Lenovo Legion Go vs Asus ROG Ally: Which handheld gaming PC is better for you?

• 

  Lenovo Legion Go

  Exciting potential

  The Lenovo Legion Go might be one of the most interesting gaming handhelds yet, boasting a giant 8.8-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It also has detachable controllers, including one that has a trackpad that you can use as a mouse.

  Pros

  • Has detachable controllers
  • Has faster RAM
  • Has a better screen and refresh rate

  Cons

  • Not yet for sale
  • Bigger, higher-resolution screen could be bad for battery life

• 

  ASUS ROG Ally

  Solid Windows handheld

  The Asus ROG Ally is a handheld gaming PC that’s seeking to be a major rival to Valve’s Steam Deck. It runs on Windows, and comes with AMD Ryzen Z1 processors. It also has a sharp Full HD display and a 120Hz refresh rate.

  Pros

  • Slightly more portable
  • Powerful thanks to the Ryzen Z1 CPUs
  • Gaming-centric design

  Cons

  • Windows has its quirks
  • Display isn’t as sharp as the Legion Go

These days, handheld gaming PCs are all the rage. The Steam Deck is arguably the one that kicked off this trend, but there have since been plenty of Steam Deck alternatives. Two of the newest that you might want to consider are the Lenovo Legion Go and the Asus ROG Ally. The Legion Go brings new features like detachable controllers and the option to use the controllers as a mouse. That said, the Asus ROG Ally is a strong competitor to the Steam Deck since it’s a bit more portable and powerful. But which one should you get? We’re here for you to dig deeper into all the differences between these two Windows handheld systems.

Lenovo Legion Go vs Asus ROG Ally: Pricing and availability

We have some rough news in the availability department. While you can go out and buy the Asus ROG Ally right now, the Lenovo Legion Go is not yet available for sale.

The Asus ROG Ally is for sale at Best Buy in the U.S. for $700. This will be the high-end model with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip and 512GB of SSD storage. Asus announced a lower-end model with the regular Ryzen Z1 and 256GB of storage, which starts at $600, but it’s not for sale yet.

Meanwhile, the Lenovo Legion Go is set to start at $700. Lenovo didn’t detail the configurations for the lower-end model, but we assume it’ll be with a Ryzen Z1 CPU, 16GB RAM, and 256GB of storage. Of course, higher-end models could cost more when you factor in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme and the additional storage options of 512GB or 1TB.

• 	ASUS ROG Ally	Lenovo Legion Go
  Dimensions	11.02 x 4.37 x 0.83-1.28 inches (280 x 111 x 21.2-32.4mm)	Starting at 8.27 x 5.15 x 0.79 inches (210.05 x 130.81 x 20.06mm)
  Weight	1.34 pounds (608 grams)	Starting at 1.41 pounds (640 grams)
  Chipset	Up to AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme (8 cores, 16 threads)	Up to AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme (8 cores, 16 threads, up to 5.1GHz, 16MB L3 cache)
  RAM	16GB LPDDR5	16GB LPDDR5x 7500Mhz
  Storage	Up to 512GB SSD	256GB, 512GB, 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD
  Display	7-inch IPS, 1920×1080, 120Hz refresh rate, touch	8.8-inch IPS, 16:10 aspect ratio, Quad HD+ (2560×1600), 144Hz refresh rate, 97% DCI-P3, 500 nits, touch
  Graphics	AMD RDNA 3-based graphics, 4 or 12 CUs	AMD RDNA 3 Graphics (up to 12 cores)
  Ports	1x USB-C, 1x ROG Xg Mobile interface, 3.5mm headphone jack	2x USB4 (one on top, one at the bottom) 3.5mm headphone jack microSD card reader

Design

When it comes to the design, the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally are on different pages. The latter is a single unit with built-in controllers, while the Legion Go has detachable controllers. Just press a button at the back of the controller to release them, and then pull out the kickstand on the rear, similar to the Nintendo Switch.

Physically speaking, the Legion Go is also a much beefier system that might be uncomfortable to hold for some people. With controllers attached, it measures 11.8 inches in length and about 1.61 inches thick. It weighs about 1.88 pounds with the controllers attached. The base module without the controllers is about 8.27 inches in length, 0.79 inches thick, and 1.41 pounds. This Lenovo handheld also comes in a sleek Shadow Black color.

On the other hand, the Asus ROG Ally is more compact. You can’t detach the controllers on this unit, but it measures 11.02 inches in length, 0.83 inches thick, and weighs about 1.34 pounds. As for the color, the Asus ROG Ally comes in white.

The SSDs inside the units are also different. The Lenovo Legion Go uses the M.2 2242 SSD size, which is ar relatively new form factor compared to the M.2 2230 SSD in the Asus ROG Ally. This means upgrading your device down the line will be trickier on the Legion Go.

