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Taiwanese Economic Forum reports the Nintendo Switch 2 will have a 120Hz screen and improved battery life, but only 8GB of ram and 64GB of Storage

I just hope the switch 2 is essentially just a spec upgrade so emulation isn't a hard reset. I own a switch but the performance is just too shit and I hate handheld gaming so emulating is the superior option for me.
 

splattered

Member
You forgot the amazing Series S you were happy about not long ago: 10GB (only 8GB really usable at a decent speed too). I've got to say you complaining about a portable Nintendo system having 8GB of RAM is a bit of a surprise. It certainly would be great to have more RAM but I imagine Nintendo want to sell their hardware at a huge markup at affordable prices so 16GB might not really be happening. At least it will get easier PS4 ports/games now with 8GB.
Happy about? I don't own a Series S... I have four Series X in the house because I want better performance. Just like i would want with a new Switch. I don't want ps4 ports, I'd rather have something in between ps4 and ps5 closer to ps5 if at all possible. Unrealistic though I know, it's Nintendo were talking about.
 
8 GB, just like base PS4.

Those reports are matching each other.
Double the ram of the current Switch, + I assume it's not just the GB capacity, the 8GB in a next-gen Switch I assume would be faster type of RAM than what is in the Switch, which was originally designed using 2015 components. Either way it'll be an enormous jump in power from the current Switch. I think most people will be happy with that.
 
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Fake

Member
Double the ram of the current Switch, + I assume it's not just the GB capacity, the 8GB in a next-gen Switch I assume would be faster type of RAM than what is in the Switch originally designed using 2015 components. Either way it'll be an enormous jump in power from the current Switch. So I think most people will be happy with that.

I was expecting a OK bump because I never expected to be the next gen Nintendo console. As the Activision and others Tokyo experts saying, this is more like a Nintendo Switch PRO.

As I said before, will all depends of whatever Nvidia will like to put inside this new console. Nvidia will probably trying to push DLSS for sure on this new baby because would be a huge PR for Nvidia showing what DLSS can do with lower mobile products.

All those absurd GB expectations should be move to the their next gen console, right now I only see an upgraded Nintendo Switch.

Again, devs cry everytime with those new machines, but the first party always do wonders with those kind of bumps.
 
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00_Zer0

Member
They need to fix the e-shop. That thing runs like ass.
I love the native OS for gaming, but you are right about the eshop. Hopefully they can come up with a better eshop for their next system, and let's hope that the Switch version of the eshop does't come along with it, or somehow holds the new iteration of the eshop back.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
32? 16 would fit perfectly

Nintendo isn't the only handheld. It now has to contend with Valve, MSI etc. this needs to be a powerhouse. It needs to blow the SteamDeck out of the water and be an absolute monster.

They could even release two versions. One could be an XL version with a 10inch 4K OLED display.
 

AMSCD

Member
Nintendo isn't the only handheld. It now has to contend with Valve, MSI etc. this needs to be a powerhouse. It needs to blow the SteamDeck out of the water and be an absolute monster.

They could even release two versions. One could be an XL version with a 10inch 4K OLED display.
Sorry dog, Nintendo doesn't think that way. Don't get your hopes up. Nintendo will want the Switch 2 to be affordable for the masses and to be affordable for Nintendo to manufacture with a healthy profit margin. These requirements won't allow it to be a powerhouse.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Sorry dog, Nintendo doesn't think that way. Don't get your hopes up. Nintendo will want the Switch 2 to be affordable for the masses and to be affordable for Nintendo to manufacture with a healthy profit margin. These requirements won't allow it to be a powerhouse.

Not worth it for me. I want something like a portable Xbox series S, not a portable PS4.
 

shamoomoo

Member
Nintendo isn't the only handheld. It now has to contend with Valve, MSI etc. this needs to be a powerhouse. It needs to blow the SteamDeck out of the water and be an absolute monster.

They could even release two versions. One could be an XL version with a 10inch 4K OLED display.
Those others devices are more niche than the Switch 2,I do believe Nintendo should strike a middle ground between past and current gen in terms of everything.
 

Jesb

Gold Member
Nintendo doesn’t sell hardware at a loss. So expecting anywhere near deck performance is unlikely. I expect performance at its absolute most at a PS4 pro. And that would be being generous.
 

Crayon

Member
I'm not so sure about that 8 GB ... My burning question about switch 2 is how many AAA ports it's going to get. It won't be all of them, it won't be none of them, but how many. That ram is an important piece of that puzzle.
 
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Zannegan

Member
Nintendo doesn’t sell hardware at a loss. So expecting anywhere near deck performance is unlikely. I expect performance at its absolute most at a PS4 pro. And that would be being generous.

Given that the Steam Deck doesn't match even the PS4 in raw power, a Switch that came anywhere near the Pro would be awesome. That said, I don't expect it to hit those highs either.
 

