I turned my gaming laptop into an Xbox

I spent the last week figuring out the best way to get Xbox Mode to work on Windows 11 PCs, and the results were truly surprising. Refining my approach and running Xbox Mode at 4K 60 FPS, just like an Xbox Series

I tried this on the MINISFORUM AtomMan G1 Pro, which features the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 (145W full power). The PC houses 32GB of single-channel DDR5 RAM and 2TB of NVMe SSD (it originally came with a 1TB SSD). I also tried this configuration on the Maingear Ultima 18 which comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile graphics card. As for memory, it has 32GB of DDR5 RAM supporting 4,800 MT/s and a 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD for storage.

Naturally, both of these configurations are geared towards PC gaming, with the Maingear Ultima 18 boasting fantastic specs. I opted for the G1 Pro because of its console-like form factor and full-power RTX 5060 to squeeze every possible performance out of such a small chassis. Pairing it with an official white Xbox controller gives users some cool features while completing the package.

Maingear is well known for its boutique builds that contain no additional bloatware and genuinely helpful customer service. Considering this model competes directly with a Razer Blade 18, has similar features, and has double the RAM and SSD storage, this gaming laptop was an easy decision. With Xbox Mode featuring heavily on the Asus Xbox ROG Ally X, I thought it would be only right to have a portable battle station in this guide.

For those who want an Xbox experience on a brand new PC, there’s no point in reinstalling Windows 11, which we’ll unlock soon. But for users who have been using Windows 11 for a while without optimization, it would be a good idea to back up their personal files and use an unlocked Windows 11 installation to breathe new life into a gaming PC.

Go to Chris Titus Tech’s Windows utility, copy the stable branch command line “irm|iex” and open PowerShell as administrator. Paste it into the command line and press Enter, which will then bring up the Windows utility UI.

To create a new Windows ISO image, you must first download an official disk image from Microsoft. Once downloaded, navigate to the Win11 Creator tab to create a safe, modified, and bloat-free disk image of Windows 11. This means users won’t have to worry about AI features, telemetry, and unnecessary pre-installed apps. Once the new disk image is created, it can be written directly to a USB stick with more than 16 GB of space, which will be bootable.

For those simply looking to remove their original Windows 11 installation, head to the “Tweaks” tab. Here, users should select the standard button under “recommended selections” and check the following additional boxes:

Essential adjustments:

• Widgets – Remove
• Recommended search results in the Microsoft Store

Advanced adjustments:

• Windows AI – Disable
• Visual Effects – Set to best performance
• System Tray Notifications and Calendar – Disable
• Context menu Previous layout – Enable
• Microsoft OneDrive – Disable
• Microsoft Edge – Unblock or Remove
• Background Apps – Disable

Performance plans:

• Ultimate Performance Profile – Enable

Once all that is selected, click “Run Settings”, which will take a while. The goal here is to remove all the extra features that Windows 11 provides. This frees up resources related to processes like notifications and refreshing OneDrive in the background to focus on gaming.

Enabling Ultimate Performance Profile is a hidden power setting in Windows 11 that prioritizes performance, which will naturally consume more power, but we’re here for extra frames, right? For those running a fresh install of Windows 11, navigating to the Install tab will provide quick access to all the essential programs users could think of, including Steam, Epic, GOG, and more.

Next, download Optimizer from their GitHub page, which we’ll use to ensure finer-grained privacy and other options are supported in Windows 11. This model has been deprecated and replaced by OptimizerNXT, but this version worked well for me. Privacy protocols and telemetry can add up and weigh heavily on overall performance. It is therefore wise to get rid of everything that is not necessary. Optimizer also takes care of registry issues and unnecessary Windows 11 apps.

Here is everything that needs to be unchecked in Optimizer, which I can confirm does not cause any issues with Windows 11. The best way to do this is to enable everything, then disable everything in the list below:

General:

• Show all notification icons
• Remove menu delay
• Disable printing service (check this if you do not want to use a printer with your PC/laptop)
• Enable UTC time
• Disable System Restore
• Disable superfetch
• Disable NTFS timestamp
• Disable Homegroup
• Disable SMBv1 protocol
• Disable SMBv2 protocol

Windows 11: *Leave all Windows Update and Gaming settings unchecked

• Restore Classic File Explorer
• Hide weather from taskbar
• Disable TPM checking
• Disable sensor services
• Align the taskbar to the left
• Disable widgets
• Disable spell checking
• Disable Snap Assistant

UWP apps: Only uninstall apps that won’t be needed for gaming. If you’re not sure, don’t touch this tab.

Startup: Uncheck all unnecessary startup programs like Discord, peripheral programs, etc.

Cleaner: Check all Windows options here, then click “Clean”.

Registry: Enable all registry problems with “Restart Explorer to apply changes”, then click “Repair”.

For Nvidia and AMD GPUs, make sure you take full advantage of their automatic overclocking. Here are some other optimizations to get the most out of your graphics card:

AMD (via adrenaline)

• Performance > Tuning > GPU > Overclock GPU
• Games > Graphics > HYPR-RX Global Gaming Experience and enable all options. Next, set the sharpening effect to 50, set the performance mode to performance for lower spec hardware or to quality for high-end gaming PCs.

Nvidia (global control panel settings)

Disable the following settings:

• Image scaling, ambient occlusion
• Anisotropic filtering
• Antialiasing – FXAA
• Antialiasing – Mode
• Antialiasing – Setting
• Antialiasing – Transparency
• Maximum background app frame rate
• DSR – Factors
• DSR – Softness
• Multi-frame sampled AA (MFAA)
• Texture Filtering – Optimizing Anisotropic Samples
• Triple buffering
• Virtual Reality – Variable Rate Super Sampling

Enable the following settings:

• Vertical sync (disabled if using a G-Sync compatible display)
• Antialiasing – Gamma Correction
• Texture Filtering – Trilinear Optimization

Other settings:

It’s a good idea to use AMD and Nvidia’s automatic overclocking features to get the most out of GPU performance, which can also be done manually, but is safer for beginners. If, like me, the TV you’re using for gaming isn’t G-Sync compatible, turn on vertical sync at the driver level and leave it off in the game settings to fix screen tearing. Another cool feature is enabling pre-shader caching in the Nvidia app, which will help reduce frame stuttering when loading into new areas and more in-game.

No preview build of Windows 11 is necessary, just make sure Windows Update is fully up to date. Then download the Xbox Full Screen Experience Tool by scrolling to the bottom of the GitHub releases page and downloading the full MSI file, which appears as “Updater.exe” after downloading. This eliminates manual registry editing when enabling the hidden Xbox Mode feature in Windows 11, making it a much faster process.

Install it, start it, click the “Turn on Xbox Mode” button, and follow the app’s instructions (basically, restart after you’re done). Then open it again and click “Open Xbox Mode Settings (FSE)”.

Users will then want to select the Home app as “Xbox” and check the “Enter Xbox mode at startup” option on that particular settings page. After another reboot, Xbox mode will activate after entering the PC PIN or password and it’s ready to go.

While my Maingear Ultima 18 smashes everything it plays at 4K 60 FPS, the Minisforum Atomman G1 Pro is a big surprise. Although it only has an RTX 5060, it plays most games in 4K resolution at full 60 FPS on high to ultra settings. Yes, even “Oblivion Remastered”. Certainly, DLSS 4.5 does a lot of work here, but the results are nevertheless better than expected.