Skip to main content

A major Asus ROG Ally challenger could be in the works

Handheld fever is ramping up. Lenovo is working on a handheld competitor to the Asus ROG Ally and Steam Deck, according to a report from Windows Central, which is called the Legion Go.

The report says that the device will launch with an AMD Phoenix processor along with an 8-inch display. It’s not clear if it will use the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme as the ROG Ally does, but the report suggests it will launch with one of AMD’s Zen 4 mobile processors.

Lenovo's Legion Play concept against a sky.
Liliputing

Although it’s not clear if the device will use the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, there’s a good chance it will use AMD’s Ryzen 7840U. This is the chip inside devices like the Ayaneo 2S, and it’s basically the Z1 Extreme under a different naming scheme. It sports eight Zen 4 CPU cores, as well as an adjustable power range from 15 watts to 30W, just like the ROG Ally.

We don’t have anything official to go off of right now. In fact, the image above is of the Legion Play, which was a cloud-based handheld device similar to the Razer Edge and Logitech G Cloud that never made it to market. We also don’t have any word on pricing or availability. As the report points out, there’s a chance this product could never make it to store shelves.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

That seems unlikely given what the report says about the device, however. AMD is making its efficient mobile chip available to more brands, and it seems that handheld devices like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck are bringing in the money. According to some reports, the ROG Ally has already sold over 500,000 units, with the Steam Deck sitting at close to 3 million sales.

The main question is when we’ll hear about the device and what it will do to stand out from other Windows-based handhelds. We don’t have any word on an announcement, but Lenovo has a great opportunity to improve on the user experience that devices like the Ayaneo 2S and ROG Ally offer.

As you can read in our Asus ROG Ally review, the Achilles heel of that device is its software. It’s basically a laptop with a controller strapped on, much unlike the Steam Deck, which feels like a proper game console with its proprietary operating system. The report says that the Legion Go will run Windows 11, but there’s a chance Lenovo has built a utility to run on top of the operating system.

For now, all we can do is wait for when (and if) Lenovo shares more. In the meantime, you can read our Asus ROG Ally versus Steam Deck comparison to see how AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme stacks up against Valve’s handheld.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
Intel’s new CPU feature boosted my performance by 26% — but it still needs work
The Intel Core i9-14900K slotted in a motherboard.

A 26% increase in frame rates from your CPU sounds far-fetched. If that's not enough to catch the attention of PC gamers, I don't know is. But trust me -- according to my own testing -- that's exactly what Intel's Application Optimization, or APO, delivers.

What started as a niche feature only supported by Intel's flagship chip and two games has since been broadened, with unofficial support for older CPUs and a much longer list of titles.

Read more
We finally know the price of Asus’ most powerful gaming NUC
The Asus ROG NUC on a desk surrounded by three monitors.

The first Asus ROG NUC (Next Unit of Computing) model is just around the corner. The small form factor PC is now up for pre-order at a German retailer, and although it's powerful enough to rival some of the best laptops, it costs more than many comparable models -- and you'll still have to pay extra for a monitor.

Asus' first take on Intel's portable PC contains a lot of compute power in a small chassis. Although there are a few configurations of the PC, the one that was spotted up for sale ahead of time comes with Intel's latest Meteor Lake-H CPU, the Core Ultra 9 185H, which sports 16 cores and 22 threads and can be boosted to run at up to 5.1GHz, all with a thermal design power (TDP) of 45 watts. However, Asus allows overclocking, meaning that the CPU can run at up to 65 watts instead.

Read more
The Steam Deck OLED needs burn-in protection
The Steam Deck OLED sitting in a case.

The Steam Deck OLED is starting to show burn-in issues.

YouTuber Wulff Den released a report on the Steam Deck OLED, showing it suffered from OLED burn-in after 1,500 hours of screen time. This isn't the first time we've seen a torture test on the Steam Deck OLED, but Wulff Den's experiment is particularly potent. The YouTuber was among the only people to put the Nintendo Switch OLED to the test on the burn-in front, and the consistent updates over the course of two years remain some of the most-viewed videos on the channel.

Read more