[The Verge] Valve’s huge Steam Deck update is now ready for everyone, including rival AMD handhelds

Hell yeah!

Steam Valve GIF
 
I am rooting for SteamOS to seriously take off, even outside of the handheld space. Anything to get Linux to be more "average joe"-friendly.
 
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Hell yes! Looking forward to picking up a Legion Go 2 with SteamOS, unless Valve surprises us with a Deck 2 this year...
My kid took over my SD oled, so I'm waiting for the new wave of handhelds to arrive.
 
Gonna update now and install that free Epic Deliver at all Cost and see how everything goes.
My old LCD Steam Deck hanging in there.
 
Can't wait until this hits PCs and laptops!

Calverz said:
Imagine buying a windows handheld to then just put steamOS on. Absolutely pointless. Just buy a steam deck if you want steamOS.
Click to expand...

What if you want better performance (and SteamOS' much better UI/OS)? The Deck is a bit behind these days. A Windows handheld running SteamOS would still be a lot fast than the Deck in most new games.
 
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Okay so last nite I went to look up how people were tricking the steamos recovery image to install on other devices and... they aren't.

It apparently will just install on anything with amd graphics just like any other distro. :O General Steamos is basically out in beta. I'm doing a fresh build when I get some free time and I think I'll check it out since all that pc does is youtube and games.
 
StereoVsn said:
You could get LCD one used for pretty low price. Can always upgrade storage yourself. Performance is generally same as OLED.
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I always prefer buying new tech, especially handhelds. I am a bit hygienic on a OCD level, and I always wash my hands after Ive eaten snacks etc before touching my gaming gear.

Alone the thought of someone not washing their hands after wiping their ass or cleaning their pipe on my gadget gives me creeps lol.

I can see the LCD is much cheaper, but everyone keeps hyping up the OLED version. I normally also hate OLED because of burn in, but the LCD should be really lack luster on the Steam Deck, from what I have read.

Then again, could also be OLED fanboys justifying their purchase.
 
The_Mike said:
I always prefer buying new tech, especially handhelds. I am a bit hygienic on a OCD level, and I always wash my hands after Ive eaten snacks etc before touching my gaming gear.

Alone the thought of someone not washing their hands after wiping their ass or cleaning their pipe on my gadget gives me creeps lol.

I can see the LCD is much cheaper, but everyone keeps hyping up the OLED version. I normally also hate OLED because of burn in, but the LCD should be really lack luster on the Steam Deck, from what I have read.

Then again, could also be OLED fanboys justifying their purchase.
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The LCD version is such a better bang for your buck especially the refurbished 64gb ones. It's a waste to splurge on the OLED at this point because they're both underpowered now but at least the LCD version is appropriately priced based on what it can do.
 
yet_another_alt said:
The LCD version is such a better bang for your buck especially the refurbished 64gb ones. It's a waste to splurge on the OLED at this point because they're both underpowered now but at least the LCD version is appropriately priced based on what it can do.
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Well I do see there's quite a big price difference.

According to steam, it should perform better, and the battery should be 30-50 percent better, at least according to their site.

I've also read people saying the storage is way too small, and won't extra storage be around the same price then?
 
The_Mike said:
Well I do see there's quite a big price difference.

According to steam, it should perform better, and the battery should be 30-50 percent better, at least according to their site.

I've also read people saying the storage is way too small, and won't extra storage be around the same price then?
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Performance difference is minimal but battery life is definitely in the OLED's favor. As for storage, the way I think about it is that large games that could really use an SSD tend to require something beefier than the Deck anyway.
 
I bought a Legion Go the other day on a fairly good open box deal. Not sure I'm going to keep it though. Decided to try installing SteamOS but doesn't look like that is going to happen. Gets to a black screen and then nothing. Strange.
 
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StereoVsn said:
You could get LCD one used for pretty low price. Can always upgrade storage yourself. Performance is generally same as OLED.
Click to expand...

I'm going to just type out my thoughts here about which handhelds I'm looking at.

Here are my options:

1) Stick with the current Legion Go. Bought it the other day, open box for $700. Big screen but 16GB and no VRR. I don't care about the detachable controls.

2) Rog Ally X. Best buy has an open box for $735. 24GB and VRR, but only 7" screen.

3) Lenovo Legion Go S, Z1 Extreme with SteamOS. Comes out Sunday for $830. 32GB. 8" screen with VRR. Expensive, but checks all the boxes.

What do you guys think?

LiquidMetal14 said:
This is awesome. I just installed Bazzite on my Ally and am dual booting so I'm heavily interested in this.
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Bazzite is pretty awesome.
 
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Topher said:
I'm going to just type out my thoughts here about which handhelds I'm looking at.

Here are my options:

1) Stick with the current Legion Go. Bought it the other day, open box for $700. Big screen but 16GB and no VRR. I don't care about the detachable controls.

