- HP says it's now considering making a handheld gaming PC thanks to Valve's SteamOS
- SteamOS will soon be available on other handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go S
- The reason why HP hasn't made one yet is because of Microsoft's Windows 11
Sales of handheld gaming PCs continue to grow year by year, with a steady stream of new releases from Lenovo, Asus, and MSI, but one PC manufacturer has been missing in action - and the reason why may not come as a huge surprise.
As reported by Notebookcheck (via an interview with XDA), HP is now considering making a handheld gaming PC powered by Valve's SteamOS, as its Senior Vice President and Division President of Gaming Solutions, Josephine Tan, confirmed. And if you were wondering why it took so long, it's because of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system.
Tan suggested that she has struggled with using Windows 11 and further hinted at the operating system's lack of simplicity, especially for handheld owners when resuming games—a feature that devices like the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck take advantage of. This meant there were no plans from HP for a handheld.
However, now that Valve's SteamOS will be available for other handhelds besides the Steam Deck (like the Lenovo Legion Go S), Tan made it clear she is open to the idea of making a handheld gaming PC. While SteamOS still has some disadvantages, notably its inability to launch games with anti-cheat software baked in, and no official support for features such as frame generation, the user experience is still arguably much better than when using Windows 11 on a handheld.
Microsoft should take this as a heads up...
If it wasn't clear enough already, Windows 11 hasn't been one of Microsoft's best releases in recent years: I'd say it's one of the worst I've seen in terms of bugs and seemingly neverending issues (specifically with its 24H2 update), and for a handheld gaming PC enthusiast, it's just not up to the job.
Aside from 24H2's frustrating bugs, Windows 11 pales in comparison to SteamOS for handhelds - and while it's understandable that there’s no 'portable' mode for Windows 11, as Microsoft's focus is on desktop PCs and laptops, it's another reason why many are moving away from the OS.
It's gotten so bad that I've considered installing Bazzite (a SteamOS clone) on my main desktop PC - and testing it out on my Asus ROG Ally for months suggests that it might not be a bad idea. Ultimately, this should be a wake-up call for Microsoft. Windows 11, besides its current 24H2 issues, just doesn’t work for handhelds, and with the popularity of handheld gaming PCs showing no sign of slowing down, now would be the perfect time for Microsoft to look into making its operating system work better on these devices - otherwise, it could really start to miss out.
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