“So much better than the Windows version” SteamOS Legion Go praised in reviews
Table of Contents
The wait for SteamOS to officially come to other handhelds is finally over. It was only a few days ago that Valve made SteamOS official for the Legion Go S while bundling in extra support for more AMD-powered handhelds. But it’s the release of the Legion Go S that shows us what the operating system can do outside of the Steam Deck.
That also means we get hardware reviews, with a look at the OS’s performance on the very same hardware as the Windows variant that released earlier this year. Dave2D has done this on YouTube, putting the two versions up against each other and showing off what effect the two have on the handhelds. Surprisingly, it’s a lot more than you might expect, making the Proton-based software a lot more tempting.
Legion Go S performance and improvements
Not only does it perform better in games, battery life, and as a handheld, but it is also cheaper than the Windows version. So here are some of the highlights that the reviewer points out that make it a worthy option.
Legion Go S battery life, Source Dave2D
Legion Go S vs Steam Deck, Source Dave2D
Legion Go S SteamOS vs Windows, Source Dave2D
The Legion Go S SteamOS version seems to improve pretty much on everything compared to the Windows version. Starting off with the performance, on low/medium settings, the improvement is as great as 25% in Cyberpunk 2077, while Helldivers 2 improves by just around 7%. It’s not all across the board, as Spider-Man 2 is just within 1fps between the two versions.
He even goes to compare the Legion Go S against the Steam Deck, and on the same 15W power level, the Legion Go performs even better than the Valve handheld. It can be pushed even more if you desire an even greater lead to get some rather impressive framerates for the mobile device.
Even for battery life, there is a rather large increase depending on the use case. In Cyberpunk, the change in operating system just offers a 24% or 30-minute boost in longevity. But in something a bit less demanding like Dead Cells locked into 60 fps, the lifespan jumps from 2hrs 47 up to 6hrs 12, resulting in a 76% boost, even if that still is just behind the Steadm Deck OLED, it’s a rather impressive long-lasting option.
Another highlight is just the usability of the operating system, since SteamOS is made purely for handhelds from the ground up, it’s a lot easier to use compared to Windows. That makes it not only easier to control with the handheld setup but also perform better, as Dave2D goes over the sleep and wake capability, being a lot more straightforward and usable in SteamOS.
With that and just the Linux-based Proton that SteamOS uses, it’s a lot less bloated than Windows. With such a focus on hand-held efficiency and improvements, the SteamOS version is a no-brainer, and even with the price hike it experienced, it still comes in cheaper than the worst-performing Windows version.
“so much better the moment you remove Windows”
Dave2D
Full review
About the Author