In a not-so-scientific benchmark conducted by YouTuber Cyber Dopamine, the Rog Xbox Ally managed to perform better without Windows, the operating system it ships with out of the box. Cyber installed Bazzite, a popular Linux distro for handhelds built specifically to offer that console-esque, seamless experience. Visually, Bazzite looks identical to SteamOS because it uses Steam’s Big Picture Mode as its main launcher. It also behaves similarly, but has its own custom menus and settings for customizing things like power profiles (which override Asus’ built-in ones).
When testing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Cyber noticed a shockingly significant jump in FPS, with Linux generating ~32% more FPS compared to Windows. This trend follows at lower wattages, albeit with less noticeable differences, and the delta actually plateaus in Hogwarts Legacy to the point that both Bazzite and the Xbox FSE offer the same FPS at 13W. That being said, those frame rates are much more consistent on Linux, according to Cyber, who shows that the FPS graph on Windows fluctuates regularly, while staying mostly flat on Bazzite.
This will become more and more true in more and more cases as time goes on.
Linux is built on a far more efficient kernel, and the culture of Linux development is very much the same.
Meanwhile Microsoft will continue to enshitify its projects, shove more AI garbage onto its users, and prioritize profits over everything else.
Linux has been the standard OS for decades in the low power computing space, Microsoft can’t compete.
That’ll be hilarious when everyone buys the flagship Xbox branded handheld only to install a Steam variant on it.
Year of Linux on the…handtop?
That’s awesome. I’m almost ready to switch to Linux, but I hop around to many different games and not all run on Linux.
Don’t look back. Those games are dead to you now
Unironically, yes. Keep the kernel-level anti-cheat shit off my computer.
^this
It’s mostly kernel level AC and super ancient stuff that doesn’t run. I play the former on console (if any), and the latter can be emulated
GOG is doing wonders for the later as well. Just recently enjoyed a run of Breath of Fire IV. :)
You shouldn’t be playing any game that requires kernel level access to your PC.
Do you trust every employee at EA, Riot, Activision with your credit card details, social security number, bank accounts, home address, etc.?
Because that’s what kernel level access grants them, and more.
On top of that, a hacker could potentially exploit it to gain access too.
The only one I have run into that doesn’t work is pubg. What are you trying to run?
I think maybe take a look at the performance and power seen during the video, things don’t seem to line up correctly.
That said, Linux is generally slightly more performant in handheld devices and I think that will continue to hold true despite Microsoft’s recent opts.
