Lenovo's Handheld 'Legion Go' Gaming Computer: Detachable Controls and AR Glasses? (arstechnica.com) 6
To one-up Valve's Steam Deck, Lenovo's handheld gaming device, the "Legion Go," will have "Switch-style detachable controllers," reports Ars Technica"
The Legion Go wouldn't be the very first portable PC gaming device with removable controllers; the crowd-funded OneXplayer sported a similar design last year, for instance. But few other PC-based portables have similarly mimicked the Switch Joy-cons in their ability to slide smoothly off from the main screen of the system for detached play.
Combined with a nice, wide kickstand shown in the leaked images, you should be able to give your arms a rest by setting the bulky-looking Legion Go's screen on a tabletop. The slide-off controls also mean you don't need to purchase and/or drag out a separate controller when docking the device to a TV or monitor (which we assume will be a main use case of the device's two USB-C ports). And completely detachable controls for each hand means you can keep your hands as far apart as you want while you hold each "half-controller" separately (one of our favorite unique use cases on the Switch)... The Legion Go also reportedly sports an 8-inch diagonal screen, which is 1 inch larger than Valve's and ROG's devices.
The Legion Go leaks come just months after Lenovo abandoned its button- and cooler-packed Legion line of Android-based gaming phones as part of what it said was a "gaming portfolio consolidation." The Windows 11-based Legion Go — which Windows Central says will be based on AMD's Phoenix processors — should have the high-end PC gaming support that the Legion phones lacked, as well as a more market-proven form factor.
Windows Report believes Lenovo "is preparing to launch an entire gaming ecosystem alongside the Legion Go."
"Among the accessories is a new pair of Legion AR glasses specifically tweaked for gaming." Based on the images we have, the glasses should be small enough to wear through long gaming sessions, with only one USB cable connecting them to any device (most likely for power, which means no standalone battery). The Legion AR Glasess could also feature a high refresh rate and other gaming-specific features, as the Legion branding implies they're made specifically for that...
Combined with a nice, wide kickstand shown in the leaked images, you should be able to give your arms a rest by setting the bulky-looking Legion Go's screen on a tabletop. The slide-off controls also mean you don't need to purchase and/or drag out a separate controller when docking the device to a TV or monitor (which we assume will be a main use case of the device's two USB-C ports). And completely detachable controls for each hand means you can keep your hands as far apart as you want while you hold each "half-controller" separately (one of our favorite unique use cases on the Switch)... The Legion Go also reportedly sports an 8-inch diagonal screen, which is 1 inch larger than Valve's and ROG's devices.
The Legion Go leaks come just months after Lenovo abandoned its button- and cooler-packed Legion line of Android-based gaming phones as part of what it said was a "gaming portfolio consolidation." The Windows 11-based Legion Go — which Windows Central says will be based on AMD's Phoenix processors — should have the high-end PC gaming support that the Legion phones lacked, as well as a more market-proven form factor.
Windows Report believes Lenovo "is preparing to launch an entire gaming ecosystem alongside the Legion Go."
"Among the accessories is a new pair of Legion AR glasses specifically tweaked for gaming." Based on the images we have, the glasses should be small enough to wear through long gaming sessions, with only one USB cable connecting them to any device (most likely for power, which means no standalone battery). The Legion AR Glasess could also feature a high refresh rate and other gaming-specific features, as the Legion branding implies they're made specifically for that...
Portable and high-end? (Score:2)
The Windows 11-based ...
While Windows Mobile/Windows Embedded still exists, it's never been popular and currently seems to function as a Compute Stick that can do some PDA tasks. So far, baby-sized Windows editions have never gathered interest. I imagine that like Java ME, the cost of dumbing-down a real application, will not be profitable.
14-inch games on an 8-inch display, you mean: riiiight? High-end gaming usually means a every-button-press-counts human-interface, not the hit-or-miss button-mashing of entertainment consoles
Re: (Score:3)
High end gaming means performance, and modern AMD custom APUs have been actually pretty damn good at it, and they're getting better rapidly as AMD upgraded their cores from GCN to RDNA2 and has started adding more and more of these cores onto the chip.
This is also why you get full windows on it. These are actually more powerful than most office laptops being sold. Custom AMD SOCs built for this sort of thing in the wake of relative success of Steam Deck and general system miniaturization have advanced quite
Windows 11 and not Linux (Score:2)
The only reason hardware makers go with Windows 11 and not Linux like Steam does, is precisely because they are hardware makers.
Try depleasing Microsoft by making a linux machine, and see at what price and delay you'll get your next Windows licences for your PCs.
Steam obviously don't suffer from this problem.
Microsoft still as monopolistic as ever.
Sigh.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, windows is a plus and minus.
It's a plus in that it's highly compatible with practically all games out there, at least ones that will likely run on the device.
The minus is that the Windows 11 UI sucks on a small touch screen.
This is pretty much why the Steam Deck is often the recommended handheld because the software is easier to navigate, despite the superior hardware in say, the Asus ROG Ally. The hardware in the ROG Ally is great, and outruns the Steam Deck, but Windows makes it hard to use.