Global Hardware 8 December 2018 (Smash Week)

[zorg1000]

drinkandswim said:

zorg1000 said:

Let's say they do release a model that is capable of running all XBO/PS4 games, how much will it cost? How much bigger will it be? How will the battery life be? To me this sounds like a device that's $399, bigger/bulkier & has a 1.5-3 hour battery life. Not really ideal for a system whose main selling point is being able to play anytime, anywhere.

And here's the most important question, who is going to support it with AAA titles that cant be played on the base model? If by the end of 2020 the Switch has an overall install base of 65+ million and only 7-8 million of that is from the Pro model than how is that a viable solution?

I have actually been thinking about this too much so let me go through my opinion. 

To your first point: The Tegra X2 Board is compatible as a complete switch out with the Tegra X1 board currently in the Switch. It offers 50% more performance or 100% more energy efficiency at the same power draw. So you can either opt for 50% greater performance (750 gflops at FP32 operation or 7.5 Watt draw instead of 15 watts). So I think that board could be used in both a lite version or a pro version. So you would have the same battery life for higher performing games and longer battery life for Mid Tier and Indy games, etc. I think its priced $399 and I am wondering if Nintendo can offer an option to upgrade it for current owners for around $200 since its literally swapping out the boards and probably an OS update. 

Second point: These games cant be played on the current Switch so does it really split the base? Actually it would expand the base for Nintendo's first party games which would always be compatible with both systems regardless of Chipset.

Let me know what you think.

First Point: I agree that X2 can be used for a Lite & Pro model but the Pro will be used to play games at improved resolution/performance, not to get games that cant run on the base model.

Second Point: I'm not talking about Nintendo games, I'm talking about 3rd parties, they aren't going to release their big AAA games on the Pro model if they can't run on the base model because there will not be enough of an install base to make it worthwhile.