The first direct comparisons suggests SteamOS destroys Windows 11 for gaming
The first direct and natively supported comparison between identical Windows 11 and SteamOS gaming hardware is here. And it's pretty much a bloodbath for Microsoft.
I wasn't expecting an article from windowscentral.com to be that pro-SteamOS over Windows.
Nobody loves a little bit of self hate quite like a Microsoft end user.
Source: 🪞
This is just the Dave2D video again. This isn't a rigorous comparison, lacking steps like confirming that the hardware actually is identical or any in depth analysis/optimization of settings for either OS. For a literal out-of-box comparison of press units this is useful, but beyond that... we should really wait for a more reputable group to publish their results. This was pretty clearly rushed just to be the first one to post any results.
I don't expect Win11 will win, obviously, but until a reputable group tests this we should really hold off on declaring victory just because a fancy infographic told us we were better. That's apple fanboy shit.
In the video, the guy claims it's the same device, with the same hardware, just the color is different. Do you think the guy got it wrong? Or do you think Lenovo made different variants of those devices?
You're dictating a binary to me, which isn't exactly fair. I don't think either of those, one way or the other, I think it's important to have an answer to those questions and questions like them. It's very common for design revisions / model variations to have differences in hardware, and it's easy to verify that this is/isn't the case. The fact they didn't do this, compounded with the other steps in ensuring an accurate comparison that they present no evidence of completing, make it clear that this is either badly presented or sorely lacking in rigor.
As a test comparing out-of-box performance a case could be made that this is useful, but since they're comparing with what appears to be a press unit (clarifying how they acquired the units is yet another thing they didn't do iirc) it's not even safe to assume it's representative of the final product.
I am not saying I doubt Steam OS will smoke Win 11, I am saying that we should hold off celebrating until we have much more rigorous tests to point to besides a seven minute youtube video from some rando who's grandly calling the victor in one of the more important races that has ever existed between operating systems.
confirming that the hardware actually is identical
You think it's likely Asus lied and put a new chip in?
No I don't think lenovo lied (though that's, you know, historically not at all out of the question), it's just extremely common practice for there to be hardware differences between two design revisions of a system which manufacturers don't feel the need to announce. I think it's also quite easy to verify that this was/wasn't done beyond a reasonable doubt, and the Dave2D video presents no evidence that they took this very basic step. It's an oversight that a more established group would be given the benefit of the doubt on, but since this is a fairly obscure channel it instead indicates a lack of rigor that, compounded with the other minor oversights in the process, makes trusting the validity of their conclusions very difficult for me.
I don't doubt that Windows 11 will perform worse than SteamOS, it's an absolute trashfire of an operating system, but as cathartic as it is to finally be able to rub this in the face of m$ stans, we should wait until we're certain we're right instead of leaping to a premature premature celebration that backfires embarrassingly on us (ala apple fans).
You just know there's no way bloated-ass windows (even with whatever less bloated version they ship to the manufacturer of these) is any better than steamOS for something as constrained as a handheld. Especially for games not relying on DirectX
I strongly suspect you're correct, yes, I'd just like to be able to point to decent data when making that claim.
Assuming there's even equal performance, that is impressive for Linux since the majority of games have to be run through a Windows compatibility layer.
In my experience as a Linux-only gamer for a few years now, equal performance is pretty easy most times. Sometimes you even get better performance on Linux than on Windows -- this was the case of Elden Ring on release, for example.
As ever, the best bit is the comment section.
Methodological issues aside, I don't find this result surprising at all. I expect this result as someone who has gamed exclusively on Linux for years now.
On the Valve side, SteamOS is about as close to a purpose-built gaming OS as you're going to get. The Proton compatibility layer works so well that some games perform better on Linux than on Windows -- I assume this must be due to unnecessary Windows overhead, but can only really speak to the result.
Nitty gritty aside, I think the key issue holding back Linux gaming now is adoption. It's free. If you haven't tried it, try it.