Customers praise the Legion Go S 8" for its overall performance and impressive screen quality. Its portability and comfortable design are also appreciated. However, some customers have expressed concerns about the battery life, and noise level. Some customers also feel that the device is heavy.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I like this version of legion go. It comes with SteamOs. Turn it on and you got steam running can load up games quick with no hassle. I bought the 500GB and decided to upgrade my storage. I was able to dual-boot into windows got Fortnite to about 100 fps. This device is cool, you can take it anywhere. I’m able to run bo3 zombies and expedition 33 with ease. It’s really good for indie games. Does drain battery with high performance games but does it slowly. You get to game for a couple hours which is good. The fan does sound a little loud but it’s okay, kids are louder.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hi,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are glad to read that you are satisfied with your purchase.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page or contact Lenovo Support should you have any questions or need assistance.
Regards, Lenovo
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance, Portability
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great alternative
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I was very pleased with the Steamos version of the Legion Go S Z2Go model. It runs great, easy to get into desktop mode and install other software, and most importantly you don’t have to deal with microsoft windows. I had a Rog Ally and returned it because of windows. Considered getting rhe Ally X, but once again I hate windows even with software like Playnite, which was not a good alternative. The 55 watt battery life can suffer if you’re playing more demanding games such as Skyrim or one of my recent favorites, South of Midnight. For what it is though, I appreciate Lenovo working with Valve to bring this handheld. Still not completely happy with the current pricing for handhelds, including this one but I bought it open box. Future handhelds: better battery life and affordability.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hey Courtney,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are glad to read that you are very pleased with the Legion Go S. We appreciate your comments regarding power efficiency and pricing. We wish to provide the best product possible at a competitive price, and this will be considered for future improvements.
Please feel free to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page should you have any questions or need assistance.
Best, Lenovo
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance, Screen quality
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best Possible Streaming Device in 2025
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Steam Deck 2 who?? Oh right the Legion Go S Z2 that’s who!
This device is a beast! Native SteamOS should be standard for all handhelds.
I use it for streaming games from my main PC.
These x86 devices are designed for streaming and it shows when you can use them in person.
I can stream 1920x1200 for hours on end without having to worry about battery life. When emulating retro games you can also expect insane battery life.
However for actual pc games expect 1hr 30min on avg. but again I believe GoS was made for streaming and it does it so incredibly well.
Bright and beatiful LCD screen which puts my OLED iPhone 16 to shame.
Nice controls, the trackpad works really surprisingly well for how small it is and good haptics.
Streaming is the future and the future is here with the legion go s!
(Case, Stickers, and thumb sticks all from dbrand.)
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hey CutterA,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are glad to read that the Legion Go S is unmatched for your use.
Please feel free to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page should you have any questions or need assistance.
Best, Lenovo
Pros mentioned:
Comfort, Storage capacity
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Z2 Go model is more than enough. 8/10
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
First time experiencing PC gaming on a handheld, and I'm extremely impressed. After researching, I was leaning towards the Z1 Extreme, but this model does everything I need. I upgraded the storage to a 4TB NVMe drive, which was a straightforward process. I have plenty of space for both retro and modern gaming. Almost all games run at 60fps or higher, depending on the title. For games that struggled around 30-45 FPS, I used a software called lossless scaling, which somehow improved the FPS. The Legion Go S feels comfortable in my hands, and the battery life is decent. It pairs well with my Beats Studio earbuds. I have my Spotify library downloaded for listening to music while gaming and installed Vacummtube for watching YouTube.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance, Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
The Little Engine That Can
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I've never had a handheld gaming system but this little fellow is quite a delight! It may be the entry-level Legion Go S but it packs quite a graphical punch. I spun up The Witcher 3 and was quite shocked by the fidelity of Kaer Morhen on this 8in. screen, ditto the ease which I could traverse Night City in Cyberpunk 2077. I also love the fact that I can use it as a genuine Linux desktop if I want, and the level of customization on this device is incredible. I have barely scratched the surface of its functionality and am very pleased with this purchase. Next stop, slap a 4TB NVME inside and dual-boot SteamOS and Windows, just because it expands my options even further. 10/10.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Legion go s 60 day review
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great for older games runs good on performance mode battery life is great when playing on emudeck battery does suffer when running red dead redemption 2 or Forza horizon 5. My only complaint is it doesn’t run those games as well as I thought with the FPS dipping to 40-50 on RDR2 or even GTAV. Other than that I’ve had no issues. I got it for $449 so it was a great buy unless your going to play more demanding titles I’d say this is a good buy instead of the go 2 with the better chip and more RAM
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Comfort, Portability
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
A great purchase
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The battery life is a bit lacking but it isn't a huge deal to have it plugged in while playing. It's comfortable and easy to use
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hi Erik-
Thank you for choosing Lenovo and sharing your feedback with us. We are excited to hear that you are enjoying the Legion Go S. We aim to provide excellent user experience for our products, and we would love to recommend a few actions you can take to improve your experience.
