Let's move on to another article related to the news of the week, the month, and I'd even say the year in technology. Valve announced that 2026 will bring three new hardware devices: a "console", VR glasses and a controllerFrom there, until we have more official information, there's been a lot of speculation: that it will cost less than $400 (I'll take two!), that developers will optimize their games… all sorts of things. Something that's being discussed a lot is that we can create our own Steam Machine with Bazzite right now, something I don't agree with.
Bazzite is an immutable Fedora-based operating system that aims to to bring the SteamOS experience to any compatible computer. It's available in different configurations and desktop environments, even including a version for the Steam Deck. The reason I underlined "aims" is because I've been using Bazzite for weeks on my mini PCAnd I still don't quite see it. Let me explain why.
Steam Machine with Bazzite: not yet
My Bazzite installation had a purpose, which wasn't gaming. I wanted an operating system that was somewhat lighter than Windows 11 and could do the same or more, because it's very easy to install Android on it, but my joy was soon short-lived.
My choice was the Deck version, which was and still is in beta. My idea: to start in Gaming mode and launch Kodi from there. Vacuum TubeCider and any other multimedia application I could think of. SteamOS's game mode eliminates background processes and focuses on its interface. launcher Or whatever you want to call it, something that improves performance. Basically, I wanted to have an experience similar to that of a Smart TV.
What happened was that I opened Kodi and it was choppy. I activated the performance menu and the FPS was low, I don't remember exactly how low. But when I went into the Plasma desktop, playback was completely normal. What really got me worried was entering game mode from the desktop without closing any programs. I had something playing, and it went into "game mode"—now in quotes—without closing that process.
It can't be the same without a good game mode
Bazzite's gameplay, at least in the Deck version, is not the same. In fact, threads like this one from Reddit They agree with me. Game mode performance drops sharplyAnd no self-respecting Steam Machine would be complete without that part that makes us feel like we're almost looking at a console.
The problem is quite widespread, and I recommend asking ChatGPT—regarding filtering your search—about the issue so they can point you to several more Reddit threads. It's what happens when someone tries to cover too much ground; they end up accomplishing very little. Bazzite aims to be "the SteamOS for any PC," and there are thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of different configurations out there. Getting them all right is, to say the least, extremely difficult.
Bazzite also offers the option to open the Steam client and switch to Big Picture mode, which is essentially the game mode interface but with the entire desktop running in the background. While performance issues are mentioned as minor, they do exist.
Yes, of course, it's a good option for everything else.
Ignoring the point about gameplay, Bazzite Yes, it can be used to build a gaming PC.And in everything that doesn't require anti-cheat and such, it will perform better than Windows 11. The thing is, I, the author of these words, don't buy that Bazzite lets you create today your Steam Machine.
In the future, when game mode performs as well as on a regular desktop, what's being said now could indeed come to pass. And the best part is that it will be usable on computers even cheaper than the Steam Machine, or, even better, on more expensive and powerful ones. The future isn't today.