Microsoft’s mixture of Xbox and Windows for handheld gaming PCs can’t come quickly sufficient. Windows on handhelds is in determined want of some love, and Lenovo’s Legion Go S is the perfect proof but that Microsoft has an enormous Windows-shaped downside it has to resolve on any upcoming Xbox-branded handhelds.
YouTuber Dave2D managed to check the Legion Go S with the brand new SteamOS model alongside the present Windows mannequin. The {hardware} is precisely the identical, however the working programs are completely totally different, and the outcomes are eye-opening. Games operating on the SteamOS mannequin carry out higher than the Windows model at low or medium settings, by round 5 to 10 %. These are video games which might be made for Windows, however Valve’s wonderful Proton compatibility layer means they run higher with the assistance of Linux and SteamOS.
The Legion Go S with SteamOS even beats Valve’s Steam Deck efficiency, and you will get even higher efficiency in the event you’re keen to sacrifice the battery. Battery life on a handheld gaming PC is an enormous a part of the expertise, and the SteamOS model of the Legion Go S simply completely embarrasses the Windows mannequin in Dave2D’s exams.
In Dead Cells, at 60fps, the Legion Go S with SteamOS runs for simply over six hours, however on the Windows variant it doesn’t even handle to hit the three-hour mark. That’s half the battery life only for selecting Microsoft’s OS. It’s the identical with Hades, the place the SteamOS model runs for greater than 4 hours, however the Windows equal doesn’t fairly attain two.
My colleague Sean Hollister has additionally discovered comparable efficiency gaps between the default settings on Windows and SteamOS, and Cary Golomb has identified that there are some easy fixes for a few of the battery life points on Windows that Microsoft ought to actually be addressing.
Dave2D concludes that “Windows was the issue all alongside,” and I feel that sums up the PC gaming handheld scenario and Microsoft’s large challenges right here. A number of the battery life issues come all the way down to the truth that Windows wasn’t designed for handheld gaming PCs and that video games aren’t being individually power-managed to optimize them on the sort of {hardware}.
Beyond the apparent efficiency and battery life advantages of SteamOS, Valve has additionally constructed a sleep and resume system that simply works. If you place a Windows handheld gaming PC to sleep, the possibilities are that a couple of hours later you’ll should boot it up once more after which manually resume your sport. That merely doesn’t occur on SteamOS units, which correctly droop and resume way more reliably than their Windows counterparts.
Windows additionally nonetheless struggles with energy administration for sleeping units, inflicting them to sip an excessive amount of energy within the background or warmth up inside your bag whereas attempting to carry out updates. This is a basic problem with Windows that Microsoft hasn’t even absolutely solved with Windows on Arm. If you resume a Snapdragon-powered laptop computer after a day or two of no utilization, it should boot up from a hibernation mode that feels such as you’re nearly booting from chilly. A MacE book merely doesn’t do this — nor ought to a handheld gaming PC.
Windows additionally has a ton of issues operating within the background that the majority handheld gaming PCs don’t even want, or security measures that may affect gaming efficiency. OEMs like Asus, Lenovo, and MSI have been utilizing a full model of Windows as a result of, up till now, it has been their solely selection.
The Steam Deck was a wakeup name for Microsoft a couple of years in the past, and now it’s on the brink of reply by combining the perfect bits of Windows and Xbox to resolve the complications. I wrote final 12 months that Microsoft was in a handheld gaming PC race, with Valve’s push to get PC makers utilizing SteamOS on their handhelds. “If Microsoft doesn’t act quick, it might quickly discover itself in a battle to maintain Windows related on handheld gaming PCs.”
That strain is even higher now that it’s really easy to straight evaluate two an identical items of {hardware} operating two very totally different working programs. It highlights all the issues that Microsoft has to resolve by bringing Xbox and Windows collectively, and it exhibits very clearly that there’s lots to repair. Microsoft has to nail these fixes, in any other case increasingly OEMs will merely select SteamOS for his or her handhelds.
That’s most likely why we haven’t seen Microsoft’s work but, as the corporate continues to chip away at fixing these points for an Xbox-branded handheld it’s engaged on. I reported earlier this 12 months that Microsoft is working with Asus to develop a handheld codenamed “Project Kennan.” Microsoft and Asus each teased the venture simply days after stories on Project Kennan emerged in March.
Photos of the machine then leaked out earlier this month in FCC filings, displaying off the Xbox button that can act as a house button for Microsoft’s new Xbox work on Windows. I used to be really shocked to see that Computex handed by final week with out Asus teasing the machine, particularly because the expertise present is a perfect place to indicate off any new PC gaming {hardware}. Microsoft and Asus are nonetheless planning to launch the machine later this 12 months, so I’d think about they each need their very own second to indicate off how Windows and Xbox are coming collectively.
We nonetheless haven’t seen any leaks of this Xbox interface on Windows, and I’m actually hoping it’s much more than an enormous image mode for the Xbox app. There has to have been basic adjustments to all the OS so that you just by no means see Windows until you actually wish to. Exactly what Microsoft is doing right here will probably be important for the way forward for Windows-powered handheld gaming PCs, and there’s lots on the road now that OEMs have the clear selection of SteamOS.
Even if Microsoft can overhaul Windows in order that it’s largely an Xbox-like UI and expertise on a handheld, it should nonetheless must persuade PC avid gamers that Steam is absolutely supported. Windows will nonetheless be on the coronary heart of this expertise, however I perceive that Microsoft has been engaged on displaying video games from Steam and the Epic Games Store within the Xbox app on Windows. Microsoft rapidly eliminated a mocked up Xbox UI picture earlier this 12 months that included a Steam filter on PC.