Overall, we’re leaning towards the Legion Go when it comes to the design here since it has extra features. However, the Asus ROG Ally will be great for those who need a system that’s more portable.

Controllers

As we’ve already mentioned, the Lenovo Legion Go has detachable controllers, while the Asus ROG Ally does not. However, both systems have the Xbox-style ABXY layout and a dedicated D-pad, which is what’s usually preferred for PC gaming.

The Legion Go’s controllers might be pretty similar to the ones with the Nintendo Switch, but there’s no way to join the controllers together when detached. You can also use the right controller on the Legion Go in FPS mode since it has an optical sensor on the underside. Just slot it into the included holster, flip the switch on the bottom, and you’ll be able to use it for FPS games more easily. More notably, there’s a touchpad on the side of the right controller and a mouse wheel on the back to help make navigating Windows 11 easier. Finally, the thumbstick on the controller uses Hall sensors, which is a magnetic sensor, to avoid stick drift. That thumbstick also has RGB lighting that you can customize in software.

The Asus ROG Ally controls are a little less impressive. Obviously, you can’t detach the controller. which, as we noted in our review, means the controller might be prone to damage and hardware effects. There’s also no touchpad on the ROG Ally, so you’ll have to use the thumbstick or the touchscreen for navigation. There is RGB, though, which is all but necessary for such a cool gaming system.

Display

The differences between these devices continue with the display. The Legion Go sports a bigger, higher-resolution display than the one on the ROG Ally. Of course, you might end up tuning its settings down to get better frames in games, but it’s still a fact that the Legion Go has the best display in a mainstream handheld Windows-powered gaming PC right now.

The Legion Go features an 8.8-inch IPS touch display tuned to the 16:10 aspect ratio. It has a 2560×1600 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate that gets up to 500 nits of brightness. Such a big screen is for sure going to be more immersive, giving you more room to see what’s happening in your favorite games. The 144Hz refresh rate is nice, too, since it’ll make your games look smooth. If you’re the technical type, Lenovo claims the panel can hit 97% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

The ROG Ally, however, has a smaller display: a 7-inch IPS touch display turned to a much lower 1920×1080 resolution and a slower 120Hz refresh rate. Your games might not end up looking quite as crisp here, but the lower resolution is ideal for playing games at better settings. It also helps make the device a bit more manageable in your hands. Color accuracy on the Asus ROG Ally is rated at 80% of DCI-P3, which still isn’t as good as what you’d get on the Legion Go but will be solid for most games.

Performance

It’s worth noting at the top of this section that both run on Windows 11. This might sound great at first since that means you can run games from just about any PC-gaming platform, including Steam, Xbox Game Pass, and the Epic Games Store. However, Windows isn’t optimized for touchscreens just yet, so navigating the interface can be tricky.

Besides the Lenovo Legion Go using slightly more battery-efficient, data-efficient, and higher bandwidth LPDDR5x RAM, there shouldn’t be too many performance differences between the ROG Ally and the Legion Go. Both of these systems share the same two AMD Ryzen Z1 series processors. As powerful as they are, though, this is still a mobile CPU, so you’ll have to keep expectations in check. You’re not going to get gaming laptop-level performance, and you’ll need to turn settings to medium to low and change scaling and aspect ratios.

We haven’t gotten our hands on the Legion Go yet, but as we noted in our ROG Ally review, performance should be on par with a laptop with an Intel i7-10750H paired with a GTX 1650. Titles like Grand Theft Auto V, Hades, and Outer Wilds all should run fine on either system when settings are tuned down to 720p or even 1080p.

I’d choose the Lenovo Legion Go

We don’t know much about when it’ll go on sale yet other than an October launch, but the Lenovo Legion Go is definitely shaping up to be better than the Asus ROG Ally. It’s a lot more versatile since it has detachable controllers. It also has faster RAM, which should make a small difference in performance and battery life. Finally, it has a bigger, better screen.

Lenovo Legion Go

The better handheld

The Lenovo Legion Go might be one of the most interesting gaming handhelds yet, boasting a giant 8.8-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It also has detachable controllers, including one that has a trackpad that you can use as a mouse.

But if you need a handheld gaming PC that’s more portable, then the Asus ROG Ally will still do the trick. It’s compact and still has great performance. And, thanks to the power of Windows 11, you can pretty much play any game you might imagine.

ASUS ROG Ally

A more portable handheld

The Asus ROG Ally is a handheld gaming PC that’s seeking to be a major rival to Valve’s Steam Deck. It runs on Windows, and comes with AMD Ryzen Z1 processors. It also has a sharp Full HD display and a 120Hz refresh rate.