The Linux-based SteamOS and its Proton compatibility layer is the “special sauce” that makes the Steam Deck the best gaming handheld around, even after a few years of competition against newer hardware.
But what if you could get Windows off of those competing devices and get SteamOS loaded up on them instead? You can! Sort of. With an open-source tool called Bazzite. Adam and Will walk us through it in the latest PCWorld video on YouTube.
Getting Bazzite loaded up on the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, or any number of similar devices isn’t exactly painless, but it should be doable for anyone who knows how to re-install Windows. You’ll need a USB drive for loading up the bootable OS image and a mouse and keyboard to get through the initial setup process, but once that’s done you can set it to boot right into Steam’s “Big Picture” interface, the same buttery-smooth UI that the Steam Deck uses by default.
Once that’s done, you can do pretty much everything you can on a real Steam Deck, though there might be some hiccups based on your specific hardware (like the Ally’s lack of touchpads, for example). You can also expect that it won’t get the same kind of performance or battery life, thanks to Valve’s constant software and hardware optimizations. (That said, AMD-based systems should get pretty close.)
But why stop at handhelds? The Bazzite setup interface should work on things like gaming desktops and some mini-PCs, too… with a couple of important caveats. At the moment, Bazzite supports a lot of popular discrete graphics cards, but it can only load up the Steam Deck-style interface on AMD and Intel Arc integrated GPUs. That’s not surprising since the Steam Deck uses an AMD APU, but it’s a bummer if you want a super-easy way to run SteamOS on a full-power gaming desktop.
Still, it’s a darn cool way to get the best PC gaming interface around on some specific hardware, while we wait for Valve to (maybe, possibly, hopefully) officially expand SteamOS to other devices. For more deep dives on PC gaming stuff, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube!
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.