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[Huge Succeeded]

Sure, but if I plug my laptop into a dock, it not a desktop. It's convenient as all hell, but not a "hybrid".

Switch functions exactly as a contemporary handheld when mobile, and exactly as a contemporary console when docked. That's the distinction that makes Switch a hybrid platform, as opposed to just a handheld or just a console - it successfully bridges two separate but developed platform hierarchies to satisfy two separate potential audiences.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

I'm not trying to fit it anywhere lol. I just want devs to target the mobile spec, and not the unclocked rates. As an owner of a PS4, I don't want devs targeting the PS4 pro spec.

So when OP is asking if they'll make a dedicated handheld, my thoughts are that we've already got a machine that can be that. It's mobile at its core.

WHo said they're targeting the PS4 Pro spec? It sounds like some arbitrary concern.

 

[FX-GMC]

Show me a laptop that unlocks higher clock rates and renders 3D games in higher performance with more detail when docked.

The Switch is quite unique, it literally scales as a computer when docked.

It runs 2.5 times faster when connected to power, and ups memory bandwidth?

Switch GPU goes from 307.2MH undocked to 768MHz docked.

Look at dem goalposts fam.

 

[EvB]

Show me a laptop that unlocks higher clock rates and renders 3D games in higher performance with more detail when docked.

Literally every laptop ever down-clocks everything when not connected to power...
Windows and OSX both do this by default and you can over ride it with a few mouse clicks.
Which is EXACTLY what the switch does.
Here is Windows as example when high performance is selected

Literally choosing maximum CPU useage on battery at 40% would achieve the exact same ting you have described.
Lots of Laptops also have 2 GPUS and stop using the proper one when on battery power to keep things lasting longer and cooler.

However I suspect that will not meet your criteria, so here is a laptop that you can buy an external dock with additional hardware in which gives you a sizeable improvement in performance.
https://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth

Let's not kid ourself, the reason that it doesn't run full pelt is because it will kill the battery.
Sony also artificially restricted the PSP for the same reason, later on down the line they removed some of those restrictions, no doubt the same will happen with the Switch once developers are more efficient with the hardware.

 

[Ironballs]

This is semantics, a handheld is a console. Its marketed this way in the US to appeal to potential customers that don't acknowledge or look down upon portable gaming.

 

[Graphics Horse]

later on down the line they removed some of those restrictions, no doubt the same will happen with the Switch once developers are more efficient with the hardware.

It's not about software efficiency. They might allow it when it's phased out by more efficient models, perhaps.

 

[tsab]

No, but I bet we'll see a handheld "only" switch in the near future

Dockless, a little bit smaller in size with non-detacheable joycons (think of a PS Vita)

*tv output and bluetooth should stay so you can buy a dock and joycons

 

[EvB]

It's not about software efficiency. They might allow it when it's phased out by more efficient models, perhaps.

I'm sure it's a little bit about both. If software performance is better, then the hardware doesn't need to work as hard to achieve the same thing as before. Not that I expect the entire 40% to become available. I could envisage developers being given a little more clock speed to work with on the handheld side.

 

[lestar]

I bet for a mini switch portable only before a new independent handheld

 

[FunkyDealer]

I use mine primarily as a handheld. Maybe 60-40. I guess I've been doing it wrong all along...

 

[Brenal]

If there is handheld its going to be an iteration on the switch, making a handheld with a costume architecture makes no sense if you consider the time frame, 2/3ds will last at least to 2018, if we take nintendos word, this hipotetical hadheld would have to be released at the earliest in 2019 and at that time it would be easier to retrofit a switch in a smaller formfactor with a node reduction.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

If the Switch is massive then frankly I don't know how y'all fit the 3DS XL in your pockets lol

I don't. That's kind of the thing. The 3DSXL is too big as well.

This guy here though...this guy's a traveler's dream:

 

[Devil]

Who the fuck cares how Nintendo officially labels it? Those are PR decisions, nothing else.

And why would you even start and try to measure if it is """primarily""" a console or a handheld? Is it 63,7% a console and only 36,3% a handheld? Wut?

That's the thing about it being a hybrid. You can play it whichever way you want it for as long as you like. It's a hanheld. It's a console. Both are true and I like it. I won't start talking PR jibberish when someone asks me about that handheld I'm playing on like "Well, actually, this is a TV home console which you can play on the go, not a handheld device."

