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SteamOS vs OS X Mavericks

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When comparing SteamOS vs OS X Mavericks, the Slant community recommends SteamOS for most people. In the question“What is the best laptop OS?” SteamOS is ranked 55th while OS X Mavericks is ranked 59th. The most important reason people chose SteamOS is:

The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors.

Specs

Available Onmultiple devices (amd64 based PCs)

Based OnArch Linux

Default Desktop EnvironmentSteam Big Picture, Kde Plasma

DeveloperValve

Init-SystemSystemd

LicenseProprietary on top of Linux

Main UsageGaming

OS FamilyGNU/Linux

Official Supported Architecturesamd64/x86_64

OriginUSA

Package ManagerPacman Arch Package Manager, Steam

No specs yet!

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What is the best laptop OS?

Pros

Pro
Native graphics processor support

The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors.

Pro
Streaming service integration (under development)

Valve is in talks with streaming companies such as Spotify and Netflix to bring their features to SteamOS.

Pro
For entertainment, it just works

What media center software do for videos, it does for games (and later videos).

Pro
Battery optimization

There are many features that improve battery life, such as App Nap.

Pro
Great if you don't like El Capitan and up.

Relatively fast and retains many design decisions of the OS X of old.

Pro
Memory compression features

You can have a lot of things running yet have plenty of memory left.

Pro
Free if you have Snow leopard or Lion

Pro
Very tweakable

There are many things you can still change through the terminal.

Pro
Still supported so far

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Cons

Con
Hard to install

If you've installed Arch you're probably fine, but for those used to simple installs like (Ubuntu to name just one) you should prepare some patience, determination, and painkillers. Good news is, it's getting better (it's very young).

Con
Not built around the desktop experience

SteamOS is, first and foremost, meant to act as a gaming console - it doesn't ship with even some of the most basic applications, such as a file manager or image viewer. As a result, using SteamOS as your primary operating system would require a fair bit of work.