Windows plays every PC game in existence and plays them better though. It also allows you to use the device as a pc replacement via displaying the screen on a tv/monitor. It’s the best OS to go with imo.
There's a surprising amount of older PC games that don't work on Windows anymore, but work fine on Linux. I remember trying to play New Vegas a few years ago on Windows 10 and needing four separate mods just to get it to play properly, and even after all that it would still crash every 15-20 minutes. I've since played it all the way through on Fedora and SteamOS with zero tinkering and no crashes.
It also allows you to use the device as a pc replacement via displaying the screen on a tv/monitor
Not with windows you can’t, which is the OS the overwhelmingly large majority of people want to use.
Most people don't replace SteamOS on their device so I don't think that's true. Plasma is a perfectly suitable replacement for Windows unless you really need access to Adobe products or something.
There’s more that work and work better on Windows than Linux than there are the other way around though.
True but It's a number that is shrinking every day. We are down to about ~100 games at this point that explicitly cannot work? I play a lot of games and I can't remember the last time I tried to play a game and it didn't work because I was on Linux.
lol not everyone that likes a different OS is a "stan". The meme in the OP is about windows on steam deck competitors. I'm pointing out why windows on steam deck competitors has lots of benefits. Why can't you handle that?
i haven't even personally seen any of these things. so no, I literally can't handle that. i'm also very annoyed buy steam and valve, in general. but windows? windows is the worst.
i'm comfortable with windows and with linux. the hardware in all these things is interesting. so you want to go with proprietary software. love you for it.
I'm fine with proprietary software, yes. I go with the software that best meets my needs, and that's Windows. I'm not saying you can't prefer linux, I'm just giving my reasons why Windows is what most people prefer.
the overwhelmingly large majority of people want to use
you state this as fact yet my experience has been that people hate using windows for its UI on handhelds and only tolerate it because everything's made for it. that's not a shining point for windows, quite the opposite.
the steam deck surpassed a million devices sold - so while over 50% of people probably still want windows, i wouldn't say its an "overwhelming" majority. tons of people clearly like valve's take on linux even despite its limitations
I clarified in other comments - people want windows as their pc, not Linux. The ROG Ally doubles as a full blown Windows PC. SteamOS is Linux as you know, and that’s not the OS of choice for the overwhelmingly large majority of the population.
If you're building a high-powered machine, maybe, but one of the points of these handhelds is that they don't have a chunky GPU, a case full of fans, and an always-available power supply. Ignoring the points others have made about suspend/resume, Windows is a bit bulky and bloated, and running it on hardware that wants to be performant and power-efficient is apparently not that practical.