Wh battery.
The Lenovo Legion Go initially launched with a 49.2Wh battery and lasted 4 hours and 6 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery life test, which involves continuous web surfing over wifi at 150 nits.
Considering the machine is built with a 2K panel, it's no surprise that it sucks power especially quickly. For comparison, with the same processor, the Asus ROG Ally lasted 5 hours, 51 minutes, while the Asus ROG Ally X lasted 8 hours, 19 minutes.
As a result, we're pretty happy that Lenovo is taking things up a notch and upgrading to a 74Wh battery for the Legion Go 2. Considering the display is also moving away from 2K, it might save some battery.
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