This work will flip the Xbox interface on Windows right into a launcher on your complete sport library, all whereas Microsoft can try to promote individuals on PC Game Pass as a substitute. That’s actually the primary benefit, outdoors of sport compatibility, that Microsoft has over SteamOS for handhelds proper now, and I’d think about the merging of Windows and Xbox will find yourself placing Game Pass entrance and middle within the UI.
All that’s left now’s for Microsoft and Asus to cease teasing their venture and present us precisely how Windows and Xbox can compete with SteamOS.
- Microsoft desires Windows Update to deal with all apps. Microsoft is beginning to open Windows Update as much as any third-party app that must be up to date. Developers can now apply to entry a personal preview of what Microsoft calls the Windows Update orchestration platform. It will allow Windows Update to assist any replace for apps or drivers sooner or later, and Microsoft is essentially focusing this on enterprise apps to make it simpler for IT admins to handle updates.
- Microsoft worker bypasses ‘Palestine’ block to electronic mail 1000’s of workers in protest. Microsoft began blocking mentions of “Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “genocide” in electronic mail topic strains and within the physique of messages final week, but it surely didn’t take lengthy for an worker to bypass that block and electronic mail 1000’s of workers in protest. It was a part of a sequence of protests all through Microsoft Build final week that additionally included a Microsoft worker disrupting a keynote, balloons with alarms being launched contained in the convention middle, and lots of of protesters rallying towards Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli authorities.
- Microsoft Notepad can now write for you utilizing generative AI. It’s superb that Microsoft barely touched Notepad for many years, and now it’s gone from primary log file reader to writing messages itself. The newest replace to Notepad provides a brand new Write characteristic that can be utilized to “rapidly draft textual content primarily based in your immediate.” I nonetheless use Notepad for very primary note-taking or simply cleansing massive chunks of textual content, however I undoubtedly don’t want it to draft something for me. That’s what Word is for.
- FTC drops case towards Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal. The FTC v. Microsoft case is formally over. The FTC filed an order to dismiss its criticism final week, simply days after it misplaced an attraction for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft from finalizing its acquisition. It brings an finish to almost two years of authorized battles over Microsoft’s big acquisition. If there’s one factor I’ll at all times keep in mind about FTC v. Microsoft, it’s being on trip in Portugal throughout a part of the case. An influence reduce hit at 2AM and I used to be sitting there with a laptop computer and no AC, sweating my ass off running a blog.
- Microsoft points a uncommon out-of-band Windows patch. Microsoft often sticks to its month-to-month Patch Tuesday launch for safety updates and have updates, however generally the corporate points an out-of-band one for notably troublesome bugs or vulnerabilities. On Tuesday, Microsoft issued an emergency patch for its Hyper-V platform, correcting a difficulty for Azure confidential digital machines that had stopped responding or rebooting randomly.
- Microsoft has a brand new backup device to assist companies depart Windows 10 behind. I nonetheless don’t imagine Windows 10 will really go end-of-life on time later this 12 months, however as Microsoft prepares for the October cutoff, it has a brand new utility prepared for companies. Windows Backup for Organizations helps again up and restore knowledge on Microsoft Entra-joined units, and it’s now obtainable as a restricted public preview.
- Microsoft begins testing Xbox Copilot on iOS and Android. Microsoft is beginning to roll out an early model of its Copilot for Gaming expertise on iOS and Android. The assistant is designed to work as a companion for downloading video games, itemizing achievements, and way more. It’s a really restricted chatbot expertise proper now, however Microsoft has large ambitions to show this Copilot for Gaming into one thing that may assist information you thru video games.
- Microsoft’s Smart App Control solely works in the event you clear set up Windows. Microsoft highlighted a Windows characteristic final week that I didn’t even notice exists. Smart App Control analyzes apps in your PC towards a database of trusted and dangerous apps, just like an antivirus program. I went to allow the characteristic alone PC, but it surely says “If Smart App Control is off it may well’t be turned on with out reinstalling Windows.” That’s a disgrace, as a result of Microsoft says Smart App Control is extra light-weight than conventional antivirus applications.
- You can now entry chat messages in Microsoft Teams whenever you’re presenting in conferences. If you’ve ever wished to entry Teams messages when you’re sharing your display screen in a gathering, then Microsoft has added this to the Teams app for Windows and Mac. A bit of chat window seems in your display screen that solely you may see, permitting you to answer chat messages or control conversations which might be occurring throughout a Teams assembly.
- Surface Laptop 13-inch evaluation: rather less for rather less. My colleague Antonio G. Di Benedetto has reviewed Microsoft’s smaller Surface Laptop and located that it’s largely a smaller model of the Surface Laptop 7. It’s a disgrace that the digicam doesn’t assist Windows Hello facial recognition, however this smaller Surface Laptop has nice battery life and an excellent keyboard.
- Windows 11 will get some much-needed HDR enhancements. Microsoft is rolling out a month-to-month replace to Windows 11 that features some essential updates to HDR assist within the OS. The updates permit you to preserve HDR disabled throughout the entire of Windows, however nonetheless stream HDR video. You also can now toggle Dolby Vision assist on or off. There’s nonetheless much more I’d prefer to see Microsoft and app builders do to assist HDR absolutely in Windows, however this a minimum of solves a few of my very own ache factors.
I’m at all times eager to listen to from readers, so please drop a remark right here, or you may attain me at notepad@theverge.com if you wish to talk about the rest. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret tasks, you may attain me through electronic mail at notepad@theverge.com or converse to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, the place I’m tomwarren.01. I’m additionally tomwarren on Telegram, in the event you’d favor to speak there.
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