Tearing Down the Lenovo Legion Go: Cooling Comparison vs. ASUS ROG Ally & Steam Deck
Vložit
- čas přidán 12. 05. 2024
- Sponsor: Arctic Liquid Freezer III on Amazon - geni.us/5N1BRr9
Following up our Lenovo Legion Go review, now we're tearing down the device to compare some of the internals (like the heatsink) to the ASUS ROG Ally and Steam Deck devices. The Legion Go was overall impressive for design, despite having some downsides, and particularly deviated in the additional thickness of the unit. This largely aligns with the choice to use separable controllers, which take away some of the horizontal area that internal components can spread to. As a result, the cooling solution is significantly different in some ways from the Ally. We've found all of these devices relatively easy to disassemble thus far.
Buy a GN Modmat for your own builds & tear-downs! store.gamersnexus.net/product...
Or one of our solder mats! store.gamersnexus.net/product...
Watch our in-depth Legion Go review! • Lenovo Legion Go Handh...
Watch our Steam Deck OLED tear-down! • They Changed Everythin...
The best way to support our work is through our store: store.gamersnexus.net/
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: / gamersnexus
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Tearing Down the Legion Go
01:58 - Device Walk Around
03:57 - Removing the Backplate
06:56 - Disconnecting the Battery & SSD
08:20 - Removing the Heatsink, Speakers, & Cables
13:40 - Legion Go APU & Motherboard
14:47 - Go vs. Ally & Deck Heatsink Design Differences
20:53 - PCB Layout Basics
22:13 - Conclusion
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: / gamersnexus
f: / gamersnexus
w: www.gamersnexus.net/
Steve Burke: Host, Tear-Down
Video: Vitalii Makhnovets - Hry
The biggest takeaway in recent years is that the companies actually seem to be designing with making repairs possible. Handhelds in general seem to be supporting more repairability by end users, and that's awesome. Big reduction to both financial waste (of buying a new device when something simple breaks) and e-waste. It's been a long time coming. Glad to see the progress in disassembly and maintenance of devices.
Watch our in-depth Legion Go review! czcams.com/video/I37mxlDqLrk/video.html
Watch our Steam Deck OLED tear-down! czcams.com/video/9jhRh11bTRA/video.html
Buy a GN Modmat for your own builds & tear-downs! store.gamersnexus.net/products/large-modmat-gn15-anniversary
Or one of our solder mats! store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-project-soldering-mat
Are you doing FSR Mod benchmarks, there is a MOD that makes every game with Raytracing support to now support AMD frame Gen,
The mounting pressure of the Go may be better than described. When the cooling solution was removed from the Go, the phase change material “tore” away from the die and cooler. Steve, are you saying the phase change material was thicker on one side and thinner in on the other? If the material left on the die was reapplied to the cooler, seems like the material would be uniform across the area.
I am probably wrong but this wasn’t clear to me while watching the video.
There is an option in the BIOS to disable the battery until the next time it sees external power. It is there to aid in disassembly by preventing the unit from powering on.
So they thought of that aspect of repair, which is handy.
In order to test the effectiveness of the fin stacks, couldn't you rig them up on a desktop CPU like a 7950X? Since they'll go to 95c and stay there, then you'd be able to test for clock speeds and power draw to isolate which thermal solution is better...? The only reason I say the 7950X is due to having its heat load spread out a bit more than a single chiplet.
Meanwhile apple: I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that.
The GO has a battery disable in the BIOS to aid in disassembly. It prevents the unit from powering on.
After you complete your work on the unit, connect it to an AC power adapter, and it will re-enable the battery automatically.
So they designed it with the idea of easy maintenance, but they do not really advertise that function.
It's weird when I saw he disassembled without disabling the battery in the bios. It help for those who want to upgrade the SSD. Seem they not exploring the BIOS which they can do comparison with 4 options for vram allocation, with smt disable/enable or when disabling few cores and the effect to performance and battery life.
Is it mentioned in the "MANUNL"? 17:05
@SouseMouse It might be somewhere... I found it when I went into the BIOS, and seen the option. I looked up how it works from curiosity.