Firstly, the Legion Go comes with the ability to Thermal Modes based off the user's needs. To start we launch the hexagonal Options key located on the right controller. Under the Thermal Modes you can select Quiet Mode which will enhance battery life and reduce fan noise. You can also adjust the onscreen resolution under the Resolution tab allowing for enhanced performance and longer battery life when set to the lower resolution options.
Please reach out to us through the Q & A section of this product page if you have any questions or need assistance.
Best wishes, Lenovo
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance, Screen quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
SteamOS Delivers
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Experience is pretty solid, and the performance is very noticeably better than the steam deck - which becomes much apparent when docked. The docked experience is glitchy in regards to audio though, with a lot of constant cutout while docked only (tested on Visions of Mana). The console feels good in your hands initially, but it doesnt have the grippiness of the steam deck so it is a little easier to let slip through your hands. Had a few instances where a bluetooth xbox controller would control the menus until i started a game, and then i was not able to navigate the menus to close the game. The increased screen size is a huge improvement over the OG deck, and id say the screen quality, colors, and brightness are also improved over the OG steam deck. Overall, this is a solid handheld that im happy to own, and im certain the remaining bugs will be ironed out as SteamOS becomes more mature on other devices. Kudos to Lenovo and Valve.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hey LeeG,
Thank you for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are glad to hear that this Legion Go S delivers a great overall experience for you. Regarding intermittent audio in docked mode and other notes, we will share your comments with the respective teams to be reviewed.
Please feel free to reach out to us should you have any questions or need assistance.
Best, Lenovo
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Game compatibility
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Aggressively average, just like me
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
AAA games:
Low settings, dropped resolution in most cases.
20-40 fps
40-80 fps with frame gen
1-2 hours on battery
Emulation:
30-120fps
Upscaling to 1080p and higher is possible
Compatibilty starts to fall off at 360 and PS3
3-6 hours on battery
Indies:
Run on a toaster, no problem here.
Great device to pick up on sale, I repeat ON SALE
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Does what I want it to
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Decided to get this instead of a Switch 2 since there weren't really any games out that interested me. That, and games on steam tend to go on sale much more frequently than 1st party Nintendo games. I'm not playing any super graphically intensive games. Mostly indie games aside from Digimon Story: Time Stranger, which runs totally fine on it. The only real gripe is the atrocious battery life. I always have to make sure I'm within range of an outlet. Other than that, it works fine.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hi JANELLEG,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us! We're sorry to hear that the battery life fell short for you. We strive to provide the best experience possible, so we'd like to share some tips on how to help with this.
Regarding the battery life, depending on the demand of the game you're playing, by pressing the Legion R button to launch the quick menu, you can switch to lower power mode to save battery. In the menu, under the performance tab, users can toggle thermal modes and prioritize battery life by using the default mode or creating a custom thermal mode should you not be satisfied with the 3 presets. These adjustments can also be made by going into Legion Space > Settings (Legion Space can be launched quickly by pressing the Legion L button (Legion Logo above the button).
We are pleased to read that the Legion Go S is otherwise working fine for you overall.
Please feel free to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page should you have any questions or need further assistance, as your satisfaction is important to us.
Best, Lenovo
Cons mentioned:
Noise level
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Armchair Fun
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Got this as a open box excellent condition for 479.00!! What a deal! I wanted the Steam OS didn’t need the z1 processor. Plays my Steam games like Cyberpunk, Baulders Gate, Diablo 4 smoothly. I read a review the fan’s are load..they are a little load but doesn’t matter to me but some folks it could. All in all im very glad I waited for this from Leveno and very pleased with my purchase.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hi there,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are pleased to read that you are quite satisfied with your purchase.
Please feel free to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page should you have any questions or need assistance.
