We’ve seen laptops that fold and laptops that roll, but what about a laptop that spins? Lenovo’s latest weird notebook design that’s soon to become an actual product you can buy is a new ThinkBook with a screen on a pivot. In a version of a beleaguered coder’s worst nightmare, the laptop’s screen can follow you no matter how far you try to scurry around your desk.
Previewed to Gizmodo for CES 2026, the $1,650 ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist uses a hinge that can rotate along a horizontal and vertical axis. Alongside face tracking with its webcam, the laptop can follow your movements when you’re pacing during a meeting or lounging back in your chair, watching Netflix and ignoring all the pings you’re getting on Slack. The Auto Twist should be available starting in June this year.
In person, the spinning mechanism is near-silent and somewhat eerie for how well it can track your body as you try to maneuver out of frame. The one issue with my demo stemmed from positioning two people in the frame at once. The Auto Twist grew confused and would follow one person or another despite how close they were to the laptop. It was the same problem with Lenovo’s Smart Motion Concept laptop holder, though the ThinkBook is far more mobile than that massive brick of a device.
Despite the odd contraption that lets the display pivot, you’re not sacrificing much for the sake of a concept-made-reality. The new 14-inch ThinkBook comes with a 2.8K OLED display that sports up to a 120Hz refresh rate. It features an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processor inside with options for a chip with 12 Xe3 GPU cores. The extra GPU headroom could be handy if you intend to make this laptop a portable workstation for some lightweight graphics tasks.
If that wasn’t enough, Lenovo is also considering a revised version of its ThinkBook Gen 6 Rollable laptop from 2025. The new ThinkPad Rollable XD is another concept device built for Lenovo’s long-standing business-oriented laptops, though with a twist. It still features a 14-inch flexible screen that extends to just north of 16 inches vertically. Whereas the ThinkBook uses a mechanism to feed the screen into the laptop body, the ThinkPad uses a host of carbon fiber cables and pulleys to drag the display into the laptop lid. There’s a piece of clear plastic on the top to protect the folded display’s most sensitive part.
Putting the flexible display in the lid has a few benefits. One, it keeps the chassis available for the kind of higher-end specs and cooling apparatus you want for a pint-sized laptop. Two, the collapsing screen then becomes a secondary half-display on the back. Lenovo showed how this could be used for alerts and updates while you have the lid closed or to show off a video to people looking on the opposite side of your laptop.
That concept isn’t quite a real-life product yet. The rolling and twisting ThinkBooks have proved that Lenovo is willing to make these oddball products a reality. Sure, you may not have use for these laptops, but at least Lenovo’s staying at the front of keeping the old, staid laptop design fresh.
Gizmodo is on the ground in Las Vegas all week bringing you everything you need to know about the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can follow our CES live blog here and find all our coverage here.
K-12 IT leaders are under pressure from all sides–rising cyberattacks, the end of Windows 10 support, and the need for powerful new learning tools.
The good news: Windows 11 on Lenovo devices delivers more than an upgrade–it’s a smarter, safer foundation for digital learning in the age of AI.
Delaying the move means greater risk, higher costs, and missed opportunities. With proven ROI, cutting-edge protection, and tools that empower both teachers and students, the case for Windows 11 is clear.
1. Harness AI-powered educational innovation with Copilot Windows 11 integrates Microsoft Copilot AI capabilities that transform teaching and learning. Teachers can leverage AI for lesson planning, content creation, and administrative tasks, while students benefit from enhanced collaboration tools and accessibility features.
2. Combat the explosive rise in school cyberattacks The statistics are alarming: K-12 ransomware attacks increased 92 percent between 2022 and 2023, with human-operated ransomware attacks surging over 200 percent globally, according to the 2024 State of Ransomware in Education.
3. Combat the explosive rise in school cyberattacks Time is critically short. Windows 10 support ended in October 2025, leaving schools running unsupported systems vulnerable to attacks and compliance violations. Starting migration planning immediately ensures adequate time for device inventory, compatibility testing, and smooth district-wide deployment.
Laura Ascione is the Editorial Director at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
The first thing that surprised me about Lenovo’s 2025 16-inch Legion Pro 7i was the size of the box. I dig through a lot of laptops here at Gizmodo, and Lenovo’s 16-inch laptop seemed like an 18-incher judging by the packaging. By its heft, it felt like it too. Then I opened it up and learned what it was.
The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i itself isn’t overly large, though good luck slipping it into your backpack’s laptop pouch. The overt weight was intensified by the 400W power brick used to give this beast of a laptop enough juice to play all your favorite games. I’m not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The brick and the laptop are inextricably linked, making a big thick device bigger and thicker.
The power brick is the size of my two fists put together. You could stick it in a wall and hold up a structure that may imminently collapse. It’s heavy enough that anybody who drops it on their foot runs the risk of flattened toes, as if a Looney Tunes character dropped an anvil on their southern digits. I could go on about the weighty power brick because it’s indicative of what kind of device the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is. This gaming laptop will stay at home, where its loud fans have enough runway to blast the back wall with warm air. In exchange, it offers a truly delectable OLED display that helps set it apart from some other expensive laptops at its roughly $3,600 price (though you’ll find the device going for between $2,700 and $3,000 depending on storage options) with these top-end specs.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16-inch, 2025)
The Legion Pro 7i (16-inch, 2025) is not the kind of device to take with you, but if you want a stay-at-home laptop with a bright, beautiful display and performance to boot, this is a great choice.
Bright OLED display
Solid I/O
Full-featured keyboard
Performance for days
Too large for backpacks
That massive 400W brick
Reflective screen
Poor battery life
The last Legion Pro 7i I reviewed back in 2024 was one of my favorites of the year. It had everything I wanted, and it felt comfortable to boot. In 2025, Lenovo redesigned the chassis and added even more RGB lighting facing the desk and on the rear thermal shelf. The company also inexplicably replaced the “O” key with the Legion logo, and I’m not sure I need any more branding to remind me this is a Legion device than with that pretty screen. With a new Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 mobile GPU, benchmarks prove the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is a step above its last iteration. That’s necessary, considering the gaming laptop costs a little over $300 more than its predecessor.
Is it still my everything laptop? Yes, though only for a very specific use case. Lugging this beast to and from my office was a chore. The laptop lid became a mess of scuffs and thumbprints as I manhandled it. The thought of carrying a 400W power brick with me is enough to make me wish I could live a hermetic lifestyle and never leave the house again.
Lenovo’s penchant for pretty OLED displays on its gaming devices enchanted me enough with the ultra-expensive Legion Go 2. Having it here, again, makes suffering through any small pain points of a big, thick laptop worth the hassle. Organic light-emitting diode display (OLED) technology allows for deeper black levels—often described as “inky”—and excellent contrast. Like the $3,300 HP Omen Max 16’s OLED display, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i goes up to 2,560 x 1600 resolution and tops out at 240Hz refresh rate with Nvidia GSync support.
Lenovo’s screen is extra glossy, which enhances the OLED’s pretty features at the cost of reflections from a sunny room. The Legion Pro 7i is already not travel-friendly, and taking it outside won’t offer anywhere close to a premium experience when you’re struggling to see anything between the glare. In the right environment, like my room with the shades pulled down, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is bright enough to offer enough glow during daytime, though you need to be careful positioning the screen facing windows.
The dual 2W speakers have very clear, balanced sound thanks to dual subwoofers. There’s a small hint of spatial audio as well, though you’ll need to turn up the volume to get a sense of the directional sound. It’s barely loud enough to eclipse the noise of the fan blowing, which seems to kick in even if the gaming laptop is plugged in. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i can be your all-in-one suite for making your games look and sound good, as they should for this price.
Though the new 16-inch Legion Pro 7i appears very different from the 2024 version, they feel very similar once you start clacking on its keys. That’s not a bad thing. The laptop’s keys and their 1.5mm of travel have a nice bounce to them that makes it easy to type on. Even though the keyboard features a full numpad, there is enough separation between the keys that I never got my fingers twisted when flexing my WASD instincts.
