Did Nintendo ever confirm publicly that Switch had 4 GB RAM and 3 GB RAM usable for games or was that from DF and other places too?
Because If Nintendo never confirmed it, then I have no reason to doubt the 12 GB RAM and 9 GB RAM usable that DF and others are saying.

You've just made a thread suggesting they lowered the amount of RAM of this thing via software even on finished retail units because they're not sending it early for reviews. Maybe negative is not the right word to be using but what you're saying here is absurd.

Nintendo never said anything about the RAM that's on the Switch, there's nothing about it on their website: https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch/tech-specs/

Nothing in 2017 either: https://web.archive.org/web/20170313122221/http://www.nintendo.com/switch/features/tech-specs/

This is basically the same spec sheet they're using for the Switch 2.

The shipping manifests said it would be 256GB/12GB. We know the 256GB part is true even on retail units, so it's unlikely the 12GB isn't. Seems like this time dev kits have either the same amount of RAM as retail units or more than 12GB.

Nintendo has not given out a spec sheet for a console since the GameCube.

It was confirmed by "other places".

How did they discover it? When they opened up the OS/Software stacks and could see how memory was allocated.

Remember Switch OS is based on the 3DS System Software with parts taken from FreeBSD (Networking) and Android (Graphics) with API's from OpenGL/Vulkan/OpenGL ES as well as nVidia's NVN API.
This is all a known quantity, the Switch 2 is an evolution of all of this and not a reinvention of the wheel. (Which is great for developers!)

Digital Foundry are basing this on factual information and not heresay and it has been corroborated by other sources.

The Switch 2 HAS 12GB of Ram. 3GB for the OS/Background tasks leaving 9GB for gaming... If 8GB is a bottleneck for the Series S, 9GB is a bottleneck for the Switch 2.
It's a memory constrained environment, but I am sure developers will make magic happen.

Ideally I would have liked to have seen 16GB of Ram on the console to allow DLSS/RT to truly shine.

Could Nintendo shrink the size of the OS making more ram available for games or would it be pointless to have an extra half a gig of ram.

Yes. No technical reason why this could not be done.

Should they? If it means having a UI/Online store that performs as terrible as the OG Switch, then absolutely not.

When I started the thread I knew I was likely wrong but just curious whey Nintendo not confirming the memory which I believe they did for Switch 1 but also I've never seen a development console before that didn't have more memory than the retail unit, yes I realise this might have something to do with how development is done on Switch 2 but curious why both have 12GB of memory when the Switch 1 development units had either 6GB or 8GB of memory. The Switch 2 PCB that was analysed is likely a development Switch 2 board I would of thought as they were manufactured before retail Switch 2 hardware. On the UK Nintendo site and I believe the US site we just get custom Nvidia chipset. As ever we shall soon know more about Switch 2 when a Switch 2 retail unit is teared down and people start analysing the hardware. There are bound to be a few surprises.

I don't recall Nintendo confirming the RAM specs for Switch 1. Do you have a source for that? And are you sure that you aren't associating the term "memory" with the onboard storage provided?

I'm not confusing it with storage but of course I could have remembered wrongly regarding Nintendo officially confirming 4GB. I'm more curious about development hardware and retail hardware having the same memory which is not something the original Switch had. It's just normal for development hardware to have some memory headroom for developing the software. Maybe they don't need to do that as gamechat and some other processes aren't needed while developing for the console so there is more memory and processing power available. Also DLSS requires less video memory when upscaling to lets say 1080p than it would natively rendering at 1080p. So there are memory advantages too on relying on DLSS to create higher resolutions. So maybe Switch 2 games are a more comfortable fit so development and retail hardware can have the same memory. I am curious how this has been achieved though. I still feel there are going to be a few surprises regarding the Switch 2 spec.

Didn't have time to reply yesterday, but I remember the rumor going around very early into the Switch lifespan about Capcom going to Nintendo and asking the latter to double the amount of RAM in the console for Monster Hunter, and Nintendo obliged. Which if true, WTF Nintendo? Did you really think only sticking 2GB of memory in a console from the mid 2010s was going to be acceptable?