Will Valve succeed in imposing SteamOS as an alternative to Windows in the world of PC gaming? The publisher, which until now reserved official support for its operating system for its own machines, the Steam Deck, has just made a double announcement, which confirms its desire for openness.
A first certified third-party machine before a version to install yourself
Valve is first formalizing support for SteamOS on the Lenovo Legion Go S, the latest portable gaming machine announced by the Chinese manufacturer at CES in Las Vegas. Equipped with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor or the just presented Z2 Go (x86), it offers an 8.1-inch screen and is available in two versions. The first is classically equipped with Windows 11, while the second is stamped “Powered by SteamOS” and presents itself as “ the first portable gaming machine to be officially released with Valve’s SteamOS license », According to the publisher.
Not content with formalizing this first partnership, Valve adds that SteamOS will soon be available more widely. “ This support work for the Lenovo Legion Go S will also improve compatibility with other portable devices. Before the release of the Legion Go S, a beta version of SteamOS will be released, which should improve the user experience on other portable devices. Anyone can download it and try it. », promet Valve.
Since the Steam Deck uses an AMD processor (a custom Ryzen Zen 2), is a processor limitation to be expected? At this stage, the publisher does not specify the hardware prerequisites. On the other hand, he asserts that “ support will be expanded and user experience improved in upcoming releases ».
On the functional side, Valve, on the other hand, promises a complete version of its software environment, i.e. a system identical to that which equips the Steam Deck. Early testers should therefore be able to regain full access to their Steam game library, online saves, social features, etc. as well as the ability to install other game launchers or other software in desktop mode.
The success of an OS designed primarily for gaming
SteamOS now represents around 38% of Linux machines listed on Steam, according to Valve’s latest count (the publisher only communicates in relative values, and has never revealed sales figures for the Steam Deck). This scheduled opening should logically contribute to increasing the penetration rate of SteamOS.
Especially since Lenovo is not the only manufacturer interested in official support. Valve, which has always claimed the open nature of its environment, had for example confided working on support for Asus’ ROG Ally. The latter could therefore quickly join the Legion Go S among the “Powered by SteamOS” consoles, in a market currently mainly occupied by Windows 11.
Faced with the Microsoft system, which therefore allows you to enjoy a complete PC as soon as the console is connected to suitable peripherals, SteamOS plays the card of the environment dedicated to the game. And if the Valve system is based on a Linux kernel, the work carried out around the Proton compatibility layer ensures very broad compatibility at the game level.
Lenovo Legion Go S: in April in the United States
The Lenovo Legion Go S console, available in Windows and SteamOS versions, is built around an 8.1-inch touchscreen LCD panel in 16:10 format displaying 1920 x 1200 pixels at 120 Hz. It accommodates in the version announced at CES an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor up to 3.3 GHz, with an AMD Radeon 700M graphics controller associated with 16 or 32 GB of memory LPDDR5X.
The machine also offers up to 1 TB of storage (SSD in PCIe format) and has a three-cell 55.5 Wh battery. Equipped with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, it has two USB4 ports (with DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0) and a microSD card reader. It has dimensions of 299 x 128 x 22.6 mm, for a weight of 730 g.
Offered in white or purple, the Lenovo Legion Go S will be available within three to four weeks in its Windows 11 version. It costs 629 euros with a Ryzen Z2 GB processor, 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage . Count 800 euros to upgrade to 32 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage. The SteamOS versions, expected for April or May, should be priced slightly lower.