The off-center trackpad is nothing to write home about, but since you’ll likely be keeping this laptop at home, you’ll end up using a mouse most of the time anyway. Though I don’t hate the feel of the palm rests, I wish Lenovo paid a little more attention to the overall structure of the laptop. There’s a slight keyboard flex toward the center of the device you’ll feel if you start to lean your weight down during an intense match.
It’s not enough to make me concerned about breaking the laptop, though, for the price I expect more. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i weighs in at 5.67 pounds, which is less than last year’s model but will still feel heavy if you hold it aloft in one hand. It’s thicker than other gaming laptops with an RTX 5080 GPU from 2025, such as the Razer Blade 16, but if you plan to make this laptop your main creative suite, you won’t be too disappointed considering that bright, beautiful screen. There are two USB-A ports and a headphone jack on the right-hand side, plus one more on the left alongside two USB-C and an HDMI port on the left. There’s one additional electronic switch to turn the 5-megapixel webcam on and off. The only thing missing is a dedicated SD card port to help creators avoid a dongle.
The proprietary power cable port also hangs out on the left, and with my home setup, it meant wrapping the power brick down and around the back of my desk. The two USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4, meaning they can supply up to 100W of power to the PC. That’s not nearly enough to top off the PC when running games, even if that’s overkill for what’s necessary on a mobile RTX 5080 GPU. The 400W power brick would be more necessary for an RTX 5090 GPU variant. There are some versions of the laptop with an RTX 5090 and 64GB of RAM that I saw floating around on Amazon for the same MSRP.
The real kicker for all this is just how strong a performance I got from the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i compared to other 16-inch laptops. My review unit came with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage to go along with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and RTX 5080 GPU. In multiple synthetic benchmark tests, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i slightly outperformed other gaming laptops like the HP Omen Max 16 and Alienware 16 Area-51. In Geekbench 6 CPU tests, the laptop managed to squeak out a few hundred points more in multi-core tests compared to other laptops.
For gaming, you just need to remember this laptop may still not do everything you want it to do, even with its RTX 5080 GPU strapped in with that obtuse power brick. In a game like Cyberpunk 2077, when pushing tracing to ultra settings, you’ll need DLSS on “balanced” settings to achieve 60 fps when playing at the full 2,560 x 1,600 resolution. In games like Black Myth: Wukong, where the expectation is you’re using Nvidia’s AI upscaling, you’ll easily attain more than 76 fps with all the ray tracing options enabled.
Alan Wake 2, which tanks performance once you start enabling ray tracing options, ran at around 40 to 45 fps on the highest settings with some path tracing. That was with DLSS on “balanced settings.” Other games that can hurt performance, like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, manage to equalize around a stable 60 fps when you stop yourself from maximizing path tracing. As much as you may hope an RTX 5080 will hit the peak performance, you’ll inevitably have to accept some trade-offs for a steady frame rate. With the excellent display, games look crisp and detailed in a way that few machines can match, though only in just the right conditions.
Big gaming laptops don’t have good battery life. It’s a fact of the necessary power used for the GPU, but when you start stacking on RGB lights, bright OLED screens, and all the other fixings, you can’t expect anything more than three hours of battery life on a good day. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is no exception. When doing my basically daily grind, with several Chrome windows open plus Slack, I can barely make it past 2.5 hours before the PC is throwing a tantrum and won’t be satisfied until I plug in its massive 400W sippy cup.
The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is not the kind of laptop to run around town with, even if you intend to use a smaller 100W charger plugged into one of its Thunderbolt 4 ports. That may be enough for some light gaming, but you’ll then have to accept you’ll mar your big, beautiful laptop with whatever junk you have swimming in your bag.
After enough time with the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i, I started to admire its qualities and ignore its deficiencies. Its bright OLED screen has enough to help smooth over lingering wrinkles. If I truly wanted something more portable, I’d have to look at devices like the Razer Blade (and spend the extra premium on a Razer product, not to mention deal with their less-than-stellar support) or opt for a 14-inch gaming laptop. An 18-incher like the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 may be better as a true desktop replacement. Still, I never felt like I was missing anything from Lenovo’s all-in-one laptop, except for a baby carrier to lug this laptop and its power brick around with me.
You’ll want to read our extensive guide on How to Choose the Right Laptop, but for the basics, you’ll want to decide what category of laptop you need. Most people should buy a 13-inch or 14-inch laptop, and spending around $750-$1,000 is a good place to start. You should expect a laptop around this price to get good battery life, have a decent screen, perform well enough for basic tasks, and have a comfortable keyboard and touchpad. You should also expect at least 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Anything more than that gets into premium territory where you’re paying for higher specs, more performance, or extra features. If you want something with a discrete GPU for either gaming or creative workflows, you’ll need to spend more than this.
A laptop like the Dell 14 Plus is the ideal example of what you can get while shopping in this price range. You can even find laptops with OLED panels, up to one terabyte of storage, depending on how good discounts happen to be. I would consider anything under $750 to be a cheap laptop, and will therefore come with some significant compromises, especially around the quality of the panel and the touchpad. Fortunately, laptops that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip get great battery life, despite often falling under $750 in price.
Here’s a list of important specs to consider:
CPU: For thin and light laptops, I would recommend one of the Snapdragon X, X Plus, or X Elite chips. They get the best battery life and performance for their class of laptop. As an alternative, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is also quite good.
GPU: As of now, the Intel’s Lunar Lake chips, such as the Core Ultra 7 258V, have the best integrated graphics. For discrete options, you’ll want to pick something with one of the latest Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs, such as the RTX 5060. The biggest leap in performance there is between the RTX 5070 and the RTX 5070 Ti, which increases VRAM to 12 GB.
RAM (or memory): Stick with at least 16 GB if you can. Since the advent of the Copilot+ designation, it ha become the new standard. You’ll even find laptops as cheap as $600 that have 16 GB of memory. Gamers and content creators should upgrade to 32 GB if possible.
Storage: Similar to memory, many laptops have moved to 512 GB as the new standard, and you’ll find lots of affordable laptops with 512 GB as the base configuration. Upgrading to one or two terabytes, where possible, will make your life that much easier, especially since many laptops don’t offer expandable storage.
Display: Laptops are usually categorized by screen size, with 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch being the most common. You’ll want to consider size, resolution, refresh rate, and panel type here.
Portability: Outside of display size, thickness of the chassis and weight are the primary factors here, determining how portable a laptop is to travel with. Other dimensions are important too, but more often than not, that is determined by the screen size.
Ports: Many laptops are limited to just USB-C and headphone jack these days, with some exceptions where USB-A or HDMI are included. Make sure your laptop has what you need, or else you’ll need a USB Hub or laptop docking station to get more ports or to increase external display support.
You buy Lenovo’s new Legion Go 2 handheld for the screen. The performance is secondary to how beautiful recent 2D titles look on the 8.8-inch, 1200p OLED display. The Legion Go 2 is otherwise a big, meaty handheld for gamers with big, meaty claws. You’ll struggle to hold it above your head lying in bed unless you’re a professional power lifter; the controls won’t be your favorite; it’s as wonky as its predecessor. And it’s hard to argue anybody should spend well over $1,000 on a gaming handheld rather than just buying a full gaming laptop.
Despite all that, I can’t help but enjoy the hell out of it. My initial hours spent rolling my eyes at everything Lenovo failed to fix from its first iteration slowly morphed into the kind of appreciation that can only occur when a device starts to feel personal. It’s what happened when I downloaded Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II to the device and had to hold back a gasp on a crowded plane for how gorgeous both games looked on Lenovo’s big, expensive, beautiful display.
Legion Go 2
It’s thick, heavy, and so damn pretty. It’s a shame it costs as much as it does.
Beautiful OLED display
144Hz refresh rate with VRR
New ergonomics
Low-wattage performance uplift
Annoying removable controls
FPS mode is pointless
Reflective display
Very expensive at $1,350
It’s the same feeling I get from Valve’s $550 Steam Deck OLED, which uses the same organic light-emitting diode screen technology to present deeper contrast and rich colors. Valve’s handheld maxes out at 800p on an older, custom AMD chipset. Even when you factor in performance and display size, the Steam Deck OLED is still a much, much better deal. My review unit version of the Legion Go 2 with the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, costs $1,350. I could literally buy two Steam Decks for this price (more if I opted for the LCD model). For Lenovo’s inflated price, I could run out and buy three $450 Nintendo Switch 2 handhelds. You could nab a version of the Legion Go 2 that starts at $1,100 for a version with a AMD Ryzen Z2, but judging by my tests that chip will land closer in power to handhelds that are three years old and cost much less.
