Leaked Lenovo Legion Go S renders show the design and connectivity we may get with this budget offering. It seems that the brand has opted for a simpler mono-frame style with its upcoming handheld.
Folks at Windows Central have shared some exclusive renders of what is said to be a Lenovo Legion Go S handheld. In these, we can see that the new machine no longer carries removable controllers a la Nintendo Switch. A comprehensible move if the brand targets a more affordable price tier. So, say goodbye to the Legion Go’s unique mouse mode.
To do so, Lenovo went with a basic, yet effective layout similar to many existing handhelds. Gone are the extra M buttons, kickstand, and large touchpad. Now, you only get what is strictly necessary. This includes two joysticks, two triggers, two bumpers, four face buttons, a D-Pad, settings menus, a couple of back buttons, and what seems to be a miniaturised touchpad. All in all, a fairly similar shape to the ROG Ally that I find more appealing than the chonky look of the first Legion Go.
Since the Legion Go S seems to target an affordable market segment, we expect it to be powered by a Z2G chip. This processor sits at the bottom of AMD’s Z2 lineup, packing eight Zen 3+ cores along with 12 RDNA 2 compute units – according to rumours. We’ll need to see performance for ourselves before judging, but there will be a higher ceiling for more premium models and you can likely expect slightly lower frame rates than the original Legion Go handheld.
Lastly, on the I/O side, we find two Type-C ports on the top – likely running at USB 3.2 speeds instead of USB 4. The proximity of both ports may lead to some rare cases of cables/devices blocking one port – thumb drives come to mind. Putting one on the bottom could have been a better move, but that might’ve impacted the cost of the device.
While we don’t have any exact pricing yet, anything below the $600 range would be a welcome change from recent handhelds which ask for the same amount as gaming laptops. According to Windows Central, Legion Go S is expected to retail between $399 to $449. To put this in perspective, you’ll have difficulty finding a machine powered by anything faster than the Z1 non-Extreme for under $449, making this quite the deal.