 

[b3b0p]

I've used it as a handheld 99.9% of the time. I did a TV test once but I've had it in hand ever since.

So yeah... whatever. Fun fact: This anecdote is what I use when the subject of warping comes up. My switch is warped but it couldn't have possibly been because of the 30 minutes it was inside the dock that one time.



$30 for a case and glass cover. $27 more if you want a battery and a proper cable. Far from prohibitive.

Extra joy con, pro controller, etc and so forth. Never had to worry about or consider controllers for a dedicated portable before. After taxes and those accessories you mention it's nearly $400 without a game at this point. My n3DS didn't require any of this stuff. I bought. Opened the box. Set it up and started playing. Not to mention it's far more resistant to real life, kids, getting a little banged around and is half the price of the Switch or close to it (with or without the accessories which aren't needed on a 3DS).

It really doesn't matter. Not even sure why I'm making my case because every one here will disagree especially those with a Switch.

 

[Hermii]

I'm almost certain a fanless, more portable, cheaper, dockless version of the Switch is coming it just makes too much sense. Besides my uncle told me so.

 

[Poop!]

So OP is saying it's a "third pillar"?

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

If you can take a system with you to a park, sit on a bench, turn it on and start playing without any other equipment or extra set-up, it's a portable handheld device.

 

[Jacce]

Extra joy con, pro controller, etc and so forth. Never had to worry about or consider controllers for a dedicated portable before. After taxes and those accessories you mention it's nearly $400 without a game at this point. My n3DS didn't require any of this stuff. I bought. Opened the box. Set it up and started playing.

This is an absurd post. You are factually wrong here. 100%. You dont need any of that for Switch as a dedicated handheld. You take it out of the box, pop a game cartridge and that is it. Exactly the same as a DS or 3DS.

Why are you saying extra joycons are needed and that is new for a portable? They are needed to play local multiplayer off one Switch. They are not required for the Switch to function as a dedicated handheld. Switch works out of the box exactly like every other Nintendo handheld.

You know what you needed to play multiplayer on a 3DS? Extra 3DS's! You couldn't do multiplayer "out of the box" either. And it is far more expensive of a solution for 3DS than it is Switch.

 

[Heyt]

Any handeld-desktop hybrid has to have a handheld form factor, so saying "I used it only in handheld mode so it is clearly a portable" does not apply as you think it does. It has to be able to act as portable because it is a hybrid device. That doesn't mean it is a portable period. It is a device that can act as portable as well as it can act as a desktop console, natively. That's the thing. It's a home console you can pick up and carry around when you are away from the TV or a portable-ish console that you can enjoy on your TV at home. You can do both or one natively as you wish.

It is not strictly one. Saying such thing is incorrect, regarless of how much you have used it in any give mode. Yes, you can carry it around but that does not limit what it does or what it is.

People is so close minded.

 

[Minsc]

Any handeld-desktop hybrid has to have a handheld form factor, so saying "I used it only in handheld mode so it is clearly a portable" does not apply as you think it does. It has to be able to act as portable because it is a hybrid device. That doesn't mean it is a portable period. It is a device that can act as portable as well as it can act as a desktop console, natively. That's the thing. It's a home console you can pick up and carry around when you are away from the TV or a portable-ish console that you can enjoy on your TV at home. You can do both or one natively as you wish.

It is not strictly one. Saying such thing is incorrect, regarless of how much you have used it in any give mode. Yes, you can carry it around but that does not limit what it does or what it is.

People is so close minded.

There's nothing portable-ish about it. It's 100% a portable console. It can act as a home console too, but at no point is it not a portable console. Even docked, it is a portable console in a dock outputting to a TV, as you can rip the thing right out of the dock and it still operates without missing a beat, it never sacrifices its portability for a second.

Try ripping your Xbox One or PS4 from the wall and see if it still works as you leave the house. The Switch does, it's really nothing like the other ones.

 

[FStubbs]

No, but I bet we'll see a handheld "only" switch in the near future

Dockless, a little bit smaller in size with non-detacheable joycons (think of a PS Vita)

*tv output and bluetooth should stay so you can buy a dock and joycons

Mini switch will happen but it will come with a dock to avoid confusion -plus the dock is cheap.

The only thing preventing it would be mini joycons.

 

[10k]

I don't. That's kind of the thing. The 3DSXL is too big as well.