Ally has ambient light sensor to disable the battery when the back cover removed, so you don't have to go through BIOS
@kanekomoeka7490 Yeah, but it doesn't help prevent you from turning it on by accident during the process prior to the back being removed, or while putting it back on..
It's really just two ways to do the same thing. Asus has the benefit of being automatic once the back is off, the Legion has the benefit of being disabled from start to finish of the process.
Awesome video! I'm a Lenovo Warranty/Repair Technician myself and I've always wanted to see the inside of this thing. It looks similar to their Tab series tablets only with a much stronger Ideapad/Legion type of cooling system. The battery also looks like it's been reused from previous laptops, I'm seeing a lot of familiar parts in this video.
Makes sense that they reused tablet parts in order to reduce costs. Too bad that also includes the display, which explains the resolution and lack of VRR.
@@offspringfan89The resolution is a really good, IMO. It's an integer 2x scale factor of something the IGP can actually handle, and high enough PPI to look sharp in desktop tasks.
Like the 2242 SSD that Lenovo uses in everything including the kitchen sinks right?
@@offspringfan89 That's funny because my Tab 10 is exactly 1080p60hz, but I guess Lenovo wanted to appeal more to the pc gamer market with the GO with higher resolutions and refresh rates.
@@offspringfan89 no one cares about VRR, stop bitching
When the "unwanted startup" counter first came in the screen, it was immediately obvious where this was going.
I went for the Legion go. For someone who travels a lot, it's nice to have a larger screen windows device that can double as entertainment and general use computer..
And if for you the performance isn't enough a flow z13 is a nice upgrade (I personally use mine with 2 Powerbank and a controller)
For the life of me, I don't understand how people can go for a console with the "crossed xbox style button layout".
Same @@N1c0T1n3__
Can't wait for the MSI "Claw" reviews and teardown! Keep up the good work bro
dude, no wonder you have 2 million subscriber, its one really detailed video there
Man I do love your videos. Great job again wish there was a part 2. God bless
As somebody who used to do Lenovo warranty work, you can see the DNA involved in regards to Lenovo design. Their cable routing is exactly like this for their laptops or at least it was 12 years ago. Seems like they've kept most of that design philosophy in place
Yup. The innards of this thing are somewhere between my Y540 and my Thinkpad T14. Looks like a well thought-out machine inside and like they actually justify the size by packing it full.
When?
ThinkSwitch
Teardowns my favorite vids from you guys!
I find it harder to find a reasonably priced 2242 than a 2230 in 1TB and 2TB capacities.
And they don't have good write endurance to top it off.
I wish these handheld manufacturers would just add some 3mm thickness so a 2280 can be used.
ROG Ally has an aftermarket L-shaped adapter for 2280 that doesn't add any thickness, which is the real kicker.
You could just buy and use a 2230, theres also a video on how to add a 2280 and you tuck it where the hinge begins, the ribbon cable is quite longer than the rog ally one. These cables reduce the speed to gen 3 I believe, but games don't utilize the full potential of the new drives anyway, you could get away with buying a cheap gen 3 with high storage, or get a 2tb 2230 they aren't that bad on price
Excellent teardown in town. Thanks for the hardworking. Please also cover the chinese brands, AYN, Aya Neo, AOKZOE.
Watching Steve tearing down tech is total Zen.
4:50 I recently watched your old switch teardown ane it was funny hearing "too many screws" being a complaint
Didn’t see the full title thought it said disaster at the end instead of disassembly(wound not be unexpected for Lenovo)
Better than when it truncated a title preview to say we were reviewing the Thermalright Peerless Ass.
Lmao same here
Unintended (?) Clickbait
@@alvaromachado1388 Definitely not intended as I don't count the characters before it truncates. That said, just slightly changed the title to make sure it doesn't become unintentional clickbait.
@@GamersNexus So when is the actual video about Thermalright's Peerless Ass then? I'm waiting with eager anticipation
@@GamersNexus Peerless Ass hahahahaha
And here I was thinking the Sega Game Gear was the one that got this started
Game Gear reminds me of 96 or around that era. There was the Game Boy too.
Could you plug that into a screen?
This still makes my decision on which one to purchase hard. I want fast and easy to use, but the ease of the Steam Deck is compelling, even though it doesn't have as good the performance and the rest.