Best, Lenovo
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing Performance
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
As a lover of indie games and emulation, I knew the Z2 Go would give me adequate performance for my needs. I regularly run Hades II, Balatro, Risk of Rain, Dave the Diver and Dead Cells on this at native resolution and 120fps. I’ve also ran some AAA games on this thing and I’ve been surprised by the results, such as DOOM Eternal running at 70-100fps and Cyberpunk running at a steady 60fps. Emulation is also a thing of beauty on this device. I’m very happy with my purchase and I havent put it down since I reveived it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance, Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great intro handheld
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great power for price
Handles games amazingly
Screen is beautiful
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Terrible microsd performance, Great Otherwise
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Photo makes it seem smudge prone but you genuinely only see it when taking flash photography in the dark.
May return it, but overall it's great, suprisingly compact and I wouldn't want a smaller screen, it's perfect for most games and the touch screen and touchpad thing are usable/useful when necessary
My issue is the space, the microsd reader is terrible and every game/rom stuttters. The appeal to me for this device is being able to quickly open any compatible game in my library and it surpasses 512 easily. Only one lighter older game worked off the sd card out of the many I tested, and even that one had slow load times, ocasional stutters, and a crash that led me to give up on using the sd card slot for gaming. Kinda rough since steamos advertises this as a feature where you can swap sd cards between devices, yet its slow, doesn't work, and you are better off redownloading if quickly accessing the games is the goal.
I did have the r2 get stuck the day I bought it, but that went away by itself when I went to box it up the next day.
I got used to the controller layout and now prefer the ergonomics over my dualsense, but the buttons and triggers could feel better.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance
Cons mentioned:
Noise level
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Yargghh
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Posted . Owned for 3 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Works perfectly, seamless setup, bought it before traveling for summer, great in airports, fan a little loud doe
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Lenovo Product Expert
Posted .
Hi Rick,
Thanks for choosing Lenovo and for sharing your feedback with us!
We are pleased to read that the Legion Go S is working perfectly for you.
Please feel free to reach out to us via the Q& A section of this product page should you have any questions or need assistance.
Best, Lenovo
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great gaming experience ,better then steam deck
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great gaming on the handheld a Case along with the purchase would have been great order one from Amazon much better price.
It's not as powerful as the Extreme version but this one is cheaper and still has the power I needed to play any verified steam deck game and plays a bit better then the steam deck imo
Also great for emulation of older titles great device
Feels good in the hand with the hand grips fan can get a little loud but controlling it with the Becky settings fix it it does keep the device nice and cool while holding it .
Battery life not so bad with AAA expect about a little over a hour ! Longer game time depends on the game you play .
Also storage could be better internal storage. but easily fixed with a micro SD I would recommend
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Handheld
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This version has SteamOS and for me this is the biggest advantage, but also the biggest limitation. I learned to install games from Epic Games, external sources and Emulators which this console runs really well. The screen is great, the brightness, the refresh rate and the size is just amazing. I played triple A titles like Hogwarts Legacy and RDR2 and, at the right settings, they play really well. On the emulator side it work really well playing current handheld titles from other brands. I got a Dock, an external 1TB SSD and a wireless 2.4 controll, keyboard and mouse (which for me are a must) and it makes it a full computer or a home gaming console. Overall great device, I compared the ergonomics with other offers in the market and while it is not that pocket sized, it feels great in your hands.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellet device for entry into the handheld space
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Very solid little device, shines best when you dual boot windows to have acces to some anticheat games. Absolutely great ergonomics best feeling handheld to carry by far.
Dont expect the world from this thing, its small and lightweight and you cant expect to be running 4k 60 on AAA titles but if ypu manage expectations will you have a great experience with this device.
SteamOS runs fantastic by default, windows is eh but functional. Easy to expand storage if need be and battery life is solid for what it is.
If your looking for a solid handheld for a decent price. This is it, great screen, great ergonomics, beautiful design.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Lenovo LEGION GO S
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
You can play any game on this handheld that you can play on a computer from the steam library. I bought this for my 14 y/o grandson for Christmas after my son did a lot of research on it. He has a PlayStation 5, gaming laptop, Xbox, and switch. He was not familiar with the Legion but was ecstatic when he opened it and found out what he could do with it. It makes him more mobile with his gaming w/o having to take the big gaming laptop if we are traveling. It does have to be attached to WiFi for online gaming but you can also download games to it for playing offline. I would say it is for older teens that are advanced in gaming technology to the adult age group. We are very satisfied with our purchase.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Overall performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Better than the steam deck?
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is a definite buy. The store front is well organized you can hop straight in get the games that u been missing and it's surprisingly a powerful hand held for what it is. You get five stars