Laura Kate Dale: Nintendo Switch Dock Increases Performance, Not Via Extra Hardware

[teigaga]

LMAO some of you guys be skeptical about all the things you shouldn't be and then take for truth the most outlandish rumours.

This was to be expected. We know the Switch has a big ass fan vent, its there in plain sight for anyone to see. The only portable device I know to have visible fan vents are laptops which have highly scalable performance modes which determine whether battery dies in 2hours or 10. Of course if you try gaming on your laptop with these different modes toggled, you'll get very difference performance.

And no reputable source has made any statements which contradict this. Nintendo saying the "main" function of the dock is to connect to TV doesn't mean the dock isn't also a power/charging station (it obviously is, this also what will allow higher performance- lack of battery constraint+better cooling),and a usb station (kind of inevitable). Nintendo made in very clear they don't want to discuss specifics or confuse people. They want us understand the core function of system(hybrid portable/home console) and thats the end of story til January.

Regarding 1080p, anytime some talks about X console and X resolution, it shouldn't be taken as a literal rule. Laura is likely referring to some Nintendo games she is aware of running at 1080p, that doesn't mean all Switch games will run at 1080p when docked. Just as always its down to how developers utilise the platform. She also doesn't specify a performance jump from 720p to 1080p. Just Because Mario Kart Switch is running at 720p when undocked doesn't mean there isn't juice for it to run at higher resolutions. This can evidently be seen in 1080p PS4 games which suddenly make the jump to Native 4k on PS4 Pro (skyrim/TLOU. Nintendo will obviously want to limit power consumption when portable, I think this was likely the reason for the 720p screen as oppose to just cost cutting a few dollars.

But can the gulf in performance allow a 720p-1080p jump? Hmm, I presume it may come close, again using the laptop comparison some of my 3D software runs like shit during battery saving mode but significantly better in "power" mode. Portable Switch is probs notably under clocked for battery and heat reasons. But again realistically developers aiming for 1080p home experience will likely low ball the hardware when portable and max it out when docked. Pulling a number from my arse I could imagine the docked system running anywhere from 30-50% 1.5-2x aster.