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I have the Ally, Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. The Legion Go is the best by far. The Ally feels like a cheap toy after you hold this thing. Haven't noticed any issues with VRR and I think that concern is overblown. Admittedly, I haven't played through my whole game library yet but even AAA games play great. I bought mine open box - excellent and it arrived in new condition, so I'm glad I went that route. Watched an unboxing on YouTube to confirm I had plastic and stickers in all the same places.
Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
im not speaking about the price but more for the product. i tried the steamdeck, ROG ally, and even specialty companies like GPD WIN max 2. i can honestly say the Legion Go is the best device out of them all. early youtube reviews are not happy with the software but its been updated so much since release that its near perfect now.
That's part of the neat thing about Steam Deck, ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion. There's other ones too that are computer-based but all of these lets you work on them like a normal computer of their type. The Legion runs Windows so you get to put a dock on it, plug in your favorite peripherals like a mouse/keyboard/monitor and just go. Some games runs way better being on a controller like a JRPG, puzzle games, stuff with limited need of buttons and response times. Selling point of these systems is that they're portable enough and similar to a laptop. You can even make it your main rig if you wanted to. Office work? Hook up a scanner, printer and a monitor and go nuts. Zoom/Teams/Google Meet/Webex/Whatever call? Plug in your favorite webcam or use your phone with the appropriate software and go ham.
I wish I could see one in the store to see if the lack of VRR would bother me as much in person as it does in videos. I absolutely LOVE my Ally though. If I didn't have such bad luck with open box items from Best Buy I'd check around for one. Anyone here have an Ally and Go want to comment on the lack of VRR on the Go?
Thanks! Did you experience any driver issues or problem with games not able to be in full screen?
For me, the only game I had issue with full screen on is Assassin's Creed Syndicate. However, it appears to be an issue with the game as many post for years complaining about the issue before the Go even existed. All other games have worked for me personally. Keeping drivers updated manually through Lenovo only. I did stop using their game management app and started using Playnite.
I wish I could see one in the store to see if the lack of VRR would bother me as much in person as it does in videos. I absolutely LOVE my Ally though. If I didn't have such bad luck with open box items from Best Buy I'd check around for one. Anyone here have an Ally and Go want to comment on the lack of VRR on the Go?
If you live near a Micro Center they have one on display for you to play with. I don't notice the lack of VRR and I thought it was a "must" until I owned. That is one reason I bought local as I could take it back if it bothered me. I rate this as one of my favorite purchases I have ever made .
If you live near a Micro Center they have one on display for you to play with. I don't notice the lack of VRR and I thought it was a "must" until I owned. That is one reason I bought local as I could take it back if it bothered me. I rate this as one of my favorite purchases I have ever made .
Sadly we don't have those here in Florida yet, but yea I may just buy one to try it out anyways. Glad you're enjoying yours!
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Quote
from gldoorii
:
I wish I could see one in the store to see if the lack of VRR would bother me as much in person as it does in videos. I absolutely LOVE my Ally though. If I didn't have such bad luck with open box items from Best Buy I'd check around for one. Anyone here have an Ally and Go want to comment on the lack of VRR on the Go?
I have the Ally, Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. The Legion Go is the best by far. The Ally feels like a cheap toy after you hold this thing. Haven't noticed any issues with VRR and I think that concern is overblown. Admittedly, I haven't played through my whole game library yet but even AAA games play great. I bought mine open box - excellent and it arrived in new condition, so I'm glad I went that route. Watched an unboxing on YouTube to confirm I had plastic and stickers in all the same places.
Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
Last edited by bruce460460 December 19, 2023 at 02:37 PM.
I got a steam deck OLED. Am pretty happy with it except for the fact that Valve doesn't update the windows drivers. I dual boot the steam deck and my primary use for it is as a game pass machine. I didn't think it'll be too much of an issue. Yeah you have to muck around with windows interface and use glossi to get controls etc., but I didn't mind all that too much. The problem is that many game pass games don't launch because of the drivers (it seems Valve provides very old drivers). I know there are some alternate drivers that people use but I haven't tried them yet.
Valve says they will support native dual boot some day and hopefully they'll provide better drivers then. But till then, if you are looking for something that's primarily a game pass machine I would recommend you go with Legion Go or ROG Ally.
They've been saying this since day 1 that they will support dual os boot. I don't buy it. It serves in their best interest to have users use steam front end vs Xbox gamepass etc where players don't have to "pay" for each game.
I have the Ally, Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. The Legion Go is the best by far. The Ally feels like a cheap toy after you hold this thing. Haven't noticed any issues with VRR and I think that concern is overblown. Admittedly, I haven't played through my whole game library yet but even AAA games play great. I bought mine open box - excellent and it arrived in new condition, so I'm glad I went that route. Watched an unboxing on YouTube to confirm I had plastic and stickers in all the same places.
Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
6gb is already an option with newest and official bios.
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I have a launch Steam Deck and I bought a Legion Go during BF.