It’s a ridiculous scenario that consumers are taking the brunt of Donald Trump’s obsession with import taxes, aka tariffs. And in that way, consumers are screwed no matter what. The upcoming Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, which is set to launch on Oct. 16 with the same Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, will set you back $1,000. The original Legion Go asked for $700 in 2023. The Asus ROG Ally X demanded $800 at launch last year. Both now retail at a higher price, likely due to tariffs. I would tell you to wait and buy a new handheld, but there’s no way to tell if prices might increase in coming months.
What drives me mad using the Legion Go 2 is how Lenovo held back from improving over the 2023 handheld. The revised version is far more ergonomic than the two-year-old device with its sharp corners. Both handhelds let you remove each controller and play with the screen separated, like the Nintendo Switch. The Switch 2 did away with rails and went for magnetic connections for each Joy-Con 2, which makes attaching and detaching the controllers a little easier. Lenovo’s old and new system still use a series of exposed pins you jam into a cavity on each side of the screen. You need two hands and a strong pitching arm to remove each controller with a down and out motion. Reattaching them can be just as annoying.
The controller uses Hall effect sticks that are much better at surviving stick drift, though they still feel a little too thin on my fingers compared to other handhelds I’ve used. The Legion Go 2 has slightly redesigned bumper buttons that make it easier to press and the same, large triggers. The $650 Legion Go S had a switch to enable instant triggers with less travel—better for first-person shooter games, but because of the removable controllers you’ll have to stick with the full range of motion.
The Switch 2’s big standout feature is its new mouse mode enabled just by putting the controller down on a table or your pant’s leg. Lenovo did it first on the Legion Go with its FPS mode. So is it any better now? No, absolutely not. You still need to remove the right controller and flick the “FPS” switch to turn on an optical mouse sensor. You then need to slot it into a base to hold it like an old-school flight stick, where the two side buttons act as the left and right mouse click. The DPI is still low enough you’ll struggle to get it working on anything but a desk. Even when you do, using a joystick and the FPS controller together necessitates changing the in-game controls. I tried it in both Cyberpunk 2077 and Borderlands 4, and it caused such havoc with both titles I was loathe to use the FPS mode again.
As for I/O, the Legion Go 2 has both a bottom and top USB-4 port. In theory, this could allow you to hook it up to an eGPU. More likely, it’s sole purpose is for charging or hooking up to a dock for HDMI passthrough. As much as Lenovo implies you’ll create a full “battle station” out of your device for instantaneous PC, you don’t want to hook it up to anything larger than a 1440p monitor, and only then for playing games most systems can run anyway.
Strangely enough, one of the best improvements over the last generation handheld is the Legion Go 2’s new soft carrying case. The old case was very protective, but it was also enormous. The new version is smaller and more squat than the default Steam Deck case, which makes lugging around the 8.8-inch handheld onto planes surprisingly easy. There’s two little hidey-holes for the FPS mode stand, but since you’ll never use it, you can stick anything else in there. Just don’t tell me what.
All the new ergonomics make it easier to hold, but not enough that it won’t feel heavy in your hands. You’ll find you’ll need a table or lap to rest your elbows on, or else you’ll use the built-in kickstand to prop it up on your desk. Either way you hold it, you’ll end up enjoying this handheld mostly for the display. As I said earlier, the 8.8-inch OLED display is sublime. It doesn’t have any higher screen resolution than the Legion Go’s 1,920 x 1,200, but it’s enough to make games pop.
For my hands, the Legion Go 2 is just large enough where I can grip it and access all the controls. Other users who are smaller in stature may not be so lucky. Ignore all those 11-inch handhelds out there. Near-9-inch devices are more than enough. The screen also sports a 144Hz refresh rate with VRR, or variable refresh rate. All those games that can hit above 100 fps (which, let’s be honest, will mostly be older or 2D titles), will look their peak on the Legion Go 2.
The screen feels bright enough indoors, but while Lenovo promises you’ll get 1,100 nits of HDR brightness, the screen is not great for using outdoors. It’s blinded by direct sunlight, and even sitting near a window you’ll see most details disappear. The screen is also very reflective. A matte coating would have dulled the display quality, but it’s at the risk of catching a glimpse of your girlfriend walking up behind you.
The AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU is purely iterative. If you’ve been watching like a hawk, hoping to devour the latest and fastest handheld chip, this isn’t it. The performance difference generation to generation is minimal. In some games, you could get 5 to 10 fps more at the highest TDP, or thermal design power, People who focus too hard on benchmarks will come away disappointed. If you care more about whether the system can play the latest AAA games, know that you’ll be able to achieve playable frame rates at the max 1200p resolution though only by dropping any hope of ray tracing for more-realistic lighting effects.
I’m fundamentally a gamer who refuses to drop the resolution of games for the sake of performance. I will lower graphics settings in a desperate attempt to eek out the minimum 30 fps. The Legion Go 2 can manage to take some AAA games into playable states at the max 35W of TDP (thermal design power) once the handheld’s engines are firing on all cylinders. TDP determines how much power is being sent to the processor, which will dictate overall performance. Borderlands 4 is one of those games notorious for running poorly on PC and consoles alike (you won’t find the game on Switch 2 in the coming days, either). I was able to get a stable sub-40 fps on the lowest possible graphics settings. I could achieve a little better frame rates in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Even at lower graphics settings, the game still looks and sounds great on the small screen.
Older games fare better. Control could average 40 to 49 fps at low settings with the handheld plugged in. The Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1200p and medium settings preset with AMD’s FSR upscaling saw an average of 44 fps, while at 1080p with the same settings it could hit 48 fps. In Baldur’s Gate III, I could average above 60 fps in the open areas of Act 1 and get between 45 and 55 fps in the city environments of Act III.
In 3DMark benchmarks, the Legion Go 2 hit a score of 3,305 and 24.48 average fps in Steel Nomad Lite tests. That’s 1,000 points better than the Legion Go S with its Ryzen Z2 Go chip running on Windows, but it’s only a little more than 300 points better than the Z1 Extreme on the Asus ROG Ally X from 2024. The new device hit 3,897 points in Time Spy tests, which again is barely more than 300 points better than an Ally X. It’s not much better than an MSI Claw 8 AI+, which uses a full Intel laptop chip. Simply put, the Legion Go 2 isn’t a huge step over the previous gen at the max wattage.
However, the device’s secret sauce is in how well it performs at lower wattages. Tests with multiple games at wattages as low as 34 fps still enabled relatively stable frame rates in games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. While in Cyberpunk 2077 at full resolution and Steam Deck settings, the device gets 44 fps in benchmarks, at 15W it still managed to eek out nearly 30 fps. I don’t expect anybody will run high-end games on lower power. Instead, the best experience comes from games that are far less intensive. I could net well over 160 fps in Hades II on the “Balanced” performance setting. Hollow Knight: Silksong seems like it was built with the Legion Go 2 in mind with automatic settings to stay around 144Hz. These games play so gloriously on this handheld, I don’t want to play them on anything else. It’s a shame you have to spend $350 more than an Xbox Ally X jut for that pretty screen and higher refresh rate.
Windows still sucks for handhelds, but it could get better
On balanced power settings, I could game for around 2 hours and 40 minutes before the device was literally begging me to plug it in. In other tests where I was gaming at the full resolution and wattage playing Indiana Jones, it lasted closer to 2 hours. The Legion Go 2 sports a 74Wh battery, which is slightly worse than the ROG Ally X’s 80Wh. The larger OLED display and higher max resolution will inevitably drag the battery life down.
