I chose "On Point" since I was expecting this level of performance, since it was leaked that it would have the T239. Would've been "High Tech!" if it released in 2023 or even early 2024, but in late 2024 to 2025 it is roughly middle of the line for a gaming handheld. Trades blows with the Z1E/Z2E (really only like a 15% performance delta between these two, so I group them) that are common in PC handhelds, in terms of effective game performance/perceived experience. 

High tech in 2025 would be a Tegra Thor or a Strix Halo chipset with 150-273 GBps unified memory. That'd put it slightly to moderately above the Series S in performance in docked mode (assuming 30W-50W total power draw docked), albeit it would cost about 2 to 2.5 times as much as the current Switch 2 iteration, and potentially be a lot bigger.

So yeah, just like one would expect, Nintendo went for a mid-range chip for the form-factor -- like every console manufacturer has done in the last twentyish years. The last time a console had high-end hardware for its form-factor, at the moment of release, was probably the PS360 era. And their relatively high launch prices (when accounting for inflation) reflected this. 

Both Wii U and Switch were outdated when they released. The fact that Switch 2 can be considered on point or better is why it's been such a nice surprise.

On point...for Japanese pricing.

As to the poll, I'd say "slightly outdated" and "on point" are actually the same thing in this case. Pretty much everything about SW2 is slightly outdated, but that's not a negative in this sense.
As good as you could expect, for a (borderline) reasonable price, is what was necessary for a worthy product that could gain mass appeal at this point in time. Which is what you would expect anyway if Nin were going to follow up SW1 with a similar next gen product, which is what all the leaks suggested SW2 would be.

I would say performance is pretty good in general. As far as technical heavy hitters I can only speak for MKW and Zelda TotK, but both run and look amazing on both docked and handheld modes.

Battery life and Switch 1 backwards compatibility are a mixed bag though. 2ish hours for demanding games is really pushing what I consider acceptable for a portable device and 540p or less on an 8+ inches 1080p display looks like hot garbage. Ironically, the low ceiling of many Switch 1 games makes battery life very good while playing those xD

I mean, the Tegra X1 was a 2015 chipset, and a console using tech from a year or two prior is pretty normal.

The Gamecube's chipset was finalized in 1999 for a 2001 release, the N64 in 1995 for a 1996 release. 

About the last time any console was cutting edge was the Xbox 360 nearly 20 years ago. 

Technically, both PS5 and XBX were "cutting edge" GPU wise, at least when it comes to AMD GPUs, given that RDNA2 PC GPUs launched exact same month as those consoles.

But yeah, Xenos GPU in 360 was, tech-wise, way ahead of everything at the moment it launched, and even for a year afterward till nVidia 8800 came along.

ROG Ally & X prices may have leaked: 700 & 1050 bucks

Too many people living in lalaland in threads like this still thinking they're living in 2005.

The economics of hardware has dramatically changed especially the last 10 years.

Gamers have had it ridiculously good for too long, getting hardware under cost in many cases in the past, that's all over now, things like even node shrinks are massively expensive these days. Sony has no incentive to lose money on hardware any more and Microsoft is basically out of the game. PC GPU prices are way higher than they used to be.

You want something these days, you pay for it. The days of asking/whining for $500 worth of tech for $300 is long over. Stuff like the XBox 360 or even what the N64 was for its day ... is over. Switch 2 is quite good hardware for $450, even though it likely was delayed by about a year due to COVID impacting the software pipeline. That's the bottom line.

The only massively underpowered consoles that Nintendo has ever released really were the Wii and Wii U, and those systems were obviously marketed and aimed heavily towards casual audiences.

The NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Switch, and now Switch 2 all have reasonable hardware for their time of release (1983, 1990, 1996, 2001, 2017, and 2025 respectively) given their form factors as well. The handheld only line of Game Boy to DS obviously is a different story, but the Switch 1/2 are considered consoles by Nintendo. 

Yep, this is the real disappointment for me. Wanted to upgrade my Z1E Rog Ally to a Z2E but +15 to +20% performance increase at best isn't worth it. Probably will go for a Strix Halo handheld or wait for an RDNA 4 handheld to take advantage of FSR 4.