IFA 2023 Gaming Innovation Showcase

IFA 2023 marks the 99th year that the world’s most widely attended consumer electronics show again gave us a glimpse of the future. With the spotlight shining brightly on Berlin, attendees learned how we’d all work, commute, and live life.

That includes how we’ll play, too. We saw some gaming hardware that pumped us for what’s to come in 2024 and beyond. See what made our peepers do a double-take.

Lenovo’s Triple Header

Plenty of brands had a fine showing of their gaming hardware at IFA 2023. But it was Lenovo that proverbially mopped the floor with the competition. It unveiled not one, or even two, but three pieces of gaming hardware that show Lenovo is making serious moves to become a leader in some of the game tech still in its infancy: portable gaming PCs and AR glasses.

Lenovo Legion GO

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Undoubtedly, the stand-out gaming tech of IFA 2023, the Lenovo Legion GO , effectively stole the attention of every attendee who passed by Lenovo’s booth. And who can blame them? The yellow RGB light around the joysticks of the Lenovo Legion GO makes it feel like it’s ripped straight out of a “Deus Ex” game, giving it that “the future is now” look.

It doesn’t just look pretty, though. It’s sporting impressive specs, too:

• 16GB RAM
• AMD Ryzen Z1/ Z1 Extreme processor
• 512GB storage
• MicroSD card reader
• 8.8-inch OLED screen

Image Credit: Justin Duino /MakeUseOf

At first glance, it’s evident that Lenovo is making a significant push to be a big player in the portable PC gaming realm, competing against Valve’s Steam Deck and Asus’ ROG Ally. Yes, it’s running Windows 11, just like the Ally. And yes, it utilizes a trackpad that the Steam Deck proved is a necessity.

But the Lenovo Legion GO is packing a few unique tricks of its own. Chief among them is the detachable controllers. It makes playing with the Lenovo Legion GO almost feel like you’re playing a Nintendo Switch.

Interestingly, the right side of the controller can be placed into a holder, which sounds perfect for those times when you don’t want to use the Lenovo Legion GO’s trackpad in handheld mode.

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Lenovo is wisely positioning the Legion GO as a gaming handheld just as capable as a desktop. It beats the Steam Deck and ROG Ally’s screen size by nearly two full inches, boasting an impressive 8.8-inch screen. It also includes a kickstand, making it easy to plop onto your desk and play like any gaming PC.

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The Lenovo Legion GO is scheduled to launch on October 31, 2023, for $799.

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Lenovo Legion Glasses

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Switching from desktop mode to handheld and back again with the Lenovo Legion GO sounds convenient, but what if you want to play on something bigger than its 8.8-inch screen? Bigger than your television? Lenovo hopes Legion GO buyers will accompany the handheld with the Lenovo Legion Glasses: a 1:1 carbon copy of 2022’s ThinkVision Glasses T1. The only actual difference is the Legion rebranding.

But this kind of tech is still a brave new world, so it’s worth covering Lenovo’s smart glasses. The Lenovo Legion Glasses feature a micro-OLED display that gives players a 1920x1090 resolution_per eye._ Sounds like an awesome way to lean back and play “Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon” for the rest of 2023.

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The Lenovo Legion Glasses can connect to virtually any device that supports USB-C Alt mode, which includes everything from laptops to iPads sporting a USB-C port via its unattachable 4-foot USB-C cable. If the cord breaks, the glasses are busted. That’s still an odd choice by Lenovo, but we’ll entertain the idea.

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But are they better than its competition, namely the XReal Air smart glasses, arguably the best accessory for the Steam Deck ? That remains to be seen. They’re a bit heavier at 5oz (142g) than the XReal Air’s 2.6oz (75g). But with the adjustable nose pads and its anti-slip adapter, pressure on the nose may not make the glasses feel like they’re going to fall off.

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The rebranded Lenovo Legion Glasses will be available sometime in October 2023 for $329.

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Lenovo Legion 9i

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Let’s get one thing out of the way: the Lenovo Legion 9i fetches a crazy price: $4,399. It’s packed with premium features and new ideas, straying away from previous builds of the Legion series. So, what does this high price get you?

An integrated liquid cooling system, for starters. Unlike most laptops that utilize air cooling to safely transfer heat away from the important bits of your PC, the Legion 9i uses liquid cooling technology to keep its internal temperature at a reasonable level. It’s the same principle behind water-cooled PCs but in laptop form.

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Lenovo is also integrating its “LA-2 AI” chip, responsible for managing the RGB controls and the power between the CPU and GPU, resulting in solid frame rates while working nicely with the liquid cooling system—smart.

The Legion 9i features a:

• 16-inch 165Hz mini LED display.
• 13th-gen Core i9-13980HX processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU
• 32GB/64GB of 6400MHz DDR5 RAM
• 2TB SSD

The Lenovo Legion 9i will be available starting October 2023.

MSI GAMING SLIM Series Graphics Cards

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MSI impressed us with its new line of GAMING SLIM series of graphics cards . It effectively shrinks down the GeForce RTX 40 series, making installing it in small or tight spaces easier.

Available in both black and white, MSI’s GAMING SLIM graphics cards are also cooled by the TRI FROZR 3 and TORX Fan 5.0, directing proper airflow despite its small profile. It keeps itself cool with eight Core Pipes in the heatsink and a metal backplate with an opening to decrease heat.

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MSI’s GAMING SLIM version of its GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards will be released sometime later this year.

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Tecno MegaMini Watercooled Mini PC

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Here’s something unusual: Tecno, known for its phones, unveiled at IFA 2023 a water-cooled mini PC focusing on gaming. Here’s what we know.

The Tecno MegaMini will come in both Intel and AMD versions. The Intel version features a13th-gen i9 13900H processor and a GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card, while the AMD version boasts a 7000 Series Ryzen R7-7840HS processor and an AMD 7600MXT graphics card, respectively.

Both versions of the Tecno MegaMini sport:

• 16GB/32GB DDR5 RAM
• 512GB/1TB SSD storage
• Windows 11
• And last but not least, a water-cooling system

No word on the price or release date yet, but color us intrigued.

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IFA 2023: Gaming Hardware Worth Talking About

At the very least, the gaming hardware unveilings at IFA 2023 gave us plenty to discuss in the coming months. Between Lenovo’s monster push into Legion becoming a serious gaming brand to gaming hardware vying to become as small as possible, it’s writing on the wall that shows you what to expect in the near future. However, one question remains: Can your wallet handle the gaming hardware on the horizon?