At this point, players should not expect a handheld that will last very long. The ROG Ally X still has one of the best battery life at full power when it gets closer to 3 hours of runtime. In real life, the difference is negligible. At this point in my life, having a max two hours of playtime is strangely beneficial. If I’m clearing room after room in Hades II late at night, the battery timer is essentially my alarm. If it’s close to 12 a.m. and I’m about to run out of power, it’s a sign I should get some rest.
Depending on the game you’re playing, the device’s fans can get relatively loud. Even at max speed I wouldn’t call them jet engine noise. It’s enough to remind you to be mindful when sitting next to strangers on a plane. The device kept very cool in my time using it. I never felt any heat around the controls, and the area around the fans also didn’t feel steamy when playing a game at max wattage.
I can’t excuse the price, but I had such a good time with the Legion Go 2 it felt like a personal companion after traveling for more than a week and a half away from home. But there’s an elephant in the room shaped like a big “X” we need to address. The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are supposed to launch with a new version of Windows, dubbed the “Full Screen Experience” (FSE) built exclusively for gaming handhelds. While this may fix the lingering usability issues of Windows 11 on a 7- or 8-inch screen, the upgrade should also eliminate background tasks and—hopefully—boost performance by 20%. The issue is that Microsoft has said you may need to wait until next spring to get it on handhelds like the Legion Go 2.
Windows is terrible on handhelds. It gets in the way when trying to put the device to sleep while still in-game. It bombards you with popups for OneDrive that you need to use the touchscreen to excise. It saps power and makes the device run worse than it would if it was running SteamOS, the same Linux-based operating system running on the Steam Deck. In our tests, the Legion Go S with SteamOS outperforms its Windows counterpart by 20 to 30%. Unless you’re dead set on keeping your Xbox Game Pass games handy, I would suggest looking into installing Valve’s software on the Legion Go 2. I have not confirmed whether you can install SteamOS on the new handheld, though if its not compatible at launch, I assume an update may be around the corner. Without the FSE or SteamOS, this can’t be my handheld of choice. With a new operating system, the Legion Go 2 would become the bell of the ball for modern PC handhelds.
The biggest selling point, and one of our reviewer Luke Larsen’s favorite features, is the big, beautiful OLED panel. This 2,560 x 1,600 screen is one of the most color accurate laptop screens to date, and has a huge peak brightness of 1,000 nits, and 486 nits in SDR, which beats most other panels by over 150 nits. Our review unit had a 240-Hz panel, but that model isn’t currently listed for the non-Pro Legion 7i, so this machine has a very similar 165-Hz screen.
It’s powered by an RTX 5060, which is importantly the more powerful 115-watt version, as opposed to the cheaper 85-watt variant that some gaming laptops use to cut down on costs. The performance is a good match for the screen, with Cyberpunk 2077 running at 67 fps with Ray Tracing set to low at native resolution. Lowering the quality or the resolution can easily push you to 200-plus fps in games like Marvel Rivals, perfect for a quick round on your lunch break.
Of course, the battery life is going to suffer a little bit as a result of the higher-power GPU. We got less than five hours in a video playback test, so you’ll want to make sure you’re nearby an outlet, especially if you plan on gaming between classes. Thankfully it has an excellent trackpad and keyboard, with a firm press and solid 1.6-mm travel for the size, and it even squeezes in full-size arrow keys and a numpad.
The biggest thing holding back the Legion 7i is the price, with other lower-wattage RTX 5060 laptops coming in closer to $1,000. A healthy discount here makes this a much more appealing buy, especially if you like to watch movies or want to game at higher refresh rates without spending way more on a gaming laptop with a higher-end GPU.
None of that means you’re going to get good battery life, though. I was only getting around four and a half hours in a very light video playback test. That’s pretty short, limiting the laptop’s viability as a hybrid device for travel, work, or school.
Close Competition
Photograph: Luke Larsen
The RTX 5060 model is available only at Best Buy, starting at $1,870. I would not buy this right now—at least not at this price. Currently, the better deal is over at Lenovo.com, where you can pick up an RTX 5070 model for $1,795 on sale. Though I haven’t tested it (and both GPUs come with only 8 GB of VRAM), stepping up to the RTX 5070 is certainly worth it. Both configurations get you 32 GB of RAM and one terabyte of storage.
The Legion 7i Gen 10 is one of the most expensive gaming laptops to use the RTX 5060. You’re paying extra for the keyboard backlighting, faster HX-series Intel chip, higher-resolution OLED display, and superior design. These all add a lot to the laptop experience, but they are, for the most part, quality-of-life additions. For example, the Alienware Aurora 16 (a laptop I’ll be reviewing soon) also starts with an RTX 5060 and a similar resolution screen, but it’s IPS instead of OLED.
Just be careful with the cheap RTX 5060 laptops out there, such as the Gigabyte Aero X16, which is on sale for just $1,150 right now. I haven’t tested it yet, but it uses the 85-watt variant of the RTX 5060, which will mean a significant drop in performance compared to the Legion 7i Gen 10. That’s rock bottom for RTX 5060 gaming laptops. Lenovo has its own version of a cheaper RTX 5060 right now, the LOQ 15, which will be available in October, gets you an RTX 5060 for close to $1,000, but comes with a standard 1080p IPS display.
With that in mind, the Legion 7i Gen 10 is clearly not for those who value performance above all. But it’s one of the nicest looking gaming laptops I’ve reviewed lately that isn’t a Razer Blade, and it has enough performance and high-end features to make it worth the money—just make sure to opt for the RTX 5070 while it’s still on sale.
From a disastrous AMA on Monday to disappointing Legion Go 2 preorder customers on Friday, the Lenovo team is having a hell of a week. To kick things off, the Lenovo Legion team hosted an AMA on Reddit revolving around its gaming handheld launch. The Legion Go 2 generated a ton of hype, being Lenovo’s next-gen gaming handheld with more powerful specs and a higher price tag, but the team only answered 10 questions before abandoning the thread. On Wednesday, Lenovo apologized for not being prepared enough to answer all the questions, but followed it up with a bombshell in an edit posted on Friday, adding that “we will need to cancel some preorders placed directly on Lenovo.com” for the Legion Go 2.
According to the Lenovo team, the demand “substantially exceeded our projections” and led to “unforeseen delivery range extensions.” While the orders with Lenovo’s retail partners, like Best Buy, aren’t affected, anyone who preordered the Legion Go 2 directly on the Lenovo website may see some frustrating news in their inboxes. The cancellations might not be a total shocker, since some user reports are circulating that Lenovo already pushed initial ship dates from September to October with “zero communication about the delay.”
To try to save face, Lenovo explained that “as soon as our inventory is replenished, Lenovo.com will show updated availability and ordering will reopen.” There’s no indication yet if those with canceled orders will get priority with the next batch of available devices, but the Lenovo team said it would respond to the AMA thread’s questions over the rest of the month. However, if Reddit comments are any indication, there’s a good chance a lot of customers won’t reorder following this catastrophic launch.
Tech companies big and small now struggle to tantalize you with tech without telling you how much it will cost, or—hell—whether you can even buy it. The still-ongoing IFA 2025 tech conference in Berlin proved how merely shipping tech to the U.S. is more tenuous than at any time in the last few decades. From what I saw and heard both on the floor and off, it became clear that the era of plentiful, affordable, and cool shit will melt away in favor of an epoch of dull and ever-more expensive tech.
IFA’s timing lands early in September for tech companies to have the chance to promote their products before the holiday rush. It’s a big conference for European- and Asian-based companies, especially those that focus on smart home tech. For us journalists, IFA is also an opportunity to dive into the weird and wacky products that may or may not float to the U.S. from across the pond.
This year, the annual conference took a different tenor. IFA came months after U.S. tariffs had been causing havoc with pricing on existing products. Future devices won’t just be more expensive; more and more companies indicated they were holding off shipping to the U.S. or were writing off Uncle Sam altogether until things change. It was as if every public relations professional’s toothy smile hid a single word—tariff—whispered but never fully uttered through their teeth.
