Lenovo has finally unveiled its long-awaited handheld, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, at IFA 2025 in Berlin, having shown off a prototype at CES 2025 earlier this year.
As expected (based on the prototype), the Legion Go 2 is powered by AMD‘s Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, with another model using the AMD Ryzen Z2 processor. Instead of the original Legion Go’s 2560 x 1600 display resolution, the new handheld will follow the Lenovo Legion Go S with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, which should help improve performance – and the icing on the cake is its OLED display and 74Wh battery.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, unfortunately, it’s not, and that’s because the starting price for the Lenovo Legion Go 2 is $1,099.99, for the AMD Ryzen Z2 model – that’s about £800 or AU$1,680. Yes, you read that right. That’s the price of its 1TB 16GB RAM configuration; there are four different configurations, and if you want to step up to 32GB on the Z2 model, you’ll need to cough up $1,199.99.
It doesn’t stop there, though, because what wasn’t expected is that the Ryzen Z2 Extreme model will cost you $1,349.99 (about £1,000 or AU$2,050) for the 1TB model, and $1,479.99 for the 2TB model, both with 32GB of RAM.
I’m not going to try to sugarcoat this in any way: those prices are absolutely ridiculous, and I have very little doubt that if Lenovo doesn’t lower these prices immediately, the Legion Go 2 will be a failure in the handheld market.
I’ve cut MSI and other mainstream handheld manufacturers slack for overpriced devices like the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and the MSI Claw A8, but Lenovo has taken things way too far here. You can throw in the argument of tariffs in the US, of course, but that doesn’t justify paying this much for a handheld – and frankly, I doubt gamers will care about that excuse.
I knew that the device would be expensive considering the added benefit of OLED and a 74Wh battery (even though I don’t care to have a bigger battery), and upon hearing the pricing announcement I initially accepted the $1,049 price tag, as I assumed that it was for the Z2 Extreme model – but of course, that’s not the case.
I was worried handheld gaming PC prices would make the market niche again, and here we are
After using the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which is the best handheld gaming PC I’ve used, I realized that the handheld gaming PC market was in danger of losing touch with the precedent Valve had set with the Steam Deck as an affordable device. While incredibly impressive in terms of battery life and performance, its $899 price failed to justify an upgrade from the likes of an Asus ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme).
I’m fully aware that Valve’s template of affordable pricing is possible due to its earnings via the Steam store, but that doesn’t excuse mainstream handheld makers pushing prices up to this extreme – and especially when you realize the original Lenovo Legion Go (512GB) starts at $699.
Aside from the additions of a 74Wh battery and an OLED display, I see little reason why a mainstream handheld gaming PC that offers barely better performance than its older counterparts should cost $1,349.99. For the same amount, you can start to build a desktop gaming PC or buy a more powerful gaming laptop.
Regarding the base model, the Ryzen Z2 processor appears to be a rebranded Ryzen Z1 Extreme with nearly identical specs, and the latter can be found powering handhelds like the original Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally at much cheaper prices.
We haven’t seen a device using the Z2 processor just yet, but going by the Z2 Extreme’s minor performance uplift over its predecessor, expect the Z2 to perform the same as (if not slightly worse than) the Z1 Extreme.
I’m now starting to look at the MSI Claw 8 AI+ with a little more respect, as the $899 ($999 now with tariffs) / £899 / AU$1,799 handheld uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V chip that provides performance that’s on par (and better in some games) with the Z2 Extreme. Moving directly up to the Legion Go 2 (Z2 Extreme) from the MSI Claw 8 AI+ means you’re mostly spending $350 more for an OLED screen. Does that sound reasonable? Not at all – and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
This is DOA. Lenovo have lost their minds lol. from r/LegionGo
It didn’t take very long, but we’re now back into the territory of handheld gaming PCs being niche devices, thanks to these eye-watering prices. Manufacturers like Ayaneo and GPD have been niche for a reason, and Lenovo is now entering that ballpark, and it looks like Asus may do the same thing with the ROG Xbox Ally X, which is rumored to cost around $1,000.
The Steam Deck OLED is still the king of handhelds
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Steam Deck OLED is the king of all handheld gaming PCs. As great as the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is, and including the likes of the Lenovo Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme), Valve’s handheld gets the job done, offering a plethora of games and an immersive OLED display.
Performance certainly isn’t up to the standards set by other handhelds using more powerful processors, but it can still run demanding triple-A games with adjusted settings. I would personally recommend the Asus ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) over the Steam Deck OLED, but you’d be missing out on the OLED benefit.
If I told you that you’d need to spend a whopping $700 more for an upgrade from the Steam Deck OLED’s $649.99 for a better-performing system, you wouldn’t be wrong to think I was talking about a desktop gaming PC or full-fledged gaming laptop. I’m not saying the Lenovo Legion Go 2 isn’t a powerful device by any means, but at a certain point pricing becomes a significant dealbreaker, and that’s what’s happening here.
It now makes total sense to me why Valve isn’t in a rush to release a Steam Deck successor, as the handheld processors available haven’t taken a big-enough leap yet to justify these types of price hikes. When we start getting more laptop GPU-like performance in handhelds there will be some justification for pricing along the lines of Lenovo’s for the Legion Go 2 – but as things stand now, there simply isn’t.
You might also like…
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8dweFAFzR3L4HGy9JnrDDL.jpg
Source link
