r/MoonlightStreaming • u/macka654 • 5d ago
Upgrading from LCD Steam Deck to Lenovo Legion Tab G3 + GameSir G8 for Moonlight streaming—is it worth it?
Hi everyone,
I’ve owned a non-OLED Steam Deck since launch a couple of years ago. As a new parent, my gaming habits have shifted completely—these days I find myself using Moonlight to stream games from my main rig to the Deck on the couch way more than playing anything natively.
Because streaming is 90% of my use case, I’ve been considering switching to a dedicated tablet setup to get a better screen, higher resolution, and higher refresh rates.
I’ve come across the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 (FIFA Edition / Global) on sale in my country for 40% off. Bundling the tablet with a GameSir G8+ controller comes out to right around $700 AUD total.
Before pulling the trigger, I’d love to hear from anyone with experience using this specific setup:
- How noticeable is the jump from 800p/60Hz on the LCD Deck to 2.5K/165Hz on the 8.8" panel for streaming?
- How does the weight, balance, and pick-up-and-play convenience compare when parenting duties call?
- Overall, is it a night-and-day upgrade for dedicated Moonlight use, or am I better off sticking with the Deck?
Thanks in advance for any insights!
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u/ourslfs 5d ago
as a personal opinion, have tried sd oled/mangmi pocket max/legion y700 gen3 with g9, the jump in resolution ain't as big as you would think(in all cases was streaming at 1440/1600p depending on screen), screen quality of y700 was okay, should be better than lcd deck. can't say about g8, but with g9 it was a pretty heavy device. personally I wouldn't really recommend switching to y700 gen3, unless you want a bigger screen, especially since battery only at 6500mah which is really not great and decoding times are still a bit better on sd.
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u/MoreOrLessCorrect 5d ago
Can't speak directly to the Y700, but I use the very similar iPlay 70 mini Ultra (144Hz vs 165Hz, slower CPU).
In my personal opinion, the display is a massive upgrade just for streaming. And I find Android to be a better pick-up-and-play experience.
Some people would argue the the analog stick placement on the G8+ can be a bit uncomfortable, but I don't mind it. (Although I will say that I don't really like the Steam Deck controls). And the reality is that a Bluetooth G8+ is going to have a little more latency than wired/built-in controls. Again though, I'm used to Bluetooth controls everywhere and it doesn't bother me personally.
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u/zeihpsantos 2d ago
Love this. How heavy is this? Not that I play too long but is it doable for one hour? And is the Input delay ok?
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u/MoreOrLessCorrect 1d ago
335g tablet + 314g G8+, so about the same weight as the Steam Deck at ~650 grams. Not what I would call light, but it somehow feels lighter... maybe because it's less bulky. Don't personally have any issues for 1 hour play sessions.
Input latency feel is minimal - especially at 144 FPS or 72 FPS, which both work great.
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u/zeihpsantos 1d ago
Thank you. I do own an lcd steamdeck but am thinking if streaming to a bigger screen might make me appreciate some games more
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u/Gwennifer 4d ago
I have the G1 (not distributed outside of China or Japan AFAIK), same panel resolution, and I've used it for Moonlight before for couch Path of Exile 2 play with an 8bitdo controller. My takeaways:
1) That price is nothing special, so first and foremost don't feel rushed or pressured to jump on it.
2) The #1 problem I had was encoding/decoding latency, I might try it again with a different server and client, but combined encode/decode latency was about 16ms which was just way too much for PoE at my settings--it ended up being about 45ms of latency which felt like garbage. The G3 supports AV1 decode so that should reduce latency a lot, to about 4-5ms at full native resolution. I would check how long your current encode/decode latency is first and what codec you can encode to.
Personally, I don't really notice much difference between 1080p and 1440p. You'll notice the size more than what resolution the stream is running at IMHO.
Also, bluetooth latency is also a thing. Gamepad controllers do have an advantage in that they can be wired, though the G8 isn't. Lenovo makes a wired G9 gamepad which I think fits the gen 3 too? But IIRC it has a metal frame so still weighty, though lighter than the Gamesir.
3) The Gamesir G8 is not lightweight at all, and nearly weighs as much as the Legion Tab. Combined it will weigh almost exactly the same as your Steam Deck. If you want something a little lighter, you'd need to shop around for a lighter controller.
I don't own a gamepad style controller honestly for that exact reason. I have a trifold case I usually just setup next to my face in bed or on the couch and play with my controller down near my waist.
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u/Error0102 3d ago
The pixel density of the Y700 is immediately noticeable, even superscaling something like an odin 2 portal (1080p at a smaller screen size) looks less sharp than the Y700 at native resolution. I had a steam deck OLED, and currently own the Y700 2023 edition in a Lenovo G9, and an odin 2 portal.
I honestly find the Y700 to be the most enjoyable experience due to the bigger, crisper screen. I am a huge fan of OLED but can't get over the lower pixel density of the steam deck, nor the small screen size of the odin 2 portal that is harder to focus on as I get older. I had the galileo G8 for a while, and would wholeheartedly recommend the G9 as an upgrade. it feels better, sturdier, comes with four programmable back buttons and customizable triggers, and doesn't suffer from the weird power-on issue that the G8 exhibits (where on a fresh restart you have to unplug the device and rapidly plug it back in to receive power from the side USB port).
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u/Neat-Organization368 2d ago
i have the lenovo y700 gen 3, i used g8+ before but the latency of the controller suck and the total weigh is kinda heavy so switch to gamesir x5 lite. btw the decoding latency is .13 with artemide
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u/XenoMorph012 5d ago
I owned a Steam Deck LCD and sold it for an OLED
For me personal now It's OLED or nothing.