My favorite handheld gaming PC deal is back, making the OG Lenovo Legion Go Z1 Extreme once again the value king this Prime Day

I was a little concerned that handhelds wouldn’t get a fair shake this Prime Day, but then Best Buy slid in with its usual corker of a deal on the Lenovo Legion Go—the same one I highlighted last Black Friday. Yes, the 1 TB version of this Ryzen Z1 Extreme handheld is currently on sale for just $550 at Best Buy, which is a whole load cheaper than any other handheld I’ve seen so far this week excluding the Steam Deck.

And there are plenty of reasons to opt for the Lenovo Legion Go over a Steam Deck, including of course its more powerful processor. Even though it’s a little older than the latest Strix Point and Lunar Lake chips, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is still mighty capable, and it even sits inside the just-released Legion Go S that tops our list of the best handheld gaming PCs.

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Apart from that, though, the Legion Go is unique in its big screen and its detachable controllers. That 8.8-inch screen, by the way, does feel substantially bigger than even 8-inch screens. I can confirm that from personal experience, having swapped back and forth between the Legion Go and Legion Go S.

The detachable controllers were ditched with the Legion Go S, but they’re still a big draw for a lot of people who opt for the original Legion Go. I personally find them very useful in certain circumstances. For instance, they’re great for when you want to hook up your handheld to the TV and sit back in the sofa, or when you want to stand it on your desk (with its attached kickstand) and sit back and play without actually holding the weight of the device in your hands.

The Legion Go ships with Windows, and it doesn’t seem to work perfectly with SteamOS just yet. But with Windows you get all the benefits of game and app compatibility, even if it isn’t quite as lightweight or user-friendly as SteamOS. That trackpad helps a bunch to navigate through the OS, and the sidebar app is pretty handy, too.

Other handhelds seem to be knocking around $200 more than this current $550 for the Legion Go, so once again I find myself wondering where the competition is. The handheld even has a pretty lively community, and plenty of cases, mods, and even trackpad skins, too. It’s not perfect, of course—its portrait-by-default display can be a bit finicky sometimes, and it’s not the most comfortable to use in-hand for long sessions—but for its price right now it’s well worth it.

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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob’s led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years (result pending a patiently awaited viva exam) while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world’s #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It’s definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.