The Steam Deck is GREAT as a handheld gaming device. SteamOS + Big Picture makes for a fantastic easy to use experience for on the go gaming. If you want something plug n play that you can just use to play most of your Steam Library the Steam Deck is the way to go. But if you want to boot into Windows or want to play an Epic or EA game (or Blizzard for that matter) it just isn't that easy.
I got Wine running on it but some update a while back broke compatibility. I got Windows running off of both an SD card and an external NVME, but the lack of native dual boot kinda sucks.
The Legion Go IS a more versatile device. I am currently using it as a desktop/laptop replacement plugged into my eGPU. The dual TB4 ports makes this possible. And if I want to spend like 2 hours undocked, it is a serviceable handheld device. The giant screen is very nice, and the Z1 Extreme is much better than the APU in the steam deck.
The Legion Space software isn't nearly as seamless as Steam OS. But the latest update makes Space marginally acceptable.
I find myself just using the Legion Go running Steam in Big Picture mode when using it as a handheld. But that makes me miss SteamOS a little (for example the per-game performance profile on the Steam Deck is a FANTASTIC feature that I doubt could be replicated on the Go)
I'm waiting for the possibility of dual booting Windows and SteamOS on the Go. I think that would give me the absolute best of both worlds.
I'm going to keep my Legion Go and give my older kid my Steam Deck for Christmas. The Go is more expensive, but being able to replace my desktop/laptop is a good tradeoff.
EDIT: At low to low-medium performance settings the Steam Deck has much better battery life than the Go. Like I can play old games on the Steam Deck with 3w-5w tdp pretty well and the Deck's battery life is great. However the gap closes once you have to start pumping the TDP for newer/more intensive games.
Last edited by XDecker December 19, 2023 at 03:26 PM.
I wish I could see one in the store to see if the lack of VRR would bother me as much in person as it does in videos. I absolutely LOVE my Ally though. If I didn't have such bad luck with open box items from Best Buy I'd check around for one. Anyone here have an Ally and Go want to comment on the lack of VRR on the Go?
I bought both to test side by side beginning of this month because best buy has returns till middle of jan vs their standard 2 weeks.
If you can might be worth getting the go just to see how it compares.
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Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
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Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
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Forget the steam deck -- it's weak!
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Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
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Valve says they will support native dual boot some day and hopefully they'll provide better drivers then. But till then, if you are looking for something that's primarily a game pass machine I would recommend you go with Legion Go or ROG Ally.
Couple of things to avoid a bad experience:
Update your drivers. - DON'T SKIP THIS
Uninstall windows bloatware
Play in performance mode with the OS in "efficiency" mode. Custom 30W mode doesn't work right when running on battery. Also, the device doesn't perform well (compared to the alternatives) at lower TDPs. So you'll almost always want to play in performance mode.
Use Playnite "fullscreen mode" as your launcher. It's excellent. And the Legion Space app is terrible. As users, we really need to start pushing back on this half-baked crap devs have been launching lately.
Edit: I'll add the community support for this device is nothing like the Steam Deck or even the Ally. If you have a problem, you're probably on your own. That's the worst part.
Edit 2: Change your VRAM in the Bios to 4GB. 6GB option is coming soon with a Bios update. 8GB option is also available now.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank
The Steam Deck is GREAT as a handheld gaming device. SteamOS + Big Picture makes for a fantastic easy to use experience for on the go gaming. If you want something plug n play that you can just use to play most of your Steam Library the Steam Deck is the way to go. But if you want to boot into Windows or want to play an Epic or EA game (or Blizzard for that matter) it just isn't that easy.
I got Wine running on it but some update a while back broke compatibility. I got Windows running off of both an SD card and an external NVME, but the lack of native dual boot kinda sucks.
The Legion Go IS a more versatile device. I am currently using it as a desktop/laptop replacement plugged into my eGPU. The dual TB4 ports makes this possible. And if I want to spend like 2 hours undocked, it is a serviceable handheld device. The giant screen is very nice, and the Z1 Extreme is much better than the APU in the steam deck.
The Legion Space software isn't nearly as seamless as Steam OS. But the latest update makes Space marginally acceptable.
I find myself just using the Legion Go running Steam in Big Picture mode when using it as a handheld. But that makes me miss SteamOS a little (for example the per-game performance profile on the Steam Deck is a FANTASTIC feature that I doubt could be replicated on the Go)
I'm waiting for the possibility of dual booting Windows and SteamOS on the Go. I think that would give me the absolute best of both worlds.
I'm going to keep my Legion Go and give my older kid my Steam Deck for Christmas. The Go is more expensive, but being able to replace my desktop/laptop is a good tradeoff.
EDIT: At low to low-medium performance settings the Steam Deck has much better battery life than the Go. Like I can play old games on the Steam Deck with 3w-5w tdp pretty well and the Deck's battery life is great. However the gap closes once you have to start pumping the TDP for newer/more intensive games.
Forget the steam deck -- it's weak!
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If you can might be worth getting the go just to see how it compares.
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