Microsoft today opened a little of the lid for these devices and it turns out that Windows 11, installed on such devices, is not the regular desktop experience, but rather a specially tuned one for getting maximum speed and smooth gaming.
What is the magic ingredient. According to Jason Beaumont, who heads Xbox development, they brought in the Xbox OS wizards to devise this version. It's like Windows 11 on a diet - most of the feature load that's unnecessary for a dedicated gaming handheld has been cut out. What you get. A highly optimized system that is going to run like a dream when you're in full-screen gaming mode.
Roanne Sones, another bigwig in Microsoft's gaming division, further added that fewer annoying notifications and pop-ups will interrupt gameplay for users. The cool part. They're open to adding new features based on what players actually want in the future.
Nothing here is gimmicky. Brianna Potvin, Chief Software Engineer at Xbox, emphasized that these are "significant improvements." How substantial. Apparently, during early testing, this really "streamlined" Windows 11 uses 2GB less memory than the standard model. That's really huge for a handheld where every resource counts toward a smoother gaming experience.
And the good news doesn't stop there regarding battery life. For example, leaving your ROG Xbox Ally in 'sleep mode' while full-screened would result in it consuming about three times less power than any other set-top box in that state. More playtime, less time tethered to a charger.
Microsoft seems to be really focusing on making Windows 11 a great platform for handheld gaming, and the ROG Xbox Ally will benefit from some of that special treatment in order to do so.
