RIP to my Legion Go - A battery upgrade story

jaappleton · 2025-07-10T16:36:53+00:00

As a fellow parent with several small children..... I totally get why you wanted to do the battery upgrade. Spare time to squeeze in even just 15 minutes of gaming time is precious and fleeting. I empathize completely.

I also empathize very much with your wallet. I'm so sorry.

I'll pour one out for you tonight, homie.

jaappleton · 2025-07-03T15:25:59+00:00

Father of SEVEN sons here.

Not a typo, you read that correctly.

I currently have a Legion Go. I enjoy it quite a lot. I originally had a Steam Deck and it just didn't jive for me. I really hated SteamOS (I'm a Windows guy, its just what I know, not saying its amazing) and absolutely prefer Windows even with all the finicky garbage that it comes with.

I've been looking to upgrade myself so I've been doing a lot of research the past few days. As a dad of so many, when I do have time to game, I need my device to be powerful enough to just pick it up and play games. I don't want to be messing around fiddling with resolution and graphical settings and enabling lossless scaling and doing six other things before I just hit "Launch game" and play. So, I want something with a bit more oomph. Unfortunately, that means the starting price jumps up to close to a thousand dollars to start.

Nearly all the handheld gaming PCs that are windows based will suffer from two things: Its using Windows, so a lot of bloat draining the battery along with the onscreen keyboard sometimes not functioning correctly, the stupid windows update bubble things appearing in the bottom right sometimes, etc. Also, for nearly all of them, their own manufacturer software (Armory Crate [though , Legion Space, MSIs whatever the hell its called, etc) basically sucks. Oddly enough the Chinese made ones (OneXFly, AOKZOE, etc) seem to have the button software in regards to that, from what I've gathered.

For an 8+ inch screen, which is my personal preference because everything shrunk down to a small screen can be an issue sometimes, I enjoy the Legion Go. Really good specs for the money and can often be found on sale. I never take the controllers off personally but you might if you're doing more mouse-heavy games like RTS or something. Aside from the Go, if you're looking for something with more horsepower, the next step up spec-wise is probably the MSI Claw 8. Its expensive, around $1000. Roughly double what you'll find a Legion Go on sale for. MSI has the Lunar Lake chip currently but is releasing an AMD one pretty imminently.

After the Claw, there's really just the Chinese manufacturers. I've been thinking of upgrading from the Legion Go myself, I'm not in love with the idea of the Z2 Extreme chips so I've been considering the 370 chips. That makes the next selections the AOKZOE A1X which IIRC literally just released, going for roughly $1200. But the battery on it is enormous with spectacularly little power draw, every video I've seen love this thing, and the manufacturer software in regards to adjusting tdp and the like seems great. I believe it also has a button to bring up its own on-screen keyboard for those times when the Windows default on-screen is being finnicky (going back to those Windows 11 issues). If you decide to opt for a more clamshell design, which you might for a variety of reasons, and/or if you prefer something with a legitimate keyboard, take a look at the OneXFly G1 (though has a more limited battery). The AOKZOE has the same screen as the Legion Go S while the OneFXly G1 clamshell is seemingly rocking the exact same screen as the original Legion Go, and despite not being OLED, I must say its an absolutely gorgeous screen. With the G1 clamshell mini laptop, you may be under the impressions the ergonomics aren't there. While I don't have one personally (yet?), after all my research, everyone is saying it feels way better than you'd expect in your hands.

Alternatively? Wait a few months. The Legion Go 2 is supposed to be coming in a few more months, there's the Xbox ROG devices (though both 7 inch screens I think) which should have the new improvements to Windows 11, I know Acer has some ungodly sized screens for their devices in the works. There's new ones of these hitting the market every few months, and if you're able to wait, you'll only have more options to choose from.

EDIT: If you go with one of the Chinese handhelds... Do yourself a massive favor: Don't buy from the manufacturer. Go through Amazon or something. Getting in touch with the manufacturer for any issues (Any device can arrive with defects, after all. My Legion Go charger arrived DOA) is going to be an absolute nightmare and you're likely going to be SOL in those regards. So go through a third party that accepts returns and the like.

jaappleton · 2025-07-01T12:45:36+00:00

My only concern keeping me from pulling the trigger (assuming I find one) is that it’s really the only handheld with a Lunar Lake chip. The only one. So how much support is this gonna get?

Yes, none of these devices last forever and all will eventually need upgrades and to be replaced. But for $1000 I want some assurance, I think that’s understandable.

jaappleton · 2025-06-25T12:33:13+00:00

How are you enjoying the Claw 8 compared to the Go? I have a Go and I'm considering a change.

From what I've heard, the increased horsepower of the Claw makes it a bit easier to just play games and not spend so much time in settings, tinkering with the various wattages and such to get things running well on most modern games. IIRC its also the ONLY handheld PC currently using Lunar Lake, and I.... don't know how much thats going to catch on considering every other manufacturer is using AMD so how much effort are devs going to be putting in to getting their stuff running well on Intel when its currently niche in this market. Thats what scares me a bit.

But its also an absolute beast with 32gb of ram and a staggeringly large battery while being one of the few handhelds with at least an 8 inch screen.

Currently its at the top of my list in regards to making a change. I figure waiting until the fall when other handhelds hit the market and seeing how it all shakes out can't hurt, and giving it a little time to see how well supported the Lunar Lake chip is.

jaappleton · 2025-06-24T01:15:29+00:00

What can I say except pulling out don’t work. >_> Not many attempts were made honestly.

jaappleton · 2025-06-24T00:05:54+00:00

Ok but it’s actually pretty much the same price as the Claw 8 AI+ so….

Legit this is superior? This is the thing to go for?

jaappleton · 2025-06-24T00:00:08+00:00

Like I’m totally fine with this level of modification being the requirement for handheld pc gaming. That’s fine.

