I guess I wonder what else they could do if $300 was their target. Of course if they removed all that stuff from the Joycon and just made it a simple detachable bluetooth controller, then the system could have possibly been more powerful at the same price or cheaper at the same level of performance. Even being comfortable with the $300 price point, it's the accessories prices that hurt the most...
Still wouldn't solve the heat/battery life issue.
What you are proposing would chew through an IPad sized battery in no time. Make the battery and its compartment much bigger, and potability breaks down rapidly. Any smaller it won't power that thing for any reasonably time.
How are you going to cool that thing? The heat needs somewhere to go! Now you need a much bigger heat pipe than anything Switch can ever have, and powerful and large enough fans to dissipate that heat. This thing would be:
- Way past the Switch's form factor. Forget sleek! Don't even picture anything that looks like Switch.
- Too power-hungry to power those "Switch-plus" quality games for any decent time.
- Loud/whiny, and likely still hot. Is this even worth the trouble to carry around?
- Incurring design price hike even after spending Joy-con $$ on higher specs, with nothing to show for it excep great looking games when docked - where it would remain, because it wouldn't be very fun portable. Congrats you've successfully created a traditional console! ;D
Seriously, I'm sure Nintendo/Nvidia engineers had to think about all of these factors when designing the Switch. It's not just about power here, but more about what is technically feasible across a number of areas(like: cost, size, weight, battery life, heat generated, etc). More than ever before, striking the right balance must have been the #1 priority throughout that 2 year development process. I believe those efforts paid off!
Rather than focus on more power than Switch already has - that would have done nothing but introduce more and more problems for little gains - Nintendo was absolutely right/smart to focus on other features that complements the device and add value. I genuinely believe Switch hardware is
almost the very best that Nintendo/Nvidia could've done with the current tech a available today. Anything more either wouldn't be a significant step up from Switch, or run the risk of seriously compromising the entire concept altogether. I don't think we are
fairly looking at what this device is bringing to the table at all.