2) Rog Ally X. Best buy has an open box for $735. 24GB and VRR, but only 7" screen.

3) Lenovo Legion Go S, Z1 Extreme with SteamOS. Comes out Sunday for $830. 32GB. 8" screen with VRR. Expensive, but checks all the boxes.

What do you guys think?



Bazzite is pretty awesome.
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I would say wait to see new handhelds release from Lenovo, MSI and Asus with Z2E chip. They will probably be expensive but drop prices for the other ones already on the market.

Personally I wouldn't get a handheld with under 24GB VRAM right now unless I just wanted a Steam Deck to mess around with older games.

So Ally X, maybe MSI Claw 8+ (if price drops as drivers improved ), the new Lenovo with Z1E and 32GB or similar would be ones to get on sale. Again, IMO and all that jazz.

Edit: I think also that 8" screen would be ideal as it is not so ridiculous large that device is unwieldy but gives more real estate to our aging eyes! 😅
 
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StereoVsn said:
I would say wait to see new handhelds release from Lenovo, MSI and Asus with Z2E chip. They will probably be expensive but drop prices for the other ones already on the market.

Personally I wouldn't get a handheld with under 24GB VRAM right now unless I just wanted a Steam Deck to mess around with older games.

So Ally X, maybe MSI Claw 8+ (if price drops as drivers improved ), the new Lenovo with Z1E and 32GB or similar would be ones to get on sale. Again, IMO and all that jazz.

Edit: I think also that 8" screen would be ideal as it is not so ridiculous large that device is unwieldy but gives more real estate to our aging eyes! 😅
Click to expand...

I got warnings from Oblivion Remastered about the amount of RAM which is what made me start rethinking the 16GB RAM in the Lenovo Legion Go.

Leaning towards paying the extra cash for the Go S. You only live once and all that jazz.

You Got It Reaction GIF by BrownSugarApp
 
Calverz said:
Imagine buying a windows handheld to then just put steamOS on. Absolutely pointless. Just buy a steam deck if you want steamOS.
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This is a pretty stupid comment.

First off, the non-deck handhelds are drastically more powerful than the Steamdeck and you get all the UI benefits plus better performance.

That reason alone is all you need.
 
I hope a desktop version releases this year. I would dual boot and likely be most of the time on steam OS to be honest. If gaming could move to linux I would throw windows under the bus.
 
I have the v1 Steam Deck that doesnt have the updated wifi/bt chip. I just updated and now i can wake my Steam Deck with my dualsense over bluetooth. So I can now leave it docked to a tv and wake it up wirelessly. It's the little things that makes Valve great.
Full log of changes:

May 22, 2025


SteamOS 3.7.8: Go Country


This is the first release of SteamOS 3.7 to the Stable channel. The below notes are for changes since SteamOS 3.6.24. For changes relative to previous 3.7 beta builds see here.



This update was re-released with additional client changes.



General

  • Updated to a newer Arch Linux base
  • Updated the Linux kernel to 6.11
  • Updated the Mesa graphics driver base
  • Desktop mode now ships with Plasma 6.2.5
  • Added support for frame limiting with VRR displays (internal and external)
  • Added Battery Charge Limit control to Settings->Power
    • This option allows you to set a maximum charge limit for your Steam Deck.
    • Limiting the charge limit to 80% can be beneficial for long term battery health. This can be useful if your Steam Deck is constantly being charged (e.g. docked), or very rarely has its battery depleted.
  • Fixed a crash when no displays are connected
  • Added official support for the Lenovo Legion Go S
  • Improved support for other AMD powered handhelds (like the ROG Ally and original Legion Go)
  • Updated the SteamOS recovery image for repairing SteamOS on Steam Deck and Legion Go S. If you would like to test SteamOS on your own AMD powered handheld, you can use this SteamOS recovery image and follow the instructions here.
Controllers and Input

  • Add support for the Proteus Byowave controller
  • Fixed an issue where Switch Pro Controller gyros might not work on first connection
  • Fixed an issue with stuck/hanging controller inputs when exiting Steam
Bluetooth

  • Fixed Bluetooth devices still being able to wake the Steam Deck from suspend, even when Bluetooth was disabled from Desktop mode
  • Enable HFP/HSP profiles, to allow using the integrated microphone from headsets and earbuds
    • Currently only available to select in Desktop mode
  • Added battery level display for supported Bluetooth devices
  • Include a bugfix for the Airpods when using the AAC codec
  • Bluetooth controllers can now wake LCD units from sleep, previously only available on OLED models
    • Known issue: Bluetooth LE based controllers are not currently compatible with bluetooth wake on LCD models
Steam Deck Dock

  • Made compatibility improvements for certain displays including TCL FireTV models and Dell VRR capable monitors
Graphics and Performance

