A member of GPD’s community team has disclosed that official Bazzite OS support is on the way for a particular flagship handheld gaming PC model. Yesterday’s update was delivered to members and frequenters of the GPD Win subreddit. The Chinese portable computer specialist’s Win 5 model attracted plenty of attention last summer, due to it being the first handheld system to feature AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU—the best available "Strix Halo" mobile processor option. A segment of the hardcore gaming community vehemently believe that Windows 11 OS hinders performance across several generations of handhelds, especially when compared to models that run SteamOS as standard. Despite Microsoft’s release of a Full Screen Experience (FSE), many owners have opted to install Linux-based operating systems on formerly Windows 11-out-of-the-box devices.

Around early autumn 2025, initial support of Bazzite OS became available to owners of GPD Win 5 handhelds. Since then, user feedback has highlighted various issues. Yesterday’s message—informing the community about an in-progress official adaptation—drew many comments. Apparently, a recent patch resolved Wi-Fi connectivity issues for one participant, but others mention ongoing problems: system crashes when waking from sleep, cutting out of audio, control inputs not functioning properly, and more. Hopefully, GPD and Universal Blue’s formal co-operation will iron out some of these bumps ahead of a proper rollout of the Fedora-based Linux distribution. A Steam Client-esque user experience is BazziteOS’s main selling point. TechPowerUp spent a few minutes with the GPD Win 5 at CES 2026, where the demonstration unit’s Radeon 8060S iGPU was taxed by an Elden Ring session. Oddly, this flagship design is not truly portable, due to a reliance on external batteries and power sources. A mildly "PS Vita"-inspired aesthetic gives you one impression, until you realize that the core hardware is wired up to an outlet under the desk.