bonzobanana said:
It might come as single channel with just a single 8GB on the motherboard but they normally have a spare sodimm socket to go to dual channel and a single 8GB sodimm would be cheap, sometimes these laptops have dual sodimm sockets which I assume this has if it can be upgraded to 32GB i.e dual 16GB sodimms. I would say the RTX 2050 was more powerful than you have stated and Vulcan provides good optimisation. Windows like Enterprise LTSC Iot is very light on resources compared to regular Windows and also we do know the Switch 2 is using a lot of resources for its operating system and gamechat etc. There is a lot more memory bandwidth all around on the laptop. Yes 4GB dedicated video memory is not amazing but for the 1080p visuals you would expect from this laptop for intensive games it should be fine and for upscaled 1440p and 4K graphics should be fine too. I'll admit not so great for native 1440p and 4K though but the same issue with the Switch 2. I think build quality definitely varies by laptop brand but fan noise is something that can be bad on some models when gaming for longer periods. Battery life may not be amazing either but it should comfortably outperform the Switch 2 which only has 2 hours minimum runtime for this first generation model. The TDP of the RTX 2050 mobile varies from 30-45W although Mhz doesn't vary that much and its on exactly the same fabrication process as Switch 2 and that is given a TDP for its complete circuitry including the SOC of 4-6W. It only has a 20Wh battery so 10Wh for each hour and the screen will take about half of that. So it has 4-6W where as this laptop has 30-45W. Again these are peak figures I'm sure just like the Switch 2 figures from that analysis. Realistic figures for both will be lower but a lot, lot lower for Switch 2 as it has so little battery power to play with. A gaming laptop battery is typically 50-90Wh. However obviously the bigger screen needs more power of a laptop but it remains the same in ratio to the size so maybe 8-12W for a larger laptop screen. |
Sure, if you open up the laptop and add another $25 stick (not hard, but also not something an entry-level buyer might know they even should do), if you have the right Windows installation, if you make sure you bought a laptop with the right RTX 2050 configuration (remember not all RTX 2050 laptops hit the max TGP and the lowest TGP is 83% the performance of the highest) it would outclass the Switch 2 pretty healthily, but by that point you're in the budget range for a much better gaming laptop, about $100-$150 more expensive than the Switch 2 and you had to do work to achieve it.
Personally if I were a low budget gamer looking for an entry level gaming laptop I would look into a 4050 laptop for $60-$120 more than the 2050 laptops. At least then you get frame generation and 6GB of VRAM. During sale events entry-level 4050 models can be found for $550-$700.There are open box ones on ebay for $570 and new ones for $650-$700.
That gives you about 2.5 to 3 times the Switch 2's performance for 1.3 to 1.5 times the price.
After the 4050, the 6GB RTX 3050 laptops probably are the best models in that price range. Anything 4GB won't last for even upscaled 1080p imo, unless you want to run on the lowest settings.
Edit: You're also not considering the CPU consumption in your battery life estimates. These laptops typically run total power profiles of 50-70W when including CPU + GPU + ancillary power consumption. With a 50WH battery that would mean less than an hour battery life, and with a 90WH battery a little bit more than an hour to almost two.