I like the kickstand, it lets you stand the Go in portrait mode when the Go-con are removed.
I do wished the Go had a USB A port and the bottom USB C port was in the center so you can use a dock.
You can play some retro standup arcades like that
Thanks Steve!
With the Legion go we sort of looped back to gaming AiOs, with a keyboard it would really be a smol one of those gaming surface books from 2019 or so, difference being, those actually fit gpus
Wow!
That was excellent !
Super understandable.
Fantastic work.
(Great hair, too. Are you in a band or something? So Metal.)
I think I like this form factor the most, though the controllers being detachable doesn't add much(I just prefer the 16:10 aspect ratio with smaller screens). That being said as far as handhelds I'm most excited about the claw just because it's actually using different components. It'd be really nice to see intel start to gain a solid footing in the GPU space with the claw.
As someone that was hesitant about the Steam Deck, I've opened up to the form factor. A reason why I get a gaming laptop is that I want a laptop that can game. However, if I had the cash, maybe eventually I can get something like this and have a separate ultralight laptop. I checked out the weight of the two separate and it can be lighter than a laptop that has an RTX 3060
I don't exactly want to be able to play the latest games on the go, just enough of my Steam library to keep me entertained
Less time in the comment section, more time working, and then you could buy whatever you want.
@@kaydog890 I already have an RTX 3060 laptop.
Not looking to upgrade until a few generations, plus I have better things to spend money on at the moment
Also bought a gaming laptop. I like these pc handhelds but a laptop is more useful for my needs. Have several handhelds like the switch, pocket or rgb30. Which I already don't use that often. ;) ☮️
@@ninetendopesaitama2107 Definitely. If you are doing a laptop as a daily driver, gaming laptop is a solid choice especially. I have a desktop for one, and my laptop is a side system
i wonder if they will at some point in the near future strap these mini or handheld computers together with VR headsets, maybe a small backpack combo would allow them the space for more power to run vr or ar.
I would love if they committed to making the display able to be used as a DIY makerspace monitor after it's lifetime. I have a netbook display I'm holding into just in case i find a way to use it
I've actually stuck this in power saver mode with the controllers removed for bedtime manga/book reading. The charge port on the bottom comes in handy as it places the cable out of the way so I can rest it on my chest, I read it in portrait. On low power performing light duty tasks it seems to stay quiet. I really wish there was shortcut to the quickmenu so you didn't have to rely on the controller to bring it up to change power modes. Vertical kickstand would be cool too. Not sure how it would work but it would be nice.
I have a Go and Im pretty satisfied. I had an Ally before but sold it. I like the Go better. You can buy a controller grip that connect the true strike controllers together. It makes it pretty good to play detached.
I'm leaning towards Lenovo. I would like to have an OLED screen like in the Steam Deck but overall Lenovo just seems to tick all the boxes for me. Can't wait for the MSI Claw videos.
How's the performance without VRR? That's the one thing that's got me on the fence.
@rattlingduck8454 honestly, it's fine. I also went and bought one of those Onexgpus and got it in the mail yesterday. It has doubled my fps in some cases. I see no screen tearing. You can set the frame rate cap to 60 or 144 though. It's a pretty solid handheld. Is it as good as my desktop with a 4070ti? No but it's not the same thing and it's an unfair comparison. Does it do its job? Yes and it does it well and in almost all cases, better than any other handheld out there. Not having VRR hasn't been an issue.
@danielhulan3058 I see. Thank you for your response. I'm probably going to go with the legion go.
you have a setting in the bios to disable the battery before you open it up for repair? The battery won’t be reenable until you plug the AC adapter back in. That should’ve been your first step Steve.😅
I know in some Lenovo devices there is a way to software disconnect the built-in battery in BIOS/UEFI during service. Basically disables the battery until you connect the device to a power supply. Is there any setting like this that you know of on this device? I can imagine it would make a big difference while trying to disassemble!
Personally have a Go and have been enjoying it, 👍
Hell yeah I was having trouble getting to sleep, thanks Steve!