U.S. policies are leaving us guessing on price and availability
Some international tech giants bearing truly unique products are being barred completely from the States. DJI, the company most known for making drones, has found itself soft-banned from importing gear to the U.S. There’s a long and fraught history with DJI and the U.S. market, but the end result is Americans locked out of an entire line of products. At IFA, DJI had its new Osmo 360 camera proudly displayed. You can go to the DJI store page now, and it currently says “Out of Stock” if you’re checking in from the U.S. DJI has in-store availability slated for the rest of this year, but people in the U.S. won’t be able to easily buy it. At least Insta360 and its Antigravity A1 360-degree camera drone are still getting a U.S. launch.
Some tech companies have managed to cajole President Donald “I’m not a dictator” Trump by heaping praise and gaudy 24K gold statues on the capricious commander in chief. Those companies that haven’t kissed the ring find themselves on the outside. At IFA, we checked out several new products from Roborock, including a new robo lawnmower and a washing machine/dryer combo with a doggy door for a robovac. Neither are coming to the U.S. in the immediate future, the company told us. The U.S. has easily the highest demand for lawnmowers in the world.
Over and over again, I asked companies about U.S. pricing and availability, and was told they didn’t have those details available, at least not yet. Companies like Anker, Mova, and Dreame crafted their own blend of robotic suits for robovacs to help them climb stairs. The Eufy MarsWalker, Dreame CyberX, and Mova Zeus 60 should be around sometime next year. No, of course, there’s no suggested price. Want more wacky gadgets? Too bad. SwitchBot’s Kata Friends, an AI-powered family “pet” that looks like a teddy bear filled with several sensors, still doesn’t have a price or availability for U.S. consumers. The company simply wouldn’t suggest when its products will ever come to the U.S.
That’s not to say it was the case with all tech on the show floor. There are plenty of new gadgets, like these long-lasting Bose headphones, the updated Withings ScanWatch 2, Anker’s Prime power banks, and the massive Nebula X1 Pro will come to the U.S. Companies are more hesitant than ever to even mention prices. TCL’s new QM9K TV should be available “later this month,” but the company refused to provide an idea about price, which is perhaps the most important element of a renowned budget TV brand.
Unlike with CES, companies don’t have to come to IFA if they hope to make a splash. It’s not a sure sign there are internal or external struggles. But in conversations with companies, it’s clear the only answer they have to Trump’s tariffs is to delay release or obfuscate pricing. Asus launched several laptops at IFA 2024. The company told Gizmodo it was skipping the 2025 show. That wasn’t entirely true, though. Asus’ gaming-centric brand—Republic of Gamers—took up a corner booth space in the back of one of the halls with two Asus ROG Xbox Ally X handhelds on display. The company still refused to say how much it would cost. There’s a reason customers should be concerned.
Handhelds are one of the fastest-growing and most innovative markets for both gaming and PCs. At IFA, one company promised a handheld-laptop hybrid with a stereoscopic 3D display akin to the Nintendo 3DS. While we saw more handhelds at CES 2025, the situation post-tariffs is far more tenuous. Lenovo’s Legion Go 2 was all set to hit a home run with its OLED display. Then we saw the price. Lenovo said the handheld PC would start at $1,050. Things are worse when you look at the true costs. A version of the handheld with the higher-end processor, the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, starts at $1,350. The original Legion Go demanded $700 at launch late in 2023.
Few people want to spend over $1,000 for a device with only marginal performance gains. It does not bode well for the Xbox Ally X, which contains the same Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip. We were also hoping to see Acer finally drop details on its Nitro Blaze 7 and Nitro Blaze 11 handhelds. While the handheld has already been on sale in various countries in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, Acer told me it had “no updates for U.S. on handhelds.” Acer was also unwilling to share any pricing for its upcoming laptops, like the ultra-light Swift 16 Air.
Tech companies may be taking a wait-and-see strategy, but there’s no sign Trump will end his love affair with import taxes, at least for those U.S. firms unwilling to give up a stake in their company—like Intel has—or go Nvidia’s route and be stuck agreeing to ever-more unfavorable demands. Trump’s fascistic tendencies naturally lean on the industry, but those who can’t or (increasingly rarely) won’t give themselves to Trump will simply have to avoid the U.S. and its many gadget-hungry consumers. Nobody knows how this will all shake out, but U.S. users better get used to holding onto their aging gear for far longer.
Why change what works? In the case of Lenovo’s Legion Go 2, the question morphs into “Why change what makes you distinct?” Lenovo’s upcoming sequel to its Legion Go handheld gaming PC is more powerful, has grips made for human hands, and sports a prettier screen. Its blood is flowing with the same DNA as Lenovo’s odd handheld, but now it comes with a price tag designed to make your wallet weep.
Here’s the kicker. At IFA 2025, Lenovo declared the Legion Go 2 will start at $1,050. For comparison, the next most expensive handheld from one of the big laptop OEMs, the MSI Claw 8 AI+, currently demands $1,000 after tariff-impacted price hikes. The Legion Go 2 handheld comes out sometime in October, though Lenovo let me play a few rounds of Balatro to get a feel for its layout and bask in front of its bright OLED display. This is an organic light-emitting diode display without a separate backlight, meaning it generates much better contrast and deep “inky” blacks compared to your average LCD. The screen is still a massive 8.8 inches with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, but now it supports variable refresh rate, or VRR, between 30Hz and 144Hz. This could help the Legion Go 2 show your games in the best light, whether they’re running at a minimum of 30 fps or well over 100 fps.
Specs-wise, the Legion Go 2 uses AMD’s latest high-end handheld-centric chip, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and sports up to 32GB of high-speed RAM. Lenovo also upgraded the battery to 74Wh, twice as much as the first Legion Go. It’s not as high as the Asus ROG Ally X, but hopefully it should support longer battery life than the previous device, which would often conk out after under two hours of gaming. The two USB 4 ports on the top and bottom both support up to 65W charging and video output up to DisplayPort 2.0.
Lenovo’s Legion Go was the odd duckling of the 2023 nascent handheld PC market. Fans who appreciated the large screen life turned the device into a swan of their own design. They crafted grips to make the handheld’s sharp sides feel more ergonomic. Some went as far as to replace Windows 11 with either Bazzite—an operating system developed in Linux made to resemble Valve’s gaming ecosystem—or Valve’s SteamOS itself. The new Legion Go 2 is still stuck using Windows along with the Legion Space app to control the device’s power settings and quick-access games. The device should eventually gain access to the handheld-specific version of Windows 11, but that won’t be around until after Xbox helps launch the Asus ROG Xbox Ally.
The Legion Go 2 feels like an extension of its predecessor, rather than a makeover. The TrueStrike grips have been remodeled to fit more comfortably in adult-sized hands. They can still detach from the main body of the device, à la the Switch 2. Unlike Nintendo’s new handheld, which uses magnetic attachment points, the Legion Go 2 still uses the same pin-based connection that uncouples from the handheld by pulling up and away from the main unit. The controllers are still compatible with accessories like the Charging Connector first introduced in 2024.
An ‘FPS Mode’ that’s still weirder than Switch 2’s mouse mode
The right-hand TrueStrike controller still includes an “FPS Mode,” though it hasn’t changed much from the first Legion Go. Unlike the Switch 2’s mouse mode, you still need to toggle a button underneath the right-hand controller to use the built-in mouse sensor. I didn’t get to try out this mode playing any kind of shooter in my brief time using it. I found the pins still dug into my palm as I tried to to wrap my digits around to hit the two side buttons, which become your mouse clicks. There is a small cover to stick over the connection mount and make the device feel a little better in hand, but your mileage will vary.
Just like the first-gen Legion Go and the more recent $600 Legion Go S with SteamOS, the new Legion Go 2 has Hall effect joysticks that should avoid stick drift issues. What’s stranger still is how everything still feels the same, from the relatively thin joysticks to the flat face buttons. There’s a part of me that was hoping for more changes, especially considering the price bump well above the Legion Go’s $750. Beyond the screen, overall performance will tell us if it’s worth the upgrade and the extra $300.
Get ready for another whacky concept. At IFA 2025, the tech exhibition in Berlin, Lenovo unveiled its latest idea: the Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex. This is a laptop with a screen that can manually swivel from a standard horizontal orientation to vertical.