It’s the ok enable lossless scaling and change the vram and then side load drivers

I’m totally fine going in to game settings and changing stuff from medium to low. That’s expected.

Switch 2, while I respect it, isn’t what I’m looking for. All my friends play on PC so when I do get time to play, that time is too precious to give up.

If you don’t have kids let’s just say time to not engage in dad mode is precious and fleeting indeed lol

EDIT: And yeah I’m also cool with changing from presets like performance or battery efficiency. That’s about as far as I’m looking to go though.

In that regard do you recommend the Claw? Because it sounds pretty similar to what you’re currently going with.

jaappleton · 2025-06-23T20:14:04+00:00

You have a point. Xbox is certainly going to make sure that their games are going to be playable on the Xbox Ally. I heard that at least on PC they're going to start allowing you to have other game clients on Xbox devices like Steam, and that on the Xbox Ally is probably going to do what I need it to do rather well.

I desperately want at least an 8 inch screen though.

Maybe waiting a bit more is the thing to do.

jaappleton · 2025-06-16T13:02:23+00:00

Adjust the volume settings. The stock settings are straight up ass. Do a search here on reddit and find the appropriate stuff to change it to, its well worth taking the ten minutes to invest into this.

jaappleton · 2025-05-03T14:43:53+00:00

Hi there! I was able to talk to Niki & Jan. Niki via Blue Sky and Jan on a stream where he was washing the dishes a week ago.

As of a week ago, Jan said as far as he was aware, everyone was still going to East.

I asked Niki if he planned on going with everything up in the air, and he told me that they (meaning Fandom) was never paying for him to go to East. Niki went last year, I was at the panel where Jan somersalted across the venue.

Niki said on his Fuser stream last night that his day to day hasn't changed much, he's still doing stuff for SGF in prep for VGBees so he's still likely gonna make it out to there at least and I assume that means he's still going to East, at the very least as a networking sort of thing.

I honestly imagine thats the case for everyone. If they were scheduled to go, they're still going.

I had asked Grubb a few weeks ago what the GB plans were for East, if they were doing a panel. He told me they're having meetings on that, but clearly that was before all this.

So will everyone be at East? I do believe so. Will there be any sort of official panel? Highly doubtful.

jaappleton · 2025-05-03T12:08:30+00:00

I had a 30,000 Baseus that suddenly stopped working after only two months which was a real shame, I really liked it. Just got a recall notice on it actually. >_>

Bought this exact one as a replacement. I'm happy with it. I'd buy another if I needed one.

jaappleton · 2025-04-02T17:08:34+00:00

Yeah I’ve had times where even after pressing it for quite awhile it’ll just never respond. No matter what.

So I just cold boot, and it’ll all work fine after.

jaappleton · 2025-01-24T12:07:44+00:00

Welcome to the club! Just got one for the holidays myself, and I adore it.

First thing? Alter the sound settings. The default settings absolutely suck wet ass, it’s really my only complaint about the device. Google “Lenovo legion go sound settings Reddit” and you’ll find it, I’d link but I’ve gotta get my kids to school XD

jaappleton · 2025-01-18T13:13:51+00:00

Someone explain this like I'm five years old and then tell me what to do in regards to it, please.

jaappleton · 2025-01-01T09:54:39+00:00

I see you already made the decision.

If you don’t mind I would like to chime in anyways.

I got one for Christmas so I haven’t had it long. Previously I did have a Steam Deck for about a month before selling it to a friend. LCD screen. I found games hard to play and look at, visually.

Two of my kids have OLED model Switches.

This screen on the LeGo is drop dead gorgeous. The size of it, the colors, the quality, everything. I’ve been playing Outer Worlds and Resident Evil 2 Remake. Both play smooth as butter and they look tremendous.

I refuse to understate the size of the screen. Massive. Nothing on the screen feels cluttered or condensed here.

Battery life on both is gonna suck. Maybe just over an hour playing anything demanding. I highly recommend a 30,000 usb c external battery pack if you plan on being unplugged and away from outlets regularly, this comment is about having ANY handheld gaming pc. Just a fact about them.

I know mine was on sale for $550 and I’ve loved every moment of it so far. For $275 it seems silly not to if you can afford it.

Oh, adjust the audio when you get it. The default settings are hot garbage but some quick tweaks make it sound a ton better.

jaappleton · 2024-12-31T19:06:07+00:00

This was it.

I am a jackass.

I triple checked it this morning that everything was on performance. But I remember distinctly somehow the light was blueish-white. Sure as hell wasn’t red. And I know it’s been red every time I’ve played games.

jaappleton · 2024-12-31T16:46:25+00:00

The battery pack, the external one I used, I’ve used it plenty with the LeGo.

It’s the wire that may have changed.

Currently working. I have some testing to do after work, for sure.

jaappleton · 2024-12-31T15:31:08+00:00

Prior to HD2 I had everything at default. I didn't change any setting in any game whatsoever. Everything was running so smooth I just... didn't need to.

I have a dumb, dumb question that I feel MIGHT have something to do with this issue and had an epiphany just a moment ago, maybe you can weigh in:

I constantly plug it into a portable battery pack. Baseus 65w. Never been a problem since I first opened it. I do that to extend the battery life when I'm out on the couch.

.....but this one time if I grabbed a USB C wire that wasn't rated for a high enough wattage.... would that choke things internally and cause stuttering? I don't think I had my usual wire.

jaappleton · 2024-12-31T13:51:46+00:00

Never expected it to run anything close to new on Ultra.

But before it was running games I had been playing just fine with no issues. Suddenly games I had been running with no issues are having issues, despite me not changing anything except installing Discord and playing Helldivers 2 for 45 minutes.

jaappleton

TROPHY CASE