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YMMV: Legion Go S 8" 120Hz Gaming Handheld - AMD Ryzen Z2 Go - SteamOS - 16GB with 512GB SSD - Steam - Open Box $467.99
$468
$650
28% off
Best Buy
Best BuyDeal Details
Legion Go S 8" 120Hz Gaming Handheld - AMD Ryzen Z2 Go - SteamOS - 16GB with 512GB SSD - Steam - Open Box
Excellent- $506.99
Good- $487.99
Fair- $467.99
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/l...ition=good
Excellent- $506.99
Good- $487.99
Fair- $467.99
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/l...ition=good
Community Notes
About the Poster
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Community Notes
About the Poster
Legion Go S 8" 120Hz Gaming Handheld - AMD Ryzen Z2 Go - SteamOS - 16GB with 512GB SSD - Steam - Open Box
Excellent- $506.99
Good- $487.99
Fair- $467.99
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/l...ition=good
Excellent- $506.99
Good- $487.99
Fair- $467.99
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/l...ition=good
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+9
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Bad Deal
Community Reviews
The Legion Go S SteamOS model is a ready to use handheld that feels like a slightly faster Steam Deck, with a 55.5Wh battery, 512GB SSD, and microSD expansion. It is strongest at lower power settings, where the Z2 Go performs similarly to the Steam Deck, while at full wattage it can edge it out a bit. The main caveat is that the Z2 Go is still viewed as a step back from Z1 Extreme and Z2 Extreme handhelds, and the Windows version has been called buggy. Open box pricing has also been all over the place, with recent mentions from $298 to $369 open box and $450 new, so value depends heavily on local stock.
Handheld gamers who play mostly at 15W, because it performs similarly to a Steam Deck there while offering SteamOS and a larger battery.
Docked players who sometimes use a TV or monitor, because it can pull ahead at 20W+ and is faster than a Steam Deck at higher wattage.
Buyers wanting a ready-to-use SteamOS handheld, because it ships with SteamOS, a decent battery, and no required mods.
Gamers who want the fastest chip in this price range, because the Z2 Go is older Zen 3/RDNA 2 silicon and a Z1E model is faster.
Battery-first handheld buyers, because higher wattage can improve performance but shortens battery life.
Parents buying a first handheld for a child, because the Z2 Go may be overkill when a cheaper Z1 is being considered.
Players expecting Steam Deck-like smoothness, because the handheld can feel buggy and less polished than the Steam Deck.
Common Questions (5)
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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29 Comments
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If you mean APUs on par with dedicated graphics of the same generation, it will be incredibly unlikely. Especially at this power level.
395 Max level chips, which are like 90-95% of a 4060 (so like previous gen mid-tier), are probably possible in 70-100W TDP chips. Much more efficient than two discrete chips, but even these are memory bandwidth limited and use much more power than a weaker APU. That's why you don't seen 395 Max used by mainstream handheld makers
Unless AMD pairs HBM with a very powerful iGPU you wouldn't even get 5070 level performance (or whatever generation is at that year). And if it does happen, it will still suck power pretty fast as to make it impractical. Maybe AMD or Intel/Nvidia will come out with more 395 Max type chips with increased power efficiency. Could be done if they use HBM but it will be quite costly.
You're missing the audience for a handheld gaming PC. No one expects these things to play AAA games at 4K, let alone 2k, and certainly not with maxed settings. Playing on a small handheld with a reasonable weight requires sacrifices.
Expecting an APU to match modern 2025 dGPUs in 3-4 years is unrealistic. Gains have been typically made by die-shrinks and TDP increases. Die shrinks and architecture improvements are the only way mobile chipsets can improve in speed while keeping battery usage reasonable. You won't be waiting 3-4 years... you'll be waiting 5-7. Or more.
I personally think the sweet spot in price to performance are all the cheap open-box Z1 Extreme handhelds we are seeing today. A $380-$400 Z1E ROG Ally with a $30-$80 battery mod makes for a better handheld than everything up to the $650-700 ROG Ally X handhelds in the secondary market. The Xbox Ally is just too expensive at $1000 to recommend today when it gets at best 10-30% better framerstes. The higher the TDP, the tighter the improvement, with the real gains being made at 15w.
You're missing the audience for a handheld gaming PC. No one expects these things to play AAA games at 4K, let alone 2k, and certainly not with maxed settings. Playing on a small handheld with a reasonable weight requires sacrifices.
Expecting an APU to match modern 2025 dGPUs in 3-4 years is unrealistic. Gains have been typically made by die-shrinks and TDP increases. Die shrinks and architecture improvements are the only way mobile chipsets can improve in speed while keeping battery usage reasonable. You won't be waiting 3-4 years... you'll be waiting 5-7. Or more.
I personally think the sweet spot in price to performance are all the cheap open-box Z1 Extreme handhelds we are seeing today. A $380-$400 Z1E ROG Ally with a $30-$80 battery mod makes for a better handheld than everything up to the $650-700 ROG Ally X handhelds in the secondary market. The Xbox Ally is just too expensive at $1000 to recommend today when it gets at best 10-30% better framerstes. The higher the TDP, the tighter the improvement, with the real gains being made at 15w.