My legion tends to get warm over the drive and I found if you cover the back open intakes the drive area of the back gets cool super quick. There are 3d printable back for the go and I would love seeing you guys test them.
Which back opening are you talking about? The one with the holes wher the fan is?
Could you review and teardown the gpd win mini?
How about you do a show on the 10bit TAG Support in the BIOS of MB's on how much faster GPU runs with it turned on. And how much faster the buss runs.
Can you go over the Controllers teardown? How do they connect when bluetooth is turned off? What protocol?
I using mine as a tablet sometimes and dual usb4 port really a win for extra score
I hope they have fingerprint reader but no😢
The ROG Ally having that cooling solution is part of the reason the SD Card is failing. The reader itself isn't failing, it's the chip on the otherside of the board that's having it's cheaper solder failing due to the heat. Especially when writing to the SD Card repeatedly. If you reball or readjust the chip, that is the fix Asus is doing with the ROG Ally when you send it in.
They should really do what sony did with the ps5 heat transfer and use liquid metal on these small devices or even notebooks/laptops. It should really help keeping them quieter and extend the efficiently the battery life a little bit.
Nice!
Best ASMR
I don't think it's you Steve, could be the Legion's screen doesn't have an oleophobic coating.
I want my ally to have mby half the batteryszise and go for near silent 30+W instead with strix point/ strix halo.
I honestly just use an external powerbank anyway and wont use it as a unpluged handheld as long as its battery lasts under 5h
( I used the switch almost only in handheld while pluged in even though i have a powerfull gaming PC + OLED TV.
Somehow gaming on a detatched device where I can move the Controller + Screentogether is way more immersive for me.)
I agree about the guitar picks. I actually prefer to use cheap, Chinese ones to the ones in an iFixit kit because they're flimsier and are less likely to damage the device. I'll use the iFixit ones if there's adhesive on the chassis and I don't want to take a metal tool to it.
16:16 would've been nice to see Cooling Comparison between these and the Apple M2/M3 lineup starting from fan-less Air to twin fan 75W 16 core (faster than 7800x3d) and gpu i nthe ballpark of RTX 4070...rx6400 vs 6800XT... why do we need 3 kgs water cooling heatpipes radiator for a 600W to 750W PC? Why do we need at lesat 250-300W 7800x3d/4070 to match 75W ARM SoC?
9 to 35W PC equals like 2 to 12W ARM equivalent? what portable top end PC high tech is really in there for that price? the LPDDR5 6400? taht we can buy in stock jedec form? EXPO ddr5 is just overclocked 4800 jedec ddr5...
Why does that mousepad/workmat remind me of the millennium falcon?
5:14 Hmm. Wonder what a guitar would sound like played with one of them? Floppy-scratchy or just limp?
21:32 that is usbc display converter? Then why when not using usbc display output it's still super hot and not enough pressure contacted to cooling because cold plate too long so the cold plate flexed.
I wonder which handheld Steve would daily drive. My guess is the Deck OLED.
I get the Gameboy Advanced vibe from Steve. His personal use PC is very tame, the last I heard.
@@RageQuitSon Tiger wrist game is where it's at
@@RageQuitSonhe doesn't have time for many games 😂. Man was on an athlon last I heard and that was during 3000 series launch window
thats one cool atari lynx
You had me at clever. Or was it heat pipe?
I might be the exeption, but the only handheld that makes sence to me is Steam deck, with SteamOS
Yea it is different from person to person …. I mean the reason I didn’t get the steam deck was because I wanted the extra power from the Legion Go as well as windows to play things like Genshin and Diablo 4 with out having to jump through hoops 🤔. Personally I just want something I can play everything that my main desktop PC can play and I didn’t want a handheld gaming console. I want a handheld gaming PC 🤷♂️ I hear ease of use and things but like every game is just a download and then it runs and you can also customize the controller set up if needed but it does it like connecting an Xbox controller to a PC just automatically.
It depends on what you’re doing with it. But like I have yet to find a game that doesn’t run on the Legion Go for me at 1200p. I run Elden Ring, Baldurs Gate 3, Diablo 4, Genshin, Lies of P, Dark Souls 3, and so many more games with no issues at all 👌. Been having a great time with it personally.
