curl-6 said:
EpicRandy said:
All those concerns are all related to the power consumption of the device. Most of the video focus on this and why it is possible to get the power consumption low enough for it to work.
The Series S is using about 80 watts peak from the wall which is already impressively low but he highlights many way this can get down:
- Using battery vs outlet save already about 10% from the inefficiency of converting AC to DC
- Node shrink from 7nm to potentially 3nm
- Lower power needed through limiting the output resolution when handheld
A great comparison I think is to compare the Series S to the 6800U. The 6800U have peak GPU (680m) performance of 3.68tfs which is very close to that of the Series s 4tfs. However the 680m is limited by 16 cu which force it to run at higher clocks with added inefficiency. The 680m is also Rdna3 and the video suggest that such device form MS would use Rdna4 with better efficiency. The 6800U is also used in similar device to what is suggested of a Series S handheld like the Ayaneo 2.
Now it is true that an even lower performance when handheld might be problematic in some case but if MS were to go this route I would support MS to allow dev to require the device to be docked when playing specific titles that have no room to spare on series S like those running 900p 30fps (which should be marginal anyway).
The Ayaneo 2 is an interesting device to me but the price is too high. But get me an Ayaneo 2 like device, that cost $500 or less and that can play Xbox GamePass titles and I'd be like :
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I'm not saying it's impossible, but it comes back to the fact you'd be adding yet more and likely lower performance targets for games to hit, where the Series S is already struggling, plus potentially breaking compatibility for games that just can't run when portable. That's a rather messy proposition.
Plus, $500 is too steep for a handheld, at that price it will only sell to a niche audience of enthusiasts like Steam Deck.
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Even if it sells as few as 5 million units, I'd consider that successful enough to more than warrants its existence. The cool thing about these "SteamDeck style" handhelds is that they don't need to sell much in order to get supported. A Series S handheld would be a much better system than the Vita even if it sells a fraction of what the Vita sold. And since it's not competing over resources with its home console counterpart, there is no serious downside to it as long as it's not mandated for more demanding games.
An additional userbase of 5 million may translate to a 7-10% increase in software sales and subscriptions.
