The leaks here indicate a system that is designed with current gen ports in mind.
You don't need LPDDR5X and higher bandwidth if you just want PS4-tier graphics and nothing better than that. The ROG Ally can run PS4 tier games with ease with regular ol' LPDDR5.
256GB UFS 3.1 is also overkill if the only intention Nintendo has here is their own games and some PS4 tier ports ... 256GB is something you would want if you want to assure developers that basically even the largest modern gen games (150GB on the high end) will be able to be downloaded to every Switch 2 unit and there still be an overhead beyond that. They could have gone with 128GB only if they just wanted a PS4 tier machine. As a developer, 256GB tells me that every Switch 2 system will have enough storage space for a port if I choose to make it (it'll just be up to the user to clear their fridge, but every system out of the box even with no SD Card has enough storage that any user will be able to download and play even the largest sized games), if they had gone with cheaper 128GB, it would be dicier as there already are games that are larger than 128GB like Call of Duty.
A fan in the dock is also interesting, not enough people are discussing that, but that's more significant than I think a lot of people realize.
These choices also seem to indicate a company that is cognizant of releasing a decent piece of kit and not just farting out the cheapest piece of minimum effort crap they could. 8GB LPDDR5, 128GB internal UFS 2.0 would be good enough if you just want a portable PS4, no need for a fan in the dock either, I don't see why they are going for these higher end choices. I think they want several PS5/XSX games notably Monster Hunter 6 (Wilds) at the top of that list this time around and they have made design choices that will accommodate games like that more easily.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 10 May 2024