But again this is preference as well as what you’re going to be doing with the device. One other reason I wanted the Legion Go was the massive screen. I can’t stand to play games on a tiny screen at like 800p. Such as Baldurs Gate it’s just the perfect size to be able to play and read everything. I don’t think the Legion go is big or bulky, the size and controllers make it easy to hold and see everything. 🤷♂️
>LT7911UXC DisplayPort to MIPI LVDS converter
Does the SoC not have native LVDS display output? Seems bizarre for something designed for the laptop market.
The steam deck OLED and switch OLED both use mipi only interfaces, so they need the converter to connect the display to the onboard lvds. So I assume something similar is happening here
@@sethperry6616 Interesting. I hope that fact bubbles back up the chain to AMD, so that future mobile SoCs can implement MIPI natively for lower BoM cost.
I bought the rog ally z1 extreme after years of not gaming I wanted a portable gaming console and the switch was perfect and pc gaming kept calling me so I was caught between the steam deck and the ally. The better performance of the ally made me buy it and after a month of gaming on it a lot of games I been wanting to play I love it. I am planning to get a steam deck oled very soon cause I want to have one too. I just wish I didn’t buy my g cloud I got it just to remote play off my series x which I barely played since I got it. I am going to sell the xbox and expansion card and grab a steam deck soon the Lenovo is way to big to take on trips or anywhere
just bought the lenovo go yesterday ..steam deck and asus ally look like a toy compared to the massive size of the lenovo ..! definitely recommend the lenovo as it can be used as a tablet/laptop with an added bluetooth kb&m just like microsoft's surface go.
Lenovo just loves 2242 SSDs, at least on their laptops they atarted to make 2280 slots and then use an adaptor to get their 2242 SSDs to the 2280 size, which means it's easy to change the SSDs to basically any other but there was a moment when you'd be out of luck...
Steve didn't disassemble the controllers, was it on purpose or an oversight?
Idk but I love my legion go controllers. The hall-effect joysticks and the clicky buttons as well as the triggers 🤔… the mushy buttons and the fact that I would have to fully disassemble the rog ally to replace a controller was part of the reason I didn’t get one. And the tiny screen 😂 and the lack of ergonomics
I mean going back to an Xbox controller or the 8 bit do pro 2 just isn’t the same as the legions controller to me. 🤷♂️
But yea I’m not sure why he doesn’t take them apart in this video
There's a service battery disconnect in the bios
12 seconds ago, I love this type of videos
Tear downs are really fun. It's nice to see how all that engineering comes together in a cramped space.
We really need some kind of a breakthrough in battery technology. You just know our current solution is impractical when half of the device's internal space is dedicated to housing its battery, leaving so much less for the rest of the components thus increasing the thickness
Solid state batteries are becoming a thing pretty soon. They're supposed to have much higher density, be faster to charge, and also take up waayyy less space
@@PixelatedWolf2077 I've been reading about new battery type for the past decade, kinda losing hope at this rate
@-PVL93- I'm betting it's too pricey to make and so they're trying to find cheaper alternative
I don't know if I wait for a new iteration of SteamDeck with better spec, or go with Legion, I've tried rog ally, its nice but i think its a bit bulky!
Legion is bulkier.... lol
The Ally is smaller, thinner, and lighter, than the Legion Go and Steam Deck (LCD or OLED)
Im still torn between the rog ally with z1 extreme or the lenovo while the ally seems to have sd card issues (overheating) the legion go has aparrenrly software issues. The ally while smaller screen could be better for the gpu since the higher res of the legion cant handle all titles with that resolution and some games (older titles mostly) struggle with 16:10. Sooo what would you guys (comment section 😅) reccomend maybe even from own expirience.
But at the core of every single component... is a 1 or a 0? that adds up to... this completed thing?
What is wrong with the Geforce experience drivers. Did not like logging on so did not install it mid last year when updating drivers. I'm 3 updates later with 'Clean Install' and trying to install the new Experience module and with all 3 updates I'm getting the 0x0003 error. Tried the various methods put forward on the Nvidia forums and nothing works as a fix. 13600k, msi z790 MB, DDR4, rtx 3080
pleaaaaaaaaaase do the gpd win mini
Steve: *gently touches the power button
Legion Go: That turns me on
I wonder what handheldshite would MSI create
I'd want to see them get rid of the speakers (Because who the hell isn't going to use headphones with a handheld PC?) and improving the thermal management system so the fan can run quieter.
