Although much of our focus has been on when Valve will actually release the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, the company has been hard at work with SteamOS. Recently, we learned that it released the first packages for the ARM version of SteamOS. However, recent beta builds of the software are introducing support for handhelds powered by Intel processors.
Until now, SteamOS has largely been limited to AMD-powered handhelds such as the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. It seems that Intel’s introduction of the Arc G3 and G3 Extreme at Computex sparked some excitement at Valve, along with MSI’s announcement of the Claw 8 EX AI+.
A few days ago, ETA Prime released a video showing off SteamOS running on the MSI Claw 8 AI+. This is a handheld powered by Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V paired with Arc 140V for graphics. Just yesterday, a post published to r/SteamOS confirms that Valve’s software is also compatible with the Intel Arc B580 GPU, provided that you have some time to tinker around to get things running.
It’s worth pointing out that just because Valve is adding support for more devices doesn’t necessarily mean you should immediately switch to SteamOS. In the Arc B580 post, SteamOS performed worse when compared to the same build running Windows. Meanwhile, you might have to jump through a few hoops to get certain things working, such as being able to adjust the TDP.
Beyond that, it turns out that you can even get SteamOS running on the MSI Claw A8, which was rather unexpected. Granted, the Claw A8 is powered by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, but it just provides further proof that Valve is serious about bringing SteamOS to as many people as possible.
And yes, I’ll be trying to get SteamOS on the Claw A8 we have here in-house just to see whether it’s worth switching to yet. However, if you have an Intel-powered handheld and want to experience the Linux side of things, you’re probably better off going with Bazzite or CachyOS. At least until Valve works out the kinks with these early SteamOS Beta builds.
