Installation, features and performance tested on the Asus ROG Ally.
So is this solution as seamless as it seems?
What’s the install process like?
And can it match Windows performance?
My overall impressions of Bazzite are very positive.
This is more or less exactly what you’d expect out of a ROG Ally running SteamOS natively.
The interface is almost identical to SteamOS, and operates with a similar level of responsiveness and general polish.
It’s also remarkably stable - about as stable as SteamOS on my Decks.
Speaking of updates, VRR has been a point of some concern since I started using Bazzite.
The ROG Ally’s support for this feature is one of its key advantages, of course.
Comparing the same games running on Bazzite side-by-side with Windows, there are similar results.
And Bazzite does something Windows does not - there is mitigation for #StutterStruggle.
While there are some dropped frames running the game in Bazzite, the massive stutters are gone.
That means no shader compilation stutter for the Ally-wielding end user.
I did some battery life testing as well.
Here, the results were similar to Windows, albeit with a small Bazzite edge.
Putting the Ally to sleep and waking it seems to solve the issue.
I did a round of battery tests in September and October and encountered a similar problem on both occasions.
Overall though, there’s not much to separate Bazzite and Windows.
If the Steam Deck still offers better battery life then, why would you go for the Ally?
Firstly, it can deliver more performance, even under Bazzite.
So I bought a 2TB M2-2230 SSD and went from there.
It’s really not too hard, but there were a couple of complications.
I’m not going to go over the entire Bazzite install process, because it’s fairly lengthy.
There’s a lot of waiting involved for sure, but I didn’t encounter any problems.
Bazzite only adds options for your ROG Ally experience, it doesn’t take them away.
The level of actual software accommodation from Microsoft is very minimal.
To be fair, Asus puts up a valiant fight with its Armoury Crate software package.
Valve itself is also preparing an official SteamOS offering for Windows handheld use, which also seems quite interesting.
Bazzite provides a great SteamOS-like experience for Windows handheld users.
