Ars tests on the Lenovo Legion Go S show four of five recent games run at higher frame rates on SteamOS 3.7 than on Windows 11.
Frame rate improvements on SteamOS range from minor gains up to 36% higher FPS, with only Borderlands 3 showing near parity.
Windows performance suffers from outdated Lenovo graphics drivers; sideloading newer Asus ROG Ally drivers improves Windows results but generally remains 8–36% slower than SteamOS.
Despite Proton translation overhead, Valve’s continual Proton optimizations and Linux Mesa driver improvements, combined with lower OS background activity, deliver SteamOS’s performance edge.
The SteamOS-powered Legion Go S retails for $599—about $130 less than the Windows model—and offers a more seamless gaming interface, though hardware compatibility is still limited.
Get notified when new stories are published for "General AI News"