Why dint we take apart the joystick part in this vid?
My steam deck you just click it and it comes on. The guy I got it from said I was supposed to hold it too.
Was the overhead camera running at 30 fps? Video feels sluggish when it's on it.
lol anyone else shouting\laughing at the screen each time steves finger wandered towards power button? 🤣 have to admit, Lenovos repairability in general has improved in the last few years. i think it would be between legion or an ally if i went for a handheld.
In mine i tried liquid metal. Small difference, not worth it. Tightening the memory is a huge difference though (techosaur vid)
HAHA no joke was a Legion Go ad before the video.
Imagine seeing ads... uBlock Origin(Windows, Linux and Android). SponsorBlock(Windows and Linux).
If you have an iOS device, you deserve ads.
I like the lenovo but i own the ally and the steam deck 512 lcd. I'm selling the steam deck and the ally I love. with the ally you can upgrade the ram and the ssd but its not really worth it yet because of cost to have to pay someone to mod the ram. I wish the screen was bigger like the lenovo... I also like the 40mm ssd slot even though I have a 2280 ssd in the ally with the pcb 90 degree ssd mod. and the biggest regret is you can use any external gpu with the lenovo and with the ally you have to get there egpu that they don't make anymore 6850m xt... it would make it the perfect travel pc.
This may summon the dreaded Nintendo Legal Department but I wonder who among these brands will come out with a dock that has (1) a ballin' eGPU and (2) can do what the Switch does as a seamless display integration thing. I heard rumors that Nvidia wants to come into this market too, so imagine an Nvidia Shield + console system where the dock has a Thunderbolt connector to the mobile console unit.
Pick up a switch oled. You’ll see the larger form factor, the big kickstand, and overall the design aesthetic for the lenovo.
Will it perform as advertised 🤔
I wonder if those fans will be replaced with Frore Systems' solid-state cooling chips in the future.
One can hope. Something tells me they're not cost-effecive enough just yet, though I'd personally be willing to pay a slight premium for a "fanless" handheld.
8:11 Let's see Paul Allen's graphics card.
Don't ya miss the Game Boy's simplicity?
Good
why dont you do this for laptops?
i kinda want it just for the ability to use it as a tablet
nah get the galaxy tab s8 ultra.
14 inches of sweet sweet oled, the incredible s pen and more power than most peoples' oc towers lol
@@aa-tx7th -android -arm -bad io
More screws!
👍
Considering the Ally burns your SIM card tray to a crisp if you try to run it even remotely hard (I'm on my third replacement) I actually laugh out loud at any video comparing its cooling capabilities to other devices. A better comparison would be ROG Ally vs. Conventional Oven
I busted out laughing the second time he hit that button.
I got all three 3 plus the msi claw is on the way so I'm good
When are you releasing the video with n0thing and latency testing?
Still working on the edit!
I'm seriously impressed with how much Asus got right with the Ally. Best cooling solution of the lot.
Moving from his tech Jesus days to his tech Hagrid days
Detachment of the controllers looks so forceful. I wonder how long will they survive.
they easy to put off 😊😊 love my legion go trust me
22:30 arrrggggg
does the legion melt micrsd cards like the asus does?
Nope
Not in the slightest
"unwanted power on" u pressed the power button..
Legion Go is almost the perfect size, it just needs OLED and more mature software.
That's probably version 2 😅 having had all 3 I stuck with the legion for the screen and detaching the controllers actually appealed to me alot, plus the stand still works in portrait mode while playing some sweet oldie standup arcades 😍
@@stankozniewski9385 Totally agree the tablet mode is a big selling feature, primarily because it does increase portability by a lot, but as you mentioned it's versatile for gaming too.
in cooling Rog Ally beat all !!!
game names ????????????
i have a lenovo laptop and made the mistake to repace the tpm7590 in the beginning. do not do that, tpm is the best performance wise only liquid metal will be better.