Windows is no longer the center of the PC universe

For most of my life, talking about “the PC” basically meant talking about Windows. Sure, Macs existed. Linux existed. Weirdos like us knew you could build Hackintoshes, boot obscure Linux distros, and spend an entire Saturday compiling something because it’s fun and interesting, dammit!

But Windows was the sun that the rest of the PC universe orbited around. New hardware existed to run Windows. New software targeted Windows. Gaming meant Windows. The PC industry moved where Microsoft moved.

I don’t think that’s true anymore.

Windows is still gigantic. It isn’t dying or going anywhere. But look at the most interesting things happening to consumer PCs this decade and it’s obvious: Windows isn’t driving them. Sometimes, Windows is the problem they’re trying to solve.

The Steam Deck changed PCs without Windows

Willis Lai/IDG

The Steam Deck is the single most important PC hardware release of the 2020s. Not the fastest GPU. Not some $4,000 halo laptop. The Steam Deck.