Cartridges or optical discs?

[SvennoJ]

Pemalite said

Now preferring optical disks is personal opinion, something which I can completely respect.
NAND these days can scale in capacity that exceeds optical disks, that's a fact.

So in short...

* Carts have superior load times.
* Carts have superior capacity.
* Carts can have equivalent Audio/Video quality.
* Carts are more durable.
* Carts are smaller and more portable.

And that all comes down to a single caveat. Cost. That's it. Cost.

Carts have superior load time to running directly from an optical disc, however the current switch carts already fall behind 5400 rpm hdd and internal storage.
Carts can have superior storage yet are maxed at 32GB atm.
Carts can have equivalent audio/video quality, yet it's better for devs to stay under 8GB for cheaper carts, inviting more compression.
Carts are generally more durable and portable, also more easily lost or misplaced.

The cost factor is indeed the single caveat, yet it spoils all the advantages you listed. Sure you can have 128GB 275 MB/s cards, yet those cost $200 atm. Cost is a rather huge factor. In the here and now, optical discs offer more storage, less need for compression, and after installation no difference or faster loading times compared to running from a card.