  • Enabled AMD P-State CPU frequency control
  • Fixed a performance regression for No Rest for the Wicked
Desktop

  • Updated to Plasma 6.2.5 (previously 5.27.10) - see the big changes in Plasma 6 here
  • Surround sound now works correctly
    • Enabling the setting is currently only available via Desktop mode
  • KDE Filelight is now installed by default for disk usage visualization and low disk space notifications
  • Speed and robustness improvements when switching between desktop and game mode
    • Fixed a common cause of hangs when switching to desktop mode
    • Fixed some cases where Steam could take up to ninety seconds to exit on shutdown or switch to desktop
  • Added 'gocryptfs' support to desktop session to enable use of the Plasma Vaults feature
Misc

  • Fixed some cases where "filter-chain" or other virtual sound devices would erroneously appear in the UI
  • Fixed cases where applying system updates could fail if certain configuration files were corrupted or malformed
  • Various enhancements to System Report functionality for support and troubleshooting
  • Fixed compatibility issue with certain DNS servers causing very slow domain lookups
  • Improved responsiveness of system when running into out-of-memory crash situations
  • Enabled IPv6 Privacy Extensions by default
  • Fixed a bootloader crash on certain non-Steam Deck devices, including qemu-based virtual machines
Known Issues

  • Super NES controllers can erroneously show up as connected when they are not
Developer

  • Updated to a 6.11 based kernel
  • Added debuginfod URLs for SteamOS
  • Added systemd .socket units to the default list of /etc files preserved across updates
  • When running in a VM, system will now default to the desktop session
  • Swap file setup now uses standard 'mkswap' functionality instead of shipping an ad-hoc 'mkswapfile' script
  • The steamos-readonly command now warns that the status might not be accurate when sysexts are loaded
  • Fixed a case that could introduce duplicate boot entries for devices manually setup to dual-boot
  • The pacman cache is now cleaned after applying a SteamOS update
    • Fixes stale cache errors working with pacman after switching branches
We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Stable channel.



Additional Client Changes

  • Fixed an issue preventing some apps from installing on the Legion Go S
  • Added "SteamOS Compatible" library tab on the Legion Go S
 
Topher said:
I got warnings from Oblivion Remastered about the amount of RAM which is what made me start rethinking the 16GB RAM in the Lenovo Legion Go.

Leaning towards paying the extra cash for the Go S. You only live once and all that jazz.

You Got It Reaction GIF by BrownSugarApp
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Why not wait for Go 2? Should be about 10% faster? And if it's just ridiculous ca$h then Go 1 will be cheaper.
 
StereoVsn said:
Why not wait for Go 2? Should be about 10% faster? And if it's just ridiculous ca$h then Go 1 will be cheaper.
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Because I'm fully expectding Go 2 to be over a grand and I'm not spending that much. Really, primary reason I'm looking at Go 1 is for the 32GB ram and VRR. I'd consider the Z2 Go if they hadn't gimped the CPU. That's a stripped down 6800U which is fine really.
 
Calverz said:
Imagine buying a windows handheld to then just put steamOS on. Absolutely pointless. Just buy a steam deck if you want steamOS.
Click to expand...
The Windows handhelds are not selling very well and there are frequent sales on them, you can get one cheap and then put Steam OS on it

All of the PC handhelds will be severely challenged when Switch 2 shows up and I've seen some serious fire sale prices lately
 
Unknown Soldier said:
The Windows handhelds are not selling very well and there are frequent sales on them, you can get one cheap and then put Steam OS on it

All of the PC handhelds will be severely challenged when Switch 2 shows up and I've seen some serious fire sale prices lately
Click to expand...

They are only not selling very well if you are expecting them to sell like consoles. These are more in line with gaming laptops (which also go on sale frequently). They are not expected to sell 10s of millions
 
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Topher said:
Because I'm fully expectding Go 2 to be over a grand and I'm not spending that much. Really, primary reason I'm looking at Go 1 is for the 32GB ram and VRR. I'd consider the Z2 Go if they hadn't gimped the CPU. That's a stripped down 6800U which is fine really.
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Yeah, Go 2 is going to be too much for not a great amount of improvement. I was mainly thinking when Go 2 comes out, Go 1 might go on sale.

Planning to look at reviews of Go 1 with 32 GB running official version of Steam myself. Well, going to wait for Go 2, Asus and MSI to release first.
 
StereoVsn said:
Yeah, Go 2 is going to be too much for not a great amount of improvement. I was mainly thinking when Go 2 comes out, Go 1 might go on sale.

Planning to look at reviews of Go 1 with 32 GB running official version of Steam myself. Well, going to wait for Go 2, Asus and MSI to release first.
Click to expand...

Kind of shocked we haven't seen more info on Go 1 at this point really. It is supposed to be out on Sunday
 
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