Windows (10 - I haven’t checked 11) alone takes over 20 GiB. That’s right after running the installer, before the installation of any additional user software.
On the cheapest Steam Deck that would already fill about 1/3 of the internal storage, not counting any space for temporary files, the swap file, etc.
(Not that SteamOS would be much lighter. Afaik it takes up a 5 GB partition on the Deck, with a second 5 GB partition that’s used as a fallback during updates.)
If I were to try Windows I would definitely go with one of those super optimized installs that are like 3-4 gigs. Unless that breaks some of the DirectX functionality for games?
Wow, I wasn’t aware those exist. After a quick online search I’m quite impressed how much space modders were able to free compared to a vanilla Windows install. While I don’t seriously consider putting Windows on the Steam Deck, I’ll definitely use those images next time I need to set up a Windows VM.
Yeah, I haven’t used Windows in years (not much of a PC gamer, I mostly play on consoles until I got my SD) and the more I read about Windows 11 and the bloat and telemetry the more I hated it. But I’m impressed how much they managed to shrink it into Tiny11 and might be tempted to experiment with it on a virtual machine.
If you were to show this comment to someone 10-20 years ago you would have blown their mind:
Windows (10 - I haven’t checked 11) alone takes over 20 GiB. That’s right after running the installer, before the installation of any additional user software.
On the cheapest Steam Deck that would already fill about 1/3 of the internal storage, not counting any space for temporary files, the swap file, etc.
(Not that SteamOS would be much lighter. Afaik it takes up a 5 GB partition on the Deck, with a second 5 GB partition that’s used as a fallback during updates.)
If I were to try Windows I would definitely go with one of those super optimized installs that are like 3-4 gigs. Unless that breaks some of the DirectX functionality for games?
Wow, I wasn’t aware those exist. After a quick online search I’m quite impressed how much space modders were able to free compared to a vanilla Windows install. While I don’t seriously consider putting Windows on the Steam Deck, I’ll definitely use those images next time I need to set up a Windows VM.
Yeah, I haven’t used Windows in years (not much of a PC gamer, I mostly play on consoles until I got my SD) and the more I read about Windows 11 and the bloat and telemetry the more I hated it. But I’m impressed how much they managed to shrink it into Tiny11 and might be tempted to experiment with it on a virtual machine.