But the Z2 Go is a Zen 3+ RDNA 2 CPU fabricated at 6nm. It is not a scaled down version of Z2 Extreme, which is a Zen 5+ RDNA 3.5 CPU fabricated at 4nm. From a technology perspective it's a step backward even from the Z1.
It is very similar to the Steam Deck chip, which is not exactly high praise given that we're comparing it to a system that is 3 years old. But with more execution resources.
At 15 watts it performs very similarly to the Steam Deck. At full wattage it can marginally outperform the Steam Deck at the cost of shortened battery life. At low wattage the Steam Deck pulls fewer watts for total system power, providing better battery life.
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I'm not sure about this particular unit when it comes to battery mods. It comes with a 55.5Wh battery, which should be just enough to not need a mod. This particular handheld looks to be a decent deal, likely to perform like a slightly faster Steam Deck. It's a compelling alternative to the Steam Deck OLED if you get it under $500.
I still prefer the ROG Ally with Z1E for $400, as it's a powerful handheld at higher TDPs. If you sometimes play docked to a TV or monitor, Z1E handhelds are great. If you don't, this Z2 Go should be fine, but a Z2 (non-go) or Z1E will certainly be faster, especially at 20w+ TDPs. Down at 15w or below, they all tend to perform similarly, with only the Z2E chips having the efficiency to really pull ahead.
This Legion Go S is ready to go and doesn't need mods. It already has SteamOS out of the box, a decent 55Wh battery, and it's a solid, tested platform. The 512GB SSD is okay, but a good microSD should provide easy expansion.
If you like tinkering and you're willing to mod, the ROG Ally Z1E open box handhelds at Best Buy are a steal for $400 or less. Just expect to replace that small 40Wh battery for good playtimes. (1 hour+) I also personally view loading SteamOS as a must for handhelds until the Windows handheld experience is widely available and the bugs worked out. The ROG Ally Z1 is a project handheld that can be amazing with enough time and effort. The Ally X is basically what the Ally should have been at launch.
395 Max level chips, which are like 90-95% of a 4060 (so like previous gen mid-tier), are probably possible in 70-100W TDP chips. Much more efficient than two discrete chips, but even these are memory bandwidth limited and use much more power than a weaker APU. That's why you don't seen 395 Max used by mainstream handheld makers
Unless AMD pairs HBM with a very powerful iGPU you wouldn't even get 5070 level performance (or whatever generation is at that year). And if it does happen, it will still suck power pretty fast as to make it impractical. Maybe AMD or Intel/Nvidia will come out with more 395 Max type chips with increased power efficiency. Could be done if they use HBM but it will be quite costly.
Many people will point to the Z2A and say that it's a weak processor. This is the processor on the ASUS ROG XBox Ally. I would avoid it myself. It's essentially the same processor as the one on the 3 year old Steam Deck plus an extra 5w TDP for a total of 20.
-The Z2 Go in the Legion Go S is a little better, but not by much. It can go to 30W in total and has more cores, so it performs better than a Steam Deck. Not amazing, but better.
-There's the Z2 chip. I don't know of any handheld that's using this chip. Please chime in if you know of any. (EDIT: Lenovo Legion Go 2 (cheaper version))
-There's the Z2 Extreme. This is the chip in the new Lenovo Legion Go 2 that's out.
-There's the AI Z2 Extreme. This is the chip in the new ASUS XBox Ally X. But the AI features on it are not yet enabled. It's the same as the one in the Lenovo Legion Go 2 otherwise.
-There's also last generation's Z1 Extreme, which slot in just below the Z2 Extreme processor. This is the one in the original Legion Go, the ASUS ROG Ally, the ASUS ROG Ally X, the new Lenovo Legion Go S (Windows) and the new Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS).
Personally? Go with a Lenovo Legion Go S running the Z1E processor. Best value for new. I would personally choose the one running SteamOS and then if I wanted to, I could install Windows on it or Bazzite, or both. Next best (to me) is the Ally X (non XBox version), then the OG Ally, then the OG LeGo. Personally, I think they're all overpriced now and I would only buy them open box. I own or have owned the SD LCD, SD OLED, Ally, and Ally X.
I agree I just want to note that at 35 watts the 395 Max can score a 6684 timespy graphics score. That's better than a 3050 mobile discrete GPU at full wattage, and 80% of the score of a 4050. So there is a case to be made for handheld enthusiasts to use these higher power APUs. They can still do some pretty incredible things at lower power levels.
Yeah I would agree they are very impressive. And I think that is reaching the level being able to play recent games at decent quality levels with very good framerates. I do think that an APU with a very large iGPU coupled with faster RAM is the way to go for these power limited handhelds. I just don't see a way handhelds ever being able to use a discrete GPU.
However I think APUs will continue to remain behind very powerful top of the line dedicated GPUs, for the simple reason that they have much faster GDDR RAM (even compared to quad channel high speed soldered RAM) and can feed the GPU way more power.
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