Portrait Mode
By default, the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept looks like a normal 14-inch laptop. Look closely at the screen’s edge, however, and you’ll see a second layer jutting out; that’s the actual screen. Grab the right corner edge of the screen and push it upward, and the display will smoothly swivel up into a vertical orientation.
The back panel the screen is mounted on has a felt backing to keep everything smooth and scratch-free, and you can even prop a phone up here in this orientation. There’s a mechanism inside that manages the motion and keeps it operating smoothly. Despite this, the PC is still fairly slim at 17.9 mm, and it weighs roughly 3 pounds. (The 14-inch MacBook Pro is around 15 mm thick and weighs 3.4 pounds.)
I use a dual-screen setup with one vertical monitor next to my main ultrawide monitor at home. Having a vertical screen is a game-changer, as it’s perfect for applications that utilize more vertical space. Email is a great example, so are apps like Slack, anything to do with PDFs, and even most word processing software. But I’ve yet to change my screen orientation in the middle of a workflow.
At the beginning of the year, Lenovo gave us an early design preview of its next flagship gaming handheld — the Legion Go 2. Today, at IFA 2025, the company is fleshing out the rest of the system with more details regarding its specs, price and availability.
In terms of its overall appearance, not much has changed on the outside of the Legion Go 2. It has the same general shape and detachable controllers as the preview model, alongside an 8.8-inch OLED with a variable 144Hz refresh rate and VESA HDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. Lenovo has kept the ability to use the right controller as a vertical mouse (aka FPS mode) when paired with the handheld’s included puck/stand. And as before, you still get Hall Effect joysticks, a built-in touchpad and kickstand and dual USB 4 ports.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The only major change from what we saw in January is slightly different paint colors on elements like its shoulder buttons. That said, I do appreciate that unlike a lot of its rivals (aside from the Steam Deck), Legion Go 2 still comes bundled with a case, just like its predecessor. On the flipside, one thing I wish Lenovo had changed is the detachment process for Legion Go 2’s controllers. Like before, you can press a button in back before sliding each joypad off a small hidden rail. And while it works, after using the new magnetic system for the Switch 2’s Joy-Con, doing the same thing on the Legion Go 2 just feels clunky.
Meanwhile, the Legion Go 2’s internals are where most of its upgrades have gone. The handheld can now be equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. And if that’s not enough, there’s also a microSD card reader. But perhaps the most tantalizing improvement may be its battery life, as the Legion Go 2 comes with a 74Whr battery that’s 50 percent larger than the 49.2 Whr cell in the original.
The Legion Go 2 features a 8.8-inch OLED display with a 144Hz variable refresh rate.
Unfortunately, I only had a brief time with the demo unit and as it didn’t have a lot of games already installed (especially more resource-intensive ones), so I couldn’t really gauge how much better its performance was compared to the original model. However, I did notice that Lenovo’s Legion Space app felt much snappier and more polished, though it probably won’t be as seamless as the native game integration and new UI that’s coming on the ROG Xbox Ally.
All told, the Legion Go 2 is shaping up to be a more refined, powerful and longer-lasting follow-up while retaining pretty much every major good feature from its predecessor like a big OLED screen, detachable controllers and solid connectivity. Granted, it’s still quite chunky even with its curvier and more streamlined design, but that was always going to be the case considering its large 8.8-inch display. So if you can handle a Windows-based handheld (sorry SteamOS fans) that’s on the heftier side, this is one worth keeping an eye on.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
But here’s the potential catch: the Legion Go 2 may be substantially more expensive too. It’s expected to go on sale sometime in October starting at $1,049, which is a significant jump up from the $700 base price of the original (let alone what it’s going for now, which can be as low as $550 depending on discounts). And that figure is likely for a model with a Ryzen Z2 chip, which means anyone who wants one with a more powerful Z2 Extreme processor will need to keep some wiggle room in their budget. So while I appreciate how Lenovo is chasing big performance on a portable gaming machine, the Legion Go 2’s price has me appreciating more affordable handheld rivals like the Steam Deck even more than I already do.
Lenovo just announced some new gaming products at IFA, including the Legion Pro 7 laptop. The specs here are impressive. The laptop ships with AMD’s newest Ryzen 9 9000 HX series processors and options go all the way up to the Ryzen 9955HX3D.
The Windows 11 computer also features NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs and purchasers can go up to the RTX 5080. There’s a 16-inch 240Hz OLED panel with a 0.08ms response time, which should make for some glorious gaming sessions.
It can be outfitted with up to 2TB of storage and up to 32GB of RAM. It also incorporates the company’s Coldfront thermal technology to keep things cool, which in turn lets gamers “run the highest-demand games at the highest settings.” The Legion Pro 7 will be available this November and prices start at $2,400.
The company also announced the LOQ Tower 26ADR10 desktop. The specs here are impressive, as the computers are powered by AMD Ryzen 8000 series processors and NVIDIA 50-Series GPUs. It can be topped off with up to 64GB of RAM and 4GB of SSD storage. It’ll be available later this month, with a starting price of $1,000.
Lenovo even announced a few new gaming monitors at IFA, all of which offer multiple connection options and speedy refresh rates. They will be available in October or November, depending on which model is selected, with prices ranging from $700 to $1,100.
Lenovo is no stranger to laptops with funky displays. The company has made a notebook with a tri-fold screen, one with a rollable panel and multiple systems with flexible displays. But this year at IFA, Lenovo is testing out yet another new design with its latest concept laptop, and this time it may have created the ultimate doomscrolling machine.
Its official name is the ThinkBook Vertiflex Concept and when it’s closed, it looks almost exactly like a traditional 14-inch clamshell laptop. But if you look closer, you’ll notice that its screen has a secret feature: the ability to rotate 90 degrees into portrait mode. This means you can switch to a taller aspect ratio for tasks like coding, editing photos and videos, or simply browsing your favorite vertically-oriented social media app.
Naturally, to enhance its portrait mode capabilities, Lenovo included support for pairing the laptop with your phone via its Smart Connect app, which allows you to mirror or extend the latter’s display on a bigger screen or quickly transfer files just by dragging and dropping. In a lot of ways, the Vertiflex Concept feels like the laptop version of one of LG’s last phones — the LG Wing — while also sharing a lot of similarities with TVs like the rotating Samsung Sero. And given the continued rise in popularity of vertical photos and videos on social media, it’s actually kind of a surprise that it’s taken a mainstream PC maker this long to create a laptop like this.
1 / 7
Lenovo Vertiflex Concept photos
In landscape mode, there’s almost no way to tell that the Vertiflex’s display can rotate.
On a more practical level, I really appreciate that even with a rotating display, it doesn’t feel like there’s much of a penalty when it comes to added heft or thickness. The Vertiflex Concept weighs just three pounds and measures 0.7 inches thin, which isn’t far off from what you’d get from a typical 14-inch ultraportable. And while Lenovo hasn’t provided much in the way of hardware specs (this is a concept device after all), I noticed that the laptop does feature a healthy number of connectivity options, including two USB-C ports, one USB-A connector, a full-size HDMI jack, 3.5mm audio and a microSD card reader.
Now, Lenovo has shown off more concept devices than practically any other major OEM in recent history, so of course, the Vertiflex wasn’t the only prototype the company had on display for IFA 2025. There was also the Smart Motion Concept, but that felt less impactful because instead of being a standalone product, this thing is merely a laptop stand. It uses the sensors on whatever it’s connected to to track your face and automatically reposition your laptop’s screen in the right position.
The Lenovo Smart Motion Concept and the case for its optional gesture control ring.
(Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
The idea is that if you’re making a presentation, the stand allows your laptop to better keep your face in frame while also making sure its mics and speakers are pointed in the optimal direction. Alternatively, if you’d rather control the stand yourself, the device can be paired to a ring with gesture support. Finally, Lenovo says the Smart Motion concept also has some features to do things like help you maintain ergonomically friendly postures.
However, as both products are experimental devices, there’s no word on whether Lenovo will turn these into proper retail offerings. But if either the Vertiflex or Smart Motion concepts strike your fancy, you might want to say something (maybe on social media for the social-media focused laptop) to give Lenovo a bit of extra encouragement.
