Now not even a decade in the past, the speculation of taking part in console-quality (or upper) video video games in a hand held shape issue was once extra aspiration than truth. But, right here we’re in 2025, with Lenovo already launching the sequel to its flagship hand held gaming PC. Time flies!
I am speaking, in fact, in regards to the Lenovo Legion Move 2. Beginning at $1,099, this cell powerhouse has as regards to the entirety you must need in a hand held gaming PC: A formidable AMD Ryzen chip, a big 8.8-inch show, removable controllers with a bevy of auxiliary non-compulsory buttons, and the power to paintings with any PC gaming market you utilize.
That stated…in my temporary time with it, I am questioning if I in truth need any of that stuff in an international the place the relatively sublime (but additionally compromised) Nintendo Transfer 2 exists. Heck, even a Steam Deck OLED, whilst inferior in many ways, is a extra stress-free product to make use of for my gaming wishes. If it is imaginable for a device to have too many options, the Legion Move 2 may well be a just right instance of that.
Lenovo Legion Move 2 has slightly little bit of the entirety
There are more than one fashions of the Legion Move 2 with a variety of specifications, however for starters, here is what’s inside the unit Lenovo supplied Mashable for overview:
AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive processor
8.8-inch OLED show with 1920×1200 answer and 30-144Hz adaptive refresh fee
32GB RAM
1TB garage
Home windows 11 OS out of the field
Apparently, Lenovo arguably downgraded the show slightly from the primary Legion Move. That instrument’s panel was once the similar dimension and had the similar refresh fee, however a better 2560×1600 answer. I will be able to’t say I thoughts that a lot, even though, as I’d argue that you just get diminishing returns previous 1080p or so on the subject of hand held gaming. But even so, decrease display screen answer will most certainly equivalent higher battery lifestyles, even though I have never had sufficient time with the Legion Move 2 to mention that evidently.
The brand new processor additionally guarantees extra horsepower below the hood. I have best been in a position to check a small handful of video games up to now, however early returns are certain, particularly in comparison to the now-kinda-old Steam Deck OLED. Video games like Ultimate Fable VII Remake: Intergrade and The Witcher 3 run at or close to 60 frames according to 2d on decrease graphics settings, even though little hitches right here and there are noticeable. For the ones two video games specifically, that is a small improve over the Steam Deck; FFVII Remake specifically would oscillate between 45 and 60FPS after I performed it on my Steam Deck a pair years in the past.
Mashable Gentle Velocity
Even from the silhouette, you’ll be able to inform that is extra comfy to carry than the primary one.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
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At the device facet, the Legion Move 2 runs Home windows 11 out of the field. There are execs and cons to this. At the upside, it manner you’ll be able to natively set up and play video games from any PC gaming market, be it Steam, Epic Video games Retailer, or Xbox Recreation Move. That choice is significantly much less to be had on a Steam Deck working SteamOS. On the other hand, I’ve to mention I pass over the protected confines of SteamOS. Valve’s customized hand held PC running gadget has a a lot extra touchscreen-friendly interface than Home windows 11. The usage of the traditional desktop model of Steam along with your arms directly up blows.
My colleague Zackery Cuevas at PCMag additionally famous in a Legion Move 2 hands-on piece lately that the SteamOS model of the unique Legion Move noticed particularly higher sport efficiency than the Home windows fashion. Whether or not that will be the case with Legion Move 2 or no longer is simply hypothesis at this level, however that is value preserving in thoughts, at any fee.
At the {hardware} finish, Legion Move 2 is beautiful complete. It has got the standard array of analog sticks, shoulder buttons, and face buttons, however there also are a large number of non-compulsory mappable buttons at the facets and again of the instrument. There also are six different buttons at the entrance of the instrument that do such things as open the Legion Move-specific library hub for your whole video games, transfer between open home windows, and pull up a at hand UI that allows you to exchange answer and refresh fee at the fly.
Identical to the former Legion Move (and Transfer), the controllers also are removable. I wish to spend extra time with this selection sooner than I will be able to say a lot about its efficacy, however I am positive some folks gets quite a few use out of that. That undoubtedly units it aside from different hand held gaming PCs, if not anything else. There are round LED lighting fixtures surrounding each and every analog stick that illuminate and alter colour, too, which is amusing. Lenovo has additionally long past and made the instrument extra ergonomic within the arms, a welcome exchange from the weirdly angular authentic Legion Move.
However I believe much less may well be extra every now and then
Now that I have coated the entirety the Legion Move 2 can do, I think the wish to say that it in truth looks like slightly a lot in the beginning blush.
As an example, all of the ones additional buttons are great to have in concept, however for my cash, they are slightly too simple to unintentionally press during play. Fortunately, they do not do the rest via default, however for those who occur to map them by some means, I will be able to see it changing into frustrating. All of that plus the power to detach the controllers additionally manner the instrument, via necessity, has to have numerous actual property, for lack of a higher time period. It is simply very large and ponderous, which might were extra tolerable had I no longer spent the previous few months being used to the Nintendo Transfer 2.
It is difficult to knock the Legion Move 2 an excessive amount of, particularly compared to the Transfer 2, a tool that prices so much much less, however too can do so much much less. Legion Move 2’s library of doable video games is larger than Transfer 2’s via a number of orders of magnitude, and it is most likely significantly extra tough, as smartly. However within the early phases of checking out the Legion Move 2, I am knowing that possibly I do not care about that. I believe I care extra about shape issue and style than horsepower and tertiary options. In spite of everything, my Transfer 2 is most certainly by no means going to inform me {that a} sport I personal for it’s incompatible with the device’s graphics {hardware}, which is unusually what took place after I attempted to play Halo Countless on Legion Move 2.
I’m going to have a complete overview with extra expanded ideas at the Legion Move 2 quickly, however for now, I am questioning if possibly I am simply no longer the objective target audience for it.
