Almost a fortnight has elapsed since Microsoft – one of the wealthiest and most influential technology corporations on the planet, with a valuation in the trillions – released its high-profile $600 handheld device, marketed under the Xbox banner. Yet ironically, despite the company’s vast resources and decades of experience, my testing has revealed that this compact console cannot be trusted to perform the most basic of modern functions: entering and resuming from sleep reliably, or maintaining an adequate battery charge while asleep. Both Microsoft and Asus, the hardware manufacturer behind the device’s physical build, have responded with silence or evasions when pressed by The Verge for comment. Neither party has openly acknowledged that the issue exists, nor have they provided a concrete roadmap or timeline for remediation. Asus has merely stated that additional testing time is required before issuing any fix, leaving early adopters suspended in uncertainty.
However, for those unwilling to wait indefinitely for an official solution, there exists a surprisingly effective workaround. By following my example and installing the latest release of Bazzite—an open-source, Linux-based operating system modeled after Valve’s SteamOS—users can experience how the hardware performs when freed from the burden of Windows. Bazzite is designed with handheld gaming in mind: it seamlessly integrates gamepad control schemes, transitions elegantly into and out of sleep states, and provides stability where Windows currently falters. Over an intensive weekend of gaming, I found that I could simply suspend play at any time with a tap of the power button, later resuming exactly where I had left off without concern for battery loss or unresponsiveness. During that same period, I played hour upon hour of *Silksong*, culminating in the satisfaction of toppling an especially difficult boss—an experience unmarred by technical interruptions or crashes.
What astonished me further was that Bazzite not only offered greater consistency but also delivered measurable performance improvements. Many of my Windows-based games, when run through Bazzite, operated markedly faster—often by margins approaching or exceeding thirty percent. Benchmark comparisons between systems running Bazzite, Windows 11, and Valve’s Steam Deck OLED reveal that the Linux-powered environment enables the Xbox Ally to outperform expectations in nearly every test but one, depending on the title and thermal power configuration. This result is particularly telling, given that I had previously criticized the device on October 15th for operating slower than a two-year-old Steam Deck, despite employing almost identical internal components.
Beyond the realm of raw frame rates, the system’s overall responsiveness improves dramatically under Bazzite. The Steam interface, unburdened by Microsoft’s heavier background systems, feels immediate and intuitive—an experience more akin to using a Nintendo Switch than a Windows PC. I could suspend games effortlessly, wake the device instantly, and navigate menus entirely through the buttons and joysticks without ever having to touch the display. The absence of Windows’ cluttered design and imprecise touch-layer translates into a cleaner and more deliberate gaming experience.
Even button mappings, once confusing under Microsoft’s interface, become coherent under Bazzite. The upper-left button now reliably opens Steam’s home menu, while the upper-right accesses quick settings; the central Xbox button launches Handheld Companion, Bazzite’s integrated utility for managing system features. A long press invokes a full-screen mode that allows seamless updates to newer Bazzite builds—a flexibility that I value greatly. Indeed, I currently use the unstable branch of the operating system, as it was the first to resolve the device’s sleep issue successfully.
My admiration for this configuration is not without precedent. Late last year, I wrote extensively on how Bazzite transformed the earlier ROG Ally X into what I then called the best handheld of 2024. It remains true that Bazzite offers no significant advantage over Windows in terms of battery endurance; in isolated cases, I even observed slightly faster power drain from the Linux-based environment. Yet the broader implication is hard to ignore: this situation stands as a striking indictment of Windows. The fact that Microsoft’s inaugural Xbox-branded handheld—supposedly equipped with a fine-tuned, performance-optimized edition of Windows—could be so thoroughly bested by a small team of independent Linux developers highlights a fundamental disparity between corporate scale and software efficiency.
Interestingly, the Bazzite team initially faced its own challenges ensuring the white Xbox Ally entered and exited sleep reliably. When I first installed the system on October 19th, pressing the power button left the device locked in a dormant but unresponsive state, necessitating a full hard reset every time. Yet this problem stemmed from a lack of direct access to the hardware, not from flawed design. Only two days after developer Antheas Kapenekakis acquired an Ally for experimentation—and after consultation with two AMD engineers—the trio successfully repaired the sleep issue. In the same sweep of updates, they also enabled proper control of the RGB joystick lighting through Linux. Today, Bazzite’s integrated Handheld Companion utility allows easy, intuitive control over power draw (TDP settings), button layouts, and lighting effects, all adjustable within moments.
To illustrate just how erratic the factory Windows experience remains, I conducted performance and reliability tests on two identical white Xbox Allies. Each was updated to the latest available firmware and software patches. One had “Modern Standby Assist” and “Extreme Standby” options activated, while the other had them disabled. Despite these precautions, both systems exhibited spontaneous wake-ups, seemingly random in timing, even while resting untouched on my desk. The more optimized of the two units lost approximately ten percent of its battery capacity over twelve hours in sleep, while the other drained twenty-three percent within that same period—and I had to wake the latter twice consecutively before its controller input would register properly. Over the following twelve-hour stretch, both devices dropped to nearly thirty percent battery life, one likely due to initiating a Windows Update when it should have remained asleep. Occasionally, both systems also refused to wake altogether, requiring hard restarts. Numerous users across Reddit corroborate these symptoms, reporting both unexpected battery depletion and unreliable waking behavior in multiple versions of the device.
While the performance gains under Bazzite are undeniable, I still hope that Microsoft eventually corrects these Windows flaws to ensure a consistent experience for every user. In response to inquiries from The Verge about planned improvements or timelines, Microsoft declined to schedule an interview. However, Anshul Rawat, Vice President of Windows Product Management, provided an official statement acknowledging awareness of user complaints. According to Rawat, the Windows and Xbox teams are jointly investigating the sleep and wake concerns affecting “a limited number of players,” and early patches will begin “rolling out soon.” He emphasized the ongoing challenge of optimizing an operating system as flexible and wide-reaching as Windows to function seamlessly across an immense variety of devices and display sizes, from desktops to cloud-based systems. Community feedback, he noted, continues to shape their development trajectory. Yet when pressed, the company has not further clarified what constitutes a “limited number” of affected users or how soon “soon” might be.
If I had personally purchased this Xbox Ally, I doubt I would wait passively for Microsoft to resolve these issues. At the very least, I would employ a dual-boot configuration—keeping both Windows and Bazzite installed—so that I could temporarily return to Windows for BIOS updates while relying primarily on Linux for daily gaming.
It is worth addressing a few persistent myths surrounding Linux gaming, many of which linger from an earlier technological era. Contrary to popular assumption, Linux does not severely limit one’s choice of game libraries. Through compatibility layers and the vigorous efforts of its community, it allows access not only to Steam but also to platforms like Epic Games Store, Battle.net, Ubisoft Connect, and GOG. Except for a handful of titles protected by complex anti-cheat software, most modern games now run smoothly, often matching or even surpassing their Windows performance. In fact, older PC games that frequently encounter issues under current iterations of Windows tend to run more reliably within Linux environments. For users curious about game compatibility, the online database ProtonDB provides a valuable resource for verifying which favorites are fully supported.
In sum, the paradox of Microsoft’s powerful yet unreliable handheld reveals a broader truth about modern computing: advanced hardware means little without software stability. What Bazzite’s developers achieved through agility, collaboration, and open-source philosophy highlights how innovation does not always require immense corporate structures. Sometimes, dedication, transparency, and community engagement deliver the performance and reliability that even trillion-dollar companies struggle to match.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/games/807711/xbox-ally-sleep-fail-bazzite-fix-performance