Wow, are we really here again? Already? It’s almost September, folks, and Gizmodo’s consumer tech team is firmly fixed on upcoming events like IFA 2025 in Berlin and Apple’s impending annual iPhone extravaganza (Meta Connect 2025 is mid-month, too!). That being said, there are still a lot of cool gadgets we reviewed in August that deserve one final look back before we dive face-first into a torrential run towards (gulps) CES 2026.
ICYMI (make sure it never happens again), I’m rounding up this month’s best gadgets, which include some wholly unexpected entrants from Lenovo, some not-so-unexpected Pixel 10 drops from Google, and the strongest pair of ANC wireless earbuds I’ve ever shoved in my ears. Bon appétit.
I know, a new Pixel, big whoop, right? In some ways, the eye roll may be deserved, since hardware upgrades weren’t a particularly big focus this year in the new Pixel lineup, but there’s a lot going on under the hood of the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro / 10 Pro XL that may have moved the needle in other ways.
One of those ways, as you may have guessed, is Gemini, which is in every nook and cranny of the new Pixel 10 phones. Some of that phone-focused AI is still finding a purpose, but as Gizmodo’s Senior Editor, Consumer Tech, Ray Wong, noted, there are glimmers of what could be the AI phone to beat. It may be a while until we all actually retrain ourselves to use said features (if we ever do), but on paper, automatically editing photos with AI or helpful, personalized suggestions in Google Maps via Gemini are a palpable shift in the smartphone experience. An additional telephoto camera in the regular Pixel 10 is nice, too, but it’s clear that Google is leaning fully into an AI-powered phone, whether you like it or not.
Okay, picture this: a laptop, but loooooong. Not just long, but rollable, with a screen that extends out like a space-age scroll. This is the type of out-there thinking I love to see in the gadget world. Maybe it’s not the most practical, but damn is it fun. Watching Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is about as unique an experience as you’ll get in laptops—nay, gadgets in general—and that wild experience is buoyed by what is otherwise a solid machine with strong audio and a great feel.
It’s expensive, at $3,300, and battery life leaves something to be desired, but this is the future we’re talking about here. Long live the long laptop, even if it costs an arm and an oversized leg, and is technically totally unnecessary.
I had no expectations going into testing out Technics EAH-AZ100, but when I put those suckers in my ears, I knew that they were the hi-fi earbuds I’ve been waiting for. As with any hi-fi audio product, they’re expensive at $300, but when you start to hear nuances of songs you’ve heard 1,000 times before (even compressed music played on Spotify), you realize that all those extra pennies are worth it.
Luckily, the EAH-AZ100 also nails another major aspect of wireless earbuds: battery life. With 10 hours of life with active noise cancellation on, these wireless earbuds outlast midrange counterparts by a long margin, and that’s a good thing because once you put these earbuds in, you’re not going to want to take them out.
As long as we’re talking about premo audio, it’s worth mentioning Sony’s new Inzone H9 II. This gaming headset is the counterpart to Sony’s excellent WH-1000XM6 headphones in a lot of ways, delivering excellent sound quality and comfort. Sony also took steps to improve the mic quality over the last generation, which means clearer comms in high-stress games like Counter-Strike 2. Yes, this gaming headset is pricey at $350, but Sony made big strides gen-over-gen, even if the battery life (30 hours) and some of the preset EQ options are somewhat lacking.
If there are two things I love in gadgets and gaming, it’s modularity and nostalgia, and the 8BitDo Pro 3 has those in spades. If you weren’t immediately charmed by this controller’s GameCube-coded look, its many customization options might do the trick.
You can swap A,B,X,Y buttons with colored and gray versions and map everything to your liking. There’s also a USB-C dongle for low-latency gaming, in case you’re getting really serious. Anyone who’s scarred by controller drift will be happy to know that it uses an iteration of Hall effect joysticks that are pretty much immune to the wear and tear that causes drift in the first place. Unfortunately, you can’t wake your Switch 2 with this controller, or most third-party controllers right now, thanks to a shift in the protocol used by Nintendo, but if you’re looking for an all-around great experience for Nintendo or PC, the 8BitDo Pro 3 should be on your radar.
ANC isn’t always the most important aspect of earbuds, but sometimes it can be. And when noise cancellation is a priority (on a plane with a screaming baby), you’re going to want a pair of buds that does it right. Bose’s second-gen QuietComfort Ultra 2 are exactly that, and they improve year-over-year with support for wireless charging, better adaptive ANC, and the ability to see the battery life of your case via the Bose app, so you never have to be without a safeguard against annoying noise.
For $300, you won’t get comparable sound to the aforementioned Technics EAH-AZ100, but Bose still holds it down. Plus, there’s a great transparency mode for when you actually want to allow the world to engage with you.
To be honest, I can’t remember an Android phone that had people as flustered as Nothing’s Phone 3. First, there’s the look: a divisive cubist take on the Nothing aesthetic with an offset camera sensor that drives some people crazy. There’s also the price, which, at $800, had people philosophically unpacking what a flagship phone even is.
No matter where you sit on that spectrum—love it or hate it—Nothing’s Phone 3 made a statement, and even if features like the Glyph Matrix are a bit of a gimmick, it gave us something to talk about. If the metric was to make a phone that isn’t boring, I’d say Nothing succeeded—older chipset and less-than-flagship camera system be damned.
The Switch 2 is great, but it’s only as great as how long you can play it for, and the battery life leaves something to be desired. If you’re looking to extend your Switch 2 battery life on the go, then Genki’s Attack Vector case does just that. It’s only $50 and has an additional battery pack accessory that’s sold for $70. With the added energy pack, Gizmodo Staff Writer Kyle Barr was able to get 2.5 hours of additional juice while playing Cyberpunk 2077 in handheld mode—that effectively doubles the battery life when you have Genki’s charging case equipped.
This isn’t the case you want for protecting your Switch 2 against drops, since it’s on the thinner side, but if you’re looking for something lightweight that gives you a huge battery boost, you can’t go wrong.
Listen, I’m not a fan of smart locks personally. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve filled my home with janky internet-connected outlets and lights, but locking my door with a product like that just feels like a bridge too far. That being said, there is something about a palm-scanning smart lock that does feel objectively cool. Our smart home expert, Wes Davis, praised the TCL D2 Pro for its speed in reading and unlocking, its simple installation process, and its easily removable battery that can be charged via USB-C.
Wes also knocked off points for a buggy setup process and its lack of support for Apple Home and Matter, though, and obviously, if you’re in a cold-weather part of the world, you’re going to need to slide your glove off to get in or use the lock’s not-so-high-tech numpad. Warts and all, though, palm-based smart locks are some Jedi magic if I’ve ever seen it.
Google’s adding a slew of AI features to its productivity-focused Chromebook Plus line of devices, including a screen-selection tool for search and text capture, a tool that explains complex text, and NotebookLM.
The new screen-selection tool works similarly to Google Lens and the “Circle to search” feature in Chrome on smartphones: long-press the launcher button or use the screenshot tool to select what is on your screen, and Google will instantly search for it. The tool also lets you select text and quickly add an event to the calendar.
Image Credits:Google
Last year, Google added a new “quick insert” key to some Chromebook Plus models that lets you trigger shortcuts. Users can now access Google’s AI image-generation features with this key, as well as AI-powered writing tools.
Meanwhile, the new “Simplify” feature lets you use AI to explain, simplify, or summarize any text you have selected.
Google’s also giving all new Chromebook Plus users one year’s subscription to the Google AI Pro plan, which includes access to the Gemini app; video editing tool Flow; image-to-video creation tool Whisk; Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and Chrome; and 2TB of storage. The AI Pro plan otherwise costs $240 per year.
Alongside these features, Google is launching two exclusive AI features for Lenovo’s new Chromebook Plus 14: One uses AI to recommend tab and document organization, while the second lets users edit images using the Gallery app to remove backgrounds or make stickers.
Lenovo’s new Chromebook comes with an OLED touch screen and runs on an ARM-based MediaTek Kompanio Ultra chip. It comes in 12GB and 16GB RAM variants, costing $649 and $749, respectively.
