Why even buy a windows handheld? Is it possible to install linux on these things?
It's going to effect battery life having windows on these. It is one of the reasons the Steam Deck does not run Windows.
There are a few projects like Bazzite and Chimera which have versions for desktops and other handhelds, but they're not really at maturity yet for the handhelds other than the Steam Deck.
Since they're all running AMD hardware, what I anticipate is that eventually the Linux variants designed for them will be significantly more optimal for the devices, much more than the bullshit full Windows install. You do lose out on Gamepass games though, but that's pretty much the only thing you gain by going Windows in the first place.
I compromised with my ROG Ally and ran a bunch of debloating scripts so I could have my Gamepass games available. I would rather be running Bazzite on it, which runs excellently on my laptop. It requires some funky BIOS fuckery to achieve basic functionality right now though, so it's definitely a project to undertake later.
Gamepass streaming works in Chromium
I am pretty sure the entire library is not available to stream, but you can install all of it on Windows. Bazzite is also not fully compliant with the hardware yet.
There's a list of problems and workarounds, but it's listed as gold rating which is better than a lot of other handhelds. I would not be able to stand the LEDs being at full brightness all the time, it would infuriate me.
On paper the Intel processor is much better than the Zen 1 Extreme chip, but lack of optimizations remains the main bottleneck.
I knew Intel would incrementally improve the support for the device, because we saw how they handled the Arc cards. They were not great at first but then a driver update was pushed that increased efficacy by almost double bringing the cards on par with low and mid-rangers from the other manufacturers.
Hopefully Intel's support improves more and the field becomes additionally competitive.
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