Mulbox1d ago
Ars Technica
Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds
Lenovo Legion Go S gets better frame rates running Valve's free operating system.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/games-run-faster-on-steamos-than-windows-11-ars-testing-finds/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Jun 25 at 7:28pmBot Posts (testing)
Show threadHedders1d ago
@arstechnica I mean ... yes? Is anyone surprised by this? Win11 is a dog.
Show threadEmory2h ago
@hedders @arstechnica i can't believe i'm saying this but i disagree. i'm a since-1984 mac user that loathes windows but i use it regularly and windows 11 is the best product redmond ever shipped other than the original xbox.
Show threadHedders2h ago

@emory I'd say that goes to Windows 2000 (showing my age there).

I just can't stand all the bloat, the nagging, the ads, the constant demand for feedback, the shoving of OneDrive and 365 down one's throat, the wildly inconsistent UI ... to say nothing of all the AI stuff it keeps shoehorning in there.

Show threadEmory2h ago
@hedders i mean i don't see any ads? i don't know what the heck people are complaining about ads for. i have a windows 11 workstation install and i use ollama lmstudio arc warp vscode pieces terminal edge-dev steam 1password wsl2 docker tailscale apollo/sunshine chiaki (ps streaming) and perplexity. i turned off the clickbait news thing they put in the left of the taskbar is that what people are talking about? i use ublock origin in my browsers and my household DNS uses cloudflare's .3 upstream.
Show threadHedders2h ago
@emory Is your system Win 11 Pro by any chance? I think a lot of the ads and nagware isn't in that (or is disabled easily through InTune).
Show threadEmory2h ago
@hedders i use Workstation it was a $200 upgrade so you may have identified why i don't see nags but also i've used a pretty slick method to slipstream an ARM windows 11 vm on apple silicon for UTM that gave me the impression i could tailor every single block of data on the resulting OS image. i don't know if intune is generally available even but it'd be smart if it was especially since apple's abandoned their leadership position on MDM parameters and features for several years i guess now!
Show threadHedders1h ago
@emory I think that's probably why - Workstation doesn't have a lot of the more consumer-focused BUYBUYBUY stuff in it.
Show threadEmory2h ago

@hedders the feedback thing i've got coming cuz i run insiders occasionally, so i told them i'd give feedback.

the UI shit is out of control no argument there. the g-ddamned backup and restore tool is called "Backup for Windows 7 and 8" or some shit lololol how the hell they've let that continue is beyond me. onedrive is tightly integrated but i accept that on macOS with iCloud and i still use Dropbox and OneDrop on everything anyway so that doesn't annoy me either.

that ui thing though wow

Show threadNazo1d ago

@arstechnica Ehhhhh... Proton is hit and miss and native compatibility even more so.

Some stuff will do better. Some stuff will do worse. A lot of stuff is basically indiscernible.

I don't think we should focus on promising it will be better because with some people's luck it may just be the game they care about most that decides to run badly. Just make it clearer to people that pretty much every game is at least playable and no *nix distro (not even Valve's) will ever be as bad as Windows 10 or 11 for privacy. Even if a particular favorite game might yield a lower FPS it would still be worth it just to get away from the dystopian villain Microsoft became.

It's also a good thing to remember that installers set up a dual boot automatically if Windows is present. They can ease off.

Show threadEmory2h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica for me on a steamdeck with identical flash windows 11 vs steam OS baldurs gate 3 was better in apperance and performance on windows 11 but using the steamdeck's controller is so g-ddammned agonizing under windows 11 that i refused to learn if any other game was similar. i just made peace with not playing #destiny2 on my steamdeck because it can't run the anticheat or whatever without getting yet another hobby i don't want: hacking windows device drivers GROSS
Show threadNazo2h ago

@emory @arstechnica Not sure what anti-cheat it has, but Heroic Games Launcher has a couple of toggles for Easy Anticheat and BattlEye if that helps any.

But yeah, I don't think it's good to tell people "hey switch and you'll get 5 fps more!" Rather "hey switch and most of your stuff will work fine but more importantly, Microsoft won't be watching every single thing you do and feeding it all into their LLM whether you want them to or not."

Show threadEmory2h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica honestly for me it's a much better argument to make about the controller support. especially on valve hardware. my g-d it was agony. at one point i was using a dual sense controller to my fscking steamdeck. embarassing. and i didn't know about Heroic Launcher and Steam doesn't tell me that either so if i still had a steamdeck i'd be all over that cuz it's bsttlEye i believe. i had to disable a kernel flag for windows 11 to run it. assholes.
Show threadNazo2h ago

@emory @arstechnica I mean not everyone has a Steamdeck. Linux is good for any kind of computer of every level. Whether low end or high end or anywhere in between. I don't think it's right to focus on any one thing even. It's about the whole.

And the anticheat crap is going too far and really IMO it should be more of a matter of everyone telling them straight up: no. If a game has kernel-level anti-cheats, just say no. I guess you could try playing it through Heroic if you dare though.

I've heard that Heroic Games Launcher is supposed to work really well on the Steamdeck. I can't verify because I don't have one. If nothing else, it's great for managing anything you might want to run on there that isn't in Steam.

Show threadEmory2h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica fair enough, linux isn't my first pick for a lot of things but is for just as many i guess! but steamOS-on-all-the-things is a novel concept and with things like bazzite available for gaming systems there's a lot to love and again at least controllers will work reliably under linux.
Show threadNazo2h ago
@emory @arstechnica I think it's very very important to consider getting away from the corporations on this. Microsoft and Apple are making it clearer and clearer that they really don't care what their users may want. They're going to do what has the most profit. Apple used to at least look at the long term rather than only the short, but the "pretend LLMs are AI and will change the future even though they aren't and won't" craze has even them seeing dollar signs.
Show threadUSB Type-Steve 1d ago
@arstechnica Title needs clarifying. Saying they run "faster on SteamOS" implies there's an issue where the games aren't running at the speed they should run. Probably should have said "games perform better" instead.
Show threadQue1d ago
@USBTypeSteve @arstechnica I don’t know, at this point I might actually classify windows 11 as a problem.
Show threadEmory2h ago
@USBTypeSteve @arstechnica the only metric they used was framerate so i kind of think 'faster' is more apt than 'performance since they didn't even get into how the game played and how great it looked and how immersive it was for the player. it's straight up just fps. it's a lazy article i'll say that. i'm kind of surprised they posted it.
Show threadTwoToneTerry1d ago
@arstechnica the question is when will Steam drop a fully baked image to use on PCs?
Show threadKing_DuckZ1d ago
@arstechnica probably Windows being too busy under the hood taking screenshots of everything
Show threadPc1d ago
@arstechnica