SteamOS massively beats Windows on the Legion Go S

By Liam Dawe - 28 May 2025 at 10:39 am UTC

Last updated: 29 May 2025 at 9:29 am UTC

According to YouTuber Dave2D who managed to get their hands on the Lenovo Legion Go S, the SteamOS version destroys Windows in performance and battery life. That's a nice win for Valve's Linux platform, and only continues to show how drastically Linux has improved thanks to all the work on GPU drivers and the Proton compatibility layer.

With the release of SteamOS 3.7, this has only just begun. We're about to see a lot more of this.

Have a look at the performance difference and this is just on the Z2 Go chip as well:

Title	Legion Go S - SteamOS	Legion Go S - Windows
Cyberpunk	59 FPS	46 FPS
Helldivers 2	70 FPS	65 FPS
Doom Eternal	75 FPS	66 FPS
Spiderman 2	63 FPS	64 FPS
Witcher 3	76 FPS	66 FPS

When it comes to battery life, SteamOS was yet again a very clear winner in this with even demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 having 1 hour 31 minutes on Windows and 1 hour 54 minutes on SteamOS. In less demanding titles like Dead Cells the difference is absolutely insane jumping from 2 hours 47 minutes on Windows to 6 hours 12 minutes on SteamOS. Again for Hades at only 1 hour 58 minutes on Windows and 4 hours 17 minutes on SteamOS.

Dave2D also talks again about just how good the sleep system is on SteamOS, with you being able to just tap the power button on the Legion Go S and tap it again to pick up right where you left off which just doesn't really work on Windows. Seems like it's just win after win for SteamOS compared to Windows for handheld gaming (apart from games with anti-cheat).

See their full video on it below, Dave2D does some really nice work:

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I did ask Lenovo if we would be able to get a review unit but the emails didn't really go anywhere, so it seems most likely we will not be getting one.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Handheld Gaming, Legion Go S, Misc, SteamOS

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About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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22 comments

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Lachu 1 Jun 2025

I am with GNU/Linux (OpenSUSE) nearly 20 year and always it was just better. I remember how people wonder how I write so fast in IM programs. I do investigation and discovered they write sentences in MS Word firstly and next copy and paste this in chat window. And guess? They must switch to Word and in the same time I wrote next sentences, so they mind just blows. I use IM program dedicated to GNU/Linux and use bult-in dictionary. Look how many thinks MS stolen and people are excited, like KDEConnect. Thinks I was using on Linux long time ago are introduced in Windows and people gets excited. I am not sure if I should cry or laugh. And I read big headlines: "MS create revolution!". I read article and say: really..?

Linux was always better for desktop, but market do not care about it, because MS was more popular. And there many fud and lies around it. People still telling wrong sentences, just like: „I bought Windows, because MS should pay me millions of dollars if Windows destroy my data or hardware!”. I again say: really... (people do not read agreements and eat some fud created by MS trolls and lie telling million of times becomes truth)?

I only wonder if Legion GO uses SteamOS=1 environment variable. But if not, I still will not tell people switch to Linux, because MS create one's product with some psychological tricks and spreads fud, so people probably would not switch as they tend doing currently.

2 Likes

chr 23 hours ago

@Pyrate

Linux has exactly the same issues as Windows & I think it's usually caused by the firmware (e.g. it got better on Lenovo ThinkPad or HP EliteBook devices after a few firmware updates). Unfortunately S3 often isn't even implemented anymore.
I don't know any of the details, I just know it doesn't happen for my laptop (Dell Inspiron i5 gen 8).

In fact, and this is another thing that came up when I was flexing on my friends; I don't believe I heard the fan noise of my laptop, not even once since I installed Linux on the thing a year ago. When it was on Windows, it would randomly spin up the fans like crazy, usually when I'm away form the computer too, like what's up with this thing ?

I'm glad you've had this experience, but it is always super easy to misjudge probabilities in case of anecdotal evidence (aka stories). In my case my Dell Latitude 5289 with Linux turns on in my backpack. And my Tuxedo Aura 15 gen1 (laptop sold with Linux) randomly spins fans like crazy every time when turning off or going to sleep. I'm pretty sure I've gotten worse battery life as well, but not sure which laptop - and ultimately not confident in these stories.

That said, I still strongly prefer Linux over Windows, because I think my digital systems should not rely on trust for an entity whose sole purpose (like for any capitalist company) is growth at any cost.

Last edited by chr on 13 Jun 2025 at 8:47 pm UTC

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