Windows 2-in-1s have been doing the tablet-laptop hybrid thing for a while now, but the tablet part of that equation always feels lacking. While iPads and Android tablets have refined the experience for more than a decade and have vast ecosystems of tablet-optimized apps at the ready, Windows remains a bit of an ugly duckling.
But what if you combined a Windows laptop with a full Android tablet? That’s the idea behind the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5), and it’s an interesting beast.
The closest analogue to the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) is Microsoft’s now-dead Surface Book line but without the need to split shared hardware between the screen and the base. Instead, the ThinkBook packs all of its laptop internals into the keyboard base and the separate tablet hardware in the display. What you end up with is a laptop that can instantly (well, nearly instantly) switch between Windows and Android at the press of a button, or operate separately when you detach the screen.
Photograph: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster
The hardware is no slouch either. My review unit Lenovo has an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive for storage. The tablet portion of the machine includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset (the flagship Android processor from 2022), 12 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. Those are fairly beefy specs on both ends of the equation and help keep the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) feeling snappy with both Windows and Android.
As you’d expect from a $3,500 machine, the build quality of this ThinkBook Plus is exceptional, with an all-metal chassis that feels like it can survive being run over by a pickup truck (please don’t do that). It features a 2,880 x 1,800-pixel-resolution 14-inch OLED touchscreen display that looks as good as you can get in a premium laptop. Combined with a set of robust speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, you have a great overall media experience.
Lenovo Legion has teamed up with JAR Systems to make esports accessible with mobile cart solutions.
LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla., September 17, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Lenovo Legion announced a strategic partnership with JAR Systems, the creator of USB-C PD charging carts used widely in schools nationwide. Legion has supported many schools’ efforts to launch or expand their esports programs and harness students’ passion for gaming. This joint venture provides new solutions to accelerate those programs including the initial release of a cobranded charging cart engineered for gaming devices.
Esports programs have been recognized as effective for inspiring students and bolstering their engagement. Schools have reported improved attendance, higher scores, and an increased sense of community among their students. Many administrators wish to emulate these successes in their school districts but face challenges.
The Legion PowerPro Esports Cart, spawned by the partnership between the two companies, is an affordable tool for aspiring esports programs limited by space. The new charging cart is a secure solution for Lenovo gaming laptops and their peripheral devices. It is powered by state-of-the-art Quick-Sense USB-C PD 3.1 Charging technology and does not need to be wired with expensive AC adapters. This stand-out feature—truly AC adapter-free charging, greatly reduces maintenance requirements saving time and money.
JAR Systems is well-known in the education space for its problem-solving charging products. The company’s CEO, Axel Zimmermann, praised the partnership stating, “With our combined expertise, we can deliver smarter technology solutions that help school leaders champion student success.” The new cart exemplifies ease of use with clever features that streamline setup so gamers can get started faster.
For more information, please contact: Email: Sales@JAR-Systems.com Phone: (941) 870-4493
About Lenovo Legion
Lenovo Legion, the world’s leading Gaming Ecosystem brand, crafts smarter gaming hardware, software, and services, empowering gamers from across the world to band together and reach their impossible.
About JAR Systems
JAR Systems is a pioneer in charging solutions with more than 20 years of experience offering innovative products that address the unique needs of educational institutions. With a focus on efficiency and reliability, JAR Systems helps schools maximize their technology investments and support student success.
The 9i offers excellent usability with gently concave keys that have plenty of travel, a responsive touchpad, and the flexibility to flip the screen around and put the laptop in an inverted-V tent shape or lay it flat for the full tablet experience. A simple stylus is included for those looking to do more detailed work. I found typing to be a breeze, and nothing has changed about the chassis design either, which is all rounded edges and corners, weighing in at a svelte 2.4 pounds and measuring 18 mm thick.
As for performance, Intel’s latest chip is giving all manner of laptops a leg up, but as has been the case with most of the devices I’ve tested of late, power hasn’t exactly shot through the roof. My benchmark scores were mixed across the range of general business and graphics-focused apps, ultimately turning in slightly above-average numbers compared to the field of similarly equipped devices.
Photograph: Best Buy
Battery life, however, is a significant concern. While Gilbertson achieved double-digit hours of running time in 2023, my YouTube test saw the laptop dying after just under seven hours. This is a real disappointment for a machine of this size, so much so that I ran the test a couple of times to verify I hadn’t messed something up. The score held. Bizarrely, the 9i is also quite slow to boot; I clocked a lengthy 38 seconds to reach a state of usability—more than double the typical booting time for a 2024 laptop—and that doesn’t include the time it takes to figure out where the power button is.
At $1,450, the 2024 Yoga 9i is fairly priced, though I wouldn’t be averse to suggesting you keep your eyes open for a sale or two. Still, even at list price, it remains, just like Lenovo itself said, as tried and true as ever.
Lenovo has recently introduced the Lenovo Tab Plus, an entertainment tablet designed specifically for those who prioritize high-quality sound and visual experiences. This 11.5-inch tablet promises a rich and immersive entertainment experience thanks to its powerful audio system and impressive display features. Here’s a closer look at what the Lenovo Tab Plus has to offer.
Impressive Sound Quality with Eight JBL Speakers
One of the standout features of the Lenovo Tab Plus is its audio system. Equipped with eight JBL speakers, including four matrix tweeters and four force-balanced woofers, this tablet delivers an impressive 26W of stereo sound. These speakers are designed to provide deeper bass and clearer treble, making it ideal for music lovers. The sound system is further enhanced by Dolby Atmos tuning, ensuring a high-fidelity audio experience whether you’re listening to music, watching movies, or playing games.
Stunning 2K Display for Vivid Visuals
The Lenovo Tab Plus doesn’t just excel in audio; it also offers a stunning visual experience. The 11.5-inch 2K display is TÜV-certified for low blue light and flicker-free performance, which helps reduce eye strain during extended use. With a 90Hz refresh rate, the display provides smooth and vibrant visuals, making it perfect for streaming videos, browsing the web, or reading e-books. This combination of high-quality sound and visuals makes the Lenovo Tab Plus a versatile device for various entertainment needs.
Versatile Functionality and Enhanced Features
Beyond its audio and visual capabilities, the Lenovo Tab Plus offers several features that enhance its versatility. The tablet can function as a Bluetooth speaker, allowing you to stream audio from other devices like smartphones seamlessly. It also comes with an integrated kickstand that provides up to 175 degrees of viewing flexibility, making it easy to use in various settings, whether you’re working, studying, or relaxing at home.
The tablet includes a personalized app volume control feature that automatically adjusts the volume based on the app you’re using. For instance, it increases the volume for music or podcast apps and lowers it for browsing. This smart feature ensures you always have the optimal audio level for different activities.
Long-Lasting Battery and Robust Performance
Battery life is another strong suit of the Lenovo Tab Plus. It is equipped with an 8600 mAh battery that can stream content for up to 12 hours on a single charge. Additionally, the tablet supports 45W fast charging, allowing it to reach full power in just 90 minutes. This ensures that you can enjoy your favorite media without frequent interruptions.
Under the hood, the Lenovo Tab Plus is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, offering robust performance for everyday tasks and entertainment. It comes with up to 256GB of built-in storage, which can be expanded via a MicroSD card. The tablet is also IP52 water and dust resistant, providing added durability for everyday use.
Conclusion: A Well-Rounded Entertainment Tablet
The Lenovo Tab Plus is a well-rounded entertainment tablet that caters to music lovers and those who enjoy high-quality audio and visual experiences. With its eight JBL speakers, Dolby Atmos tuning, 2K display, and versatile functionality, it offers a comprehensive entertainment experience. The long-lasting battery, fast charging, and robust performance further enhance its appeal.
Available now in select global markets, the Lenovo Tab Plus starts at €279 or $289.99, making it an accessible option for those looking to upgrade their entertainment devices. Whether you’re a music enthusiast or someone who enjoys a good movie or book, the Lenovo Tab Plus is worth considering for your next tablet purchase.
Technical Specifications
Lenovo Tab Plus
Processor
MediaTek G99 Octa Core
OS
Android 14, (OS upgrades for 2 years and security patches until June 2028)
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