- Valve has released a new Steam Deck ‘display-off low-power download’ update
- It’s currently only available for Steam Deck users via the beta and preview channels
- Microsoft’s Windows 11 Full Screen Experience doesn’t feature a functional sleep and quick resume mode, but this could spur it on
Valve recently introduced its useful Steam calendar update, via its Steam Labs project, and it already has another long-awaited update for Steam Deck users that highlights one of SteamOS’s best features.
Announced on its community page, Valve is introducing a new ‘display-off low-power download’ mode, which allows Steam Deck users to continue game downloads before setting the device to sleep, ultimately saving power and making downloads easier to complete while away from the handheld.
This new feature is currently only available on the Steam Deck via beta and preview channels, and can be enabled through the ‘power’ tab in settings. You’ll know it’s active once you press the power button to put the system into sleep mode, and a new prompt asks if you want to continue downloading while the screen is off.
Valve states that if you press a button or move the Steam Deck, a new status screen will appear (see below) showing download progress – and when on battery power, the device will go into full sleep mode if it drops below 20%.
This takes the popular and beloved sleep and quick resume features on SteamOS to a new level, as you can simply queue a list of games to download, and not have to worry about increased temperatures or fans getting louder from placing the Steam Deck down on a soft surface like a blanket (which I normally do with my handhelds in bed).
I’ve tested to see if this new beta feature works on the Lenovo Legion Go S, which is an officially licensed SteamOS handheld, but there’s no sign of it, so it seems like this will be exclusive to the Steam Deck for now.
It may very well eventually make its way to SteamOS entirely, which could turn out to be beneficial for clones like Bazzite on Windows handhelds like the ROG Xbox Ally X, especially as a request that gamers on Windows 10 and Windows 11 have voiced for years.
Analysis: Microsoft, now is the time to work on a genuine sleep and resume function
I applaud Microsoft‘s efforts to attempt a handheld-friendly Windows 11 mode with Full Screen Experience (FSE), and while I’m not particularly interested in using it instead of SteamOS, now would be the ideal time for it to get a sleep-resume feature.
Valve’s SteamOS is growing with new features consistently, and there’s no debating that it’s dominating the new FSE mode from Microsoft. Since the Xbox Series X | S consoles both have quick resume features, it’s reasonable for fans to expect Microsoft to get this up and running on Windows 11 in some capacity, at least with the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, but there’s been no luck so far.
While there’s a framework already laid down for Windows from the Xbox consoles for quick resume, there isn’t one for putting systems to sleep. Well, I should say there is one for Windows 11, but it doesn’t and never has worked very well, since resumes while in-game almost always end up resulting in game crashes or strange UI errors.
I’m just glad that Valve isn’t slowing down with bolstering its Steam Deck handheld and SteamOS, as it’s only going to increase the pressure on Microsoft to improve its new FSE, and hopefully in a quick fashion.
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