Summary
I’ve really enjoyed owning a Windows handheld gaming PC, but as a PC gamer I knew what to expect. I’d really rather have bought a Steam Deck, but Valve doesn’t sell them in my country, and parallel imports have no support or warranty.
Now, however, I get to enjoy all the benefits of SteamOS and the superior hardware of my Lenovo Legion Go. Best of all—I can play on battery power for longer than 45 minutes!
SteamOS Is Officially Supported on Some Non-Valve Handhelds
It’s been possible to install Valve’s SteamOS on devices like the Lenovo Legion Go and ROG Ally for months now, but with the release ofSteamOS 3.7.8it is officially supported on the main Stable release channel. Which was my cue to install it myself.
The release note specifically states:
Since I already have an original Legion Go, it makes sense to try SteamOS on the hardware I have instead of buying a Legion Go S (which has the same internal specs, and is worse in some ways) for its eye-watering asking price.
Lenovo Legion Go S
If you’re looking for a Windows-powered gaming handheld with great ergonomics, the Lenovo Legion Go S is an ultra-comfortable model with an entry-level chipset.
The Installation Was an Absolute Breeze
This is not an installation guide, and I strongly recommend that you watch a video of someone installing SteamOS on your exact handheld to make sure you know all the steps. Also, carefully go over theofficial installation instructionsto ensure you know what you’re doing.
That said, it took literally less than five minutes for me to go from Windows to SteamOS on my Legion Go. Of course, I opted to do a straight wipe of the machine and only run SteamOS on it. If you want to do something fancy like dual-booting with Windows or you want to take this opportunity to install a bigger SSD, you’ll have to look up those more complicated installation methods.
For your information, here are the basic steps I followed to get SteamOS on my Legion Go:
After this, the installer booted up, and I just followed the on-screen instructions after choosing a complete wipe and installation.
Within just a few minutes, I was greeted by the SteamOS installation screen and from here on it’s just like setting up a new Steam Deck out of the box.
ASUS ROG Ally X (2024)
The ASUS ROG Ally X (2024) is a handheld gaming PC designed to take your favorite titles on-the-go. With the AMD Z1 Extreme processor and 24GB of RAM, you’ll find that the ROG Ally X packs a punch in the power department. It’s capable of playing games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at over 100 FPS using recommended settings. USB4 and USB-C allow the ROG Ally X to be converted to a desktop through a USB dock, making it even more versatile.
Not Everything Works Perfectly Yet
Now, the Legion Go S has official full support, and Valve is officially OK with us putting SteamOS on the Legion Go and ROG Ally handhelds, but there are still some things that need work,
The most important one for the Legion Go is power profiles and tuning. Right now, you’re able to’t control the TDP settings of the Z1 Extreme chip, and GPU frequency limiting doesn’t work correctly either. You do have the choice of installing the third-partySimpleDeckyTDPplugin, but luckily the Legion Go has a hardware button shortcut to change between the factory presets: “Quiet”, “Balanced”, and “Performance”, with a “Custom” profile that you’ll want Decky for to use.
Simply hold the Legion button and tap the “Y” button on the controller, and the power light will change color to indicate which mode you’re in. It goes Blue>White>Red>Purple in order of increasing performance, ending with the custom mode. I might do the plug-in, but I’d rather wait for an update that puts official TDP control in for the Legion Go, and so far I am very happy just with the presets.
What? I Can Actually Play on Battery Now?
Trying to play games on the Legion Go using the internal battery and Windows is something I’ve just never bothered with. When I have games tuned to a performance level I find acceptable for handheld untethered play, I invariably get so little battery life it’s not worth bothering. It’s why I invested in a power bank capable of supplying the 65W the Legion Go needs, which added another hour to 90 minutes of play time.
One of the reasons this happened is that I just couldn’t get good performance in balanced mode, which meant I had to play in performance mode or suffer stutters and inconsistent performance. Even with a 30fps cap. Right from the get-go, I could feel balanced mode under SteamOS performed much better. I’ve only had a day or two to play with SteamOS on my Legion Go, but for higher-end games in balanced mode, it looks like I can get at least two hours of play on a full charge, and even a little more with some tweaking to the game settings and setting a lower frame cap.
Even two hours is great though. It might not seem like much, but I rarely play for longer than two hours in a single session, so this has already taken my handheld from being a plug-in experience, to being something that I’d actually use on the go. Even better, the system is noticeably quieter and cooler.
Itissad that of my 1000-ish Steam games “only” 550 are currently SteamOS compatible, but I’d rather have those 550 games play better and longer, than have all 1000 games run for 45 minutes before my handheld dies on me. Here’s hoping those SteamOS updates come fast and frequently!
