- Valve’s latest SteamOS beta offers improved compatibility with Intel platforms
- It also sees initial firmware added to incoming Intel G3 Extreme-powered handhelds
- Performance on SteamOS with Intel hardware should improve further with future updates
Handheld gaming is set to reach new heights in 2026 and beyond, with Intel’s latest Panther Lake mobile processors providing more power for high-level performance – and Valve just made life better for Intel-based handhelds.
Valve’s SteamOS 3.8.8 beta includes improved hardware support for Intel platforms, additional controller support for MSI Claw devices, and initial firmware for upcoming Intel handhelds. That includes handhelds like the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, OneXPlayer 3 and Acer Predator Atlas 8, all of which will use the Intel G3 Extreme processor.
Intel-based handhelds running SteamOS (or Bazzite) are nothing new. However, performance with Intel hardware on the OS hasn’t been stellar, with devices like the MSI Claw 8 AI+ delivering worse gaming performance than Windows 11 – but that’s the complete opposite for AMD-powered handhelds on SteamOS compared to Windows 11.
The appeal of SteamOS, besides its ease of use and console-like user interface, is its optimization for gaming in terms of memory usage, which Windows 11 lacks (and still falls behind Valve’s SteamOS even with Xbox Mode).
With that in mind, switching from Windows 11 to SteamOS for poorer performance doesn’t make much sense, and that’s what has kept some owners of Intel-powered handhelds away from the Linux-based operating system.
Full steam ahead of Intel chips
Fortunately, it’s now clear that this is being addressed by Valve, as handheld enthusiast ETA Prime highlights the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and its fluid performance results in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon.
Features like hibernation work as expected, which is great, but navigation and menu settings still need to be updated, and TDP (power consumption) can only be controlled via a Decky Loader plugin – plus the configuration of the Steam menu button needs to be added on Intel handhelds.
Regardless, this is a step in the right direction for these notebooks, and with several updates from Valve leading up to the launch of the new Intel-powered handhelds, this is definitely something to get excited about for those who don’t have AMD-powered hardware.
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