This guy here though...this guy's a traveler's dream:

Disgusting skin.

 

[Games4Days00]

I don't think so? It wouldn't make much sense to me with how the switch is being marketed.

 

[MikeBison]

The fact that it's charging away in a dock and you can pick it up, throw it in a case and go makes it more portable than the 3ds and vita imo. Ok you can have docks for those, but not out of the box. It's no more unwieldy than the other too either really, and has the added benefit of detachable controllers for multiplayer and different configurations. I use my switch handheld the same way I did my vita and 3ds, they go in a case, inside my backpack. I don't care for any of the pocketable semantics.

It's a handheld.
It's a home console.
It's a hybrid.

 

[b3b0p]

This is an absurd post. You are factually wrong here. 100%. You dont need any of that for Switch as a dedicated handheld. You take it out of the box, pop a game cartridge and that is it. Exactly the same as a DS or 3DS.

Why are you saying extra joycons are needed and that is new for a portable? They are needed to play local multiplayer off one Switch. They are not required for the Switch to function as a dedicated handheld. Switch works out of the box exactly like every other Nintendo handheld.

You know what you needed to play multiplayer on a 3DS? Extra 3DS's! You couldn't do multiplayer "out of the box" either. And it is far more expensive of a solution for 3DS than it is Switch.

The post I quoted said those things. The 3ds was cheap enough everyone I know has one by default. It wasn't an issue.

 

[dragonyeuw]

delete

 

[Niceguydan8]

The Switch is a tablet that has a dock which basically acts as an HDMI out. All of the power is inside of the Switch itself.


The Switch is a tablet. It's definitely a handheld/portable/whatever you want to call it. The fact that it can be docked and played on a TV really doesn't change that.

It's both a console and a handheld. Why would they release a "pure" handheld when what they have out now functions just fine as one?

 

[sugarhigh4242]

No, but I bet we'll see a handheld "only" switch in the near future

Dockless, a little bit smaller in size with non-detacheable joycons (think of a PS Vita)

*tv output and bluetooth should stay so you can buy a dock and joycons

I'd be really interested in one that had both USB3 out as well as mini HDMI out with no dock in the box.

Also, I think they should make a dock that connects via pogo pins rather than slotting into the USB port. Like this:

 

[Okami Haundo]

Decided to check in on this thread and I see we're back to the label debate. Why on earth is this still a thing?

 

[Niceguydan8]

Decided to check in on this thread and I see we're back to the label debate. Why on earth is this still a thing?

The topic title stating what the Switch definitely is and definitely is not encourages that sort of talk.

 

[tsab]

I'd be really interested in one that had both USB3 out as well as mini HDMI out with no dock in the box.

Also, I think they should make a dock that connects via pogo pins rather than slotting into the USB port. Like this:

nice! Which Nexus is this?

Mini switch will happen but it will come with a dock to avoid confusion -plus the dock is cheap.

The only thing preventing it would be mini joycons.

Nintendo released a 3DS with a 2D screen, and just released a new one and a handheld with no charger/power adapter in the package. I am pretty sure they don't mind sell the dock as an extra to lower the sku price.

 

[AntiFacebook]

Of course they will. When the switch's life ends they will go back to home system + portable

 

[pretty done]

Show me a laptop that unlocks higher clock rates and renders 3D games in higher performance with more detail when docked.

The Switch is quite unique, it literally scales as a computer when docked.

*posts every laptop ever made*

 

[K.Jack]

Show me a laptop that unlocks higher clock rates and renders 3D games in higher performance with more detail when docked.

The Switch is quite unique, it literally scales as a computer when docked.

You've just described every gaming laptop, in existence.

 

[SparkTR]

If I had to guess once technology progresses they'll release a more portable-focused Switch formfactor that'll be entirely compatible with existing Switch games.

 

[Lorcain]

I was reading the MK8 Deluxe OT during lunch and looking forward to getting home to play more. And then I remembered I put my Switch in my backpack. Table top on my desk, detach joy-cons, complete 2 grand prix cups before lunch ended. Such a great device.

 

[WoolyNinja]

Switch is the best handheld I've ever used thanks to that wonderfully large screen and the joycons. The fact it can also work on the TV is just an added bonus as far as I'm concerned.

I'm secretly hoping that Sony creates a RemotePlay app for the switch as it would be the ultimate RemotePlay machine.