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Soundwave on 07 January 2016
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Potterfan95 said:
Soundwave said:
Potterfan95 said:

That would still require a lot of horsepower and even high end portables are only slightly more powerful than PS3. As Nintendo will likely price its portable at $250 that wouldn't be possible. But it could run less demanding PS4 games like JRPG's and turn-based strategy and RTS games on PC. I think RTS games would fit a handheld well.

 

Depends on if they're willing to sell at cost. The processors aren't as expensive as people think. The Apple A9X that powers a iPad Pro is probably about $50 at cost. Mobile components like screen costs, RAM costs, etc. have dropped massively the last 3-4 years also thanks to the general tablet/phone boom. Nintendo wouldn't need a crazy resolution screen like an iPad has, a 1280x720 6-inch display or so would do it, and that would be very cheap. 

I'd allow Android app support too, so it could basically function like a tablet on top of being able to to play Nintendo games and PS4/XB1 ports on the go. At $250 or even $269.99 IMO this is a bargain and the price can come down over time. 

The only mobile processor with a more powerful GPU than a PS3 is a Tegra K1 and that will not be very cheap. Also that's only more powerful than a PS3, but not comparable to PS4 or XB1, probably not enough to run current-gen games even at 540p. But it will still need to run games at 720p if Nintendo wants it to be a viable platform for the consumer for more than a year. It needs to have future proof tech that can handle late-gen PS4 games which it may not be able to do. That's if it is to be a viable platform for third parties, but hardware won't be the biggest issue for that for a handheld.

 

I assume you mean Tegra X1, and no that processor is not that expensive. The Tegra X1 is considerably beyond a PS3 as well. The Shield console which has the X1 processor is $199 ... but keep in mind that's sold at a large mark up because Nvidia does not make money on the games. There is a Tegra X1 tablet coming from Nvidia this year it's heavily hinted at, that will probably be $250-$300, but again sold at a high mark up and will have a much more expensive display than what Nintendo would need (8 inch, way above 1080p resolution). 

The Apple A9X (the iPad Pro processor) is about par with a Tegra X1 too, and it's about $50-$55 at cost. 

Keep in mind a processor only has to be about 350-400 GFLOPS to approximate 1/4th of the pixel pushing power of a XB1/PS4 (at 960x540 resolution). The iPad Pro also has a very high memory bandwidth, easily 1/4th that of a PS4.