| Soundwave said: Nintendo did some crazy optimization with the chip, at 8nm it performs more like a 5nm chip would in things like a Steam Deck. At 11 watts a ROG Ally can get no where near this kind of performance. Of course some people now want to fixate on the screen because they can't actually complain much about the chipset performance, enthusiasts are exhausting. The screen to me is fine, much better than the Switch 1 non-OLED models, not quite OLED good but pleasant enough for me. Obviously there will inevitably be a even better screen model at some point but I have no problems enjoying games on the current screen. Really enjoying my Switch 2 and quite happy with the hardware. |
Now imagine they'd applied those same optimizations to 5nm...
The pressures on Nintendo in 2025 are not the same as the ones of the Wii to Switch era where you could understand the penny pinching as there was legitimate doubt over the success of those consoles. They're now making money hand over fist and Switch 2 was a guaranteed hit. I don't think there's any excuse for delivering a display that is worst-in-class in some important areas and even falls short of cheap displays nearly a decade old.
Nintendo at it's core is just money-driven like any corporation and they seem to be going down the same enshittification route as any other company that can get away with it.
They've taken an unnecessarily old process node, and yes optimized it, but part of that optimization has been to limit the power to the screen that could otherwise have been driven harder to achieve significantly less lag & higher brightness (to potentially achieve the HDR they're falsely advertising).
I'm glad those who've purchased S2s are enjoying them, as will I when I inevitably buy either this version or the OLED model down the road, but I think it's important we call balls and strikes & don't let Nintendo off when they at best cut corners & at worst deliberately release an inferior version of a product so that they can upsell a bunch of people a superior model in 2 or 3 years time.
Every year Apple takes the piss with the cost of their RAM & storage upgrades but that doesn't mean we shouldn't call them out just because they're consistent in their price-gouging.
Overall I think Nintendo have done an OK job with S2 but I think it's disingenuous to suggest people are offering criticisms in bad faith when there's legit reasons to hold Nintendo to account.