ThaGuy

Member
Once we get a leak of the dev kit specs, then we can say for sure what it'll be. Following this rumor that would mean the dev kits usually have double that which would be 16.
 

Xdrive05

Member
8GB of much faster RAM would be fine. Fully expected that to keep the price point down.

Remember that the RAM bandwidth in the Switch 1 is its bottleneck, NOT the amount being 4GB. Hardware modders fixed TotK's framedrops simply by overclocking the RAM some. Note that the Mariko die shrink chipset in Switch 1 actually runs better than the launch Switch 1, even at the same RAM speeds, merely because the RAM latency is slightly better in Mariko.
 
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Nintendo are console OS gods. Still the only console maker to have implemented a 100% robust suspend/sleep mode to games with lightning fast continue back into the game.

That's because the Switch uses mobile architecture (ARM), just like the PsVita did (which also had a fast suspend). It has little to do with Nintendo doing anything special. Sony had to get around this on PC hardware (x86/64) by having special I/O hardware attached to the ram and CPU.

In other words, Nintendo made use of Nvidias work, while Sony had to develop their own unique hardware.
 
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Xellos

Member
Rumors are all over the place when it comes to Switch 2's specs, but I think this one is pretty believable. Nintendo is always stingy with built-in storage. 8GB, while disappointing next to all the 16GB handheld PCs, would still be enough for Nintendo exclusives, last-gen/cross-gen ports, and many third party games. Lastly, putting resources into the screen and battery life is Nintendo's MO. Nintendo has gone from black and white, to color, illuminated, touchscreen, 3D, and currently OLED. I can't dismiss 120Hz, even if it's unexpected.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I think its performance will be lower than Steam Deck's.
Of course. And it still wont matter. Nintendo is smart not to engage in performance race.

The only thing I want to know - will it be oled and backwards compatible. if not - I am getting totk oled switch.
Any rumors on that ?
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I'm not so sure about that 8 GB ... My burning question was switched to is how many AAA ports it's going to get. It won't be all of them, it won't be none of them, but how many. That ram is an important piece of that puzzle.
Yeah, even 10-12 GB would be much better, allowing 8-10GB for games. 8GB means games will have 6GB or 6.5 GB tops available which isn’t great in 2024. Ports from PS5/XSX would be tough to do.
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
All they need to do is double all the switch specs which they can easily, and announce 100% Backward compatibility and it will be just as big as switch sales. Any varration of this or a new gimmic will slow down the adoption.

What really sucks is we all know oled could be day 0 but they will purposely hold that back for 2 years as an upgrade. Just offer it to me from day 1 8inch oled and charge for it!
 

Brucey

Member
64GB internal storage? For what, just the firmware/OS and some saves?

Even the first batch of XBOX 360 HDDs were 120GB in what, 2006? 64GB in 2024 isn't even worth mentioning. Just say miniSDs are mandatory or something and leave it there, it would be less embarrassing.
First 360 HDD attachments were 20GB with Pro. 120GB came with elite model.
 

Famipan

Member
SSD/nand-prices are going to skyrocket soon they say. Maybe Nintendo will stay on cheap MicroSD. But will the speed be enough?
 
I think a lot of Nintendo users will be very disappointed with the specs, Nintendo will try to make the switch 2 profitable day 1.

But a lot of their users still have the pipe dream that Switch 2 games will be close in performance compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X.

As an example, the Steam Deck is miles ahead of the Switch and the entry point is priced at $399, and Valve are still losing money at that price point.

I hope the Switch 2 will be BC since I have a decent backlog that could benefit from boosted fps and resolution.
 

Fake

Member
I think its performance will be lower than Steam Deck's.

Quite sure will be either base PS4 performance (ideial case) or base Xbox One S performance (worst case).

Even doing less numbers, using the Nvidia technology will give Switch PRO an advantage over those consoles.
 
I just hope the switch 2 is essentially just a spec upgrade so emulation isn't a hard reset. I own a switch but the performance is just too shit and I hate handheld gaming so emulating is the superior option for me.

Emulation is one of the big reasons why I think it's iffy there will be physical BC.
 

Jesb

Gold Member
The amount of hard drive space is why I passed on the switch. 64 would be ridiculous and I’d pass on it again if that’s what their doing.
 
SSD/nand-prices are going to skyrocket soon they say. Maybe Nintendo will stay on cheap MicroSD. But will the speed be enough?
Enough for what? 1080p assets with fast access to storage IS enough. PS4 did this very well while having much slower HDD. Switch 3D will be fine with that.
 

tr1p1ex

Member
Will be a nice bump considering we are almost in year 12 of this generation for those of us playing Nintendo on the tv. ;)

Any more hopes than that and you're fooling yourself. Nevermind... the games matter. Not the specs.

And they want to make it a good experience. IN other words fairly affordable, fairly lightweight with a decent battery life and lack of a jet engine noise/blistering heat plus have decent loading times.
 
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Silver Wattle

Gold Member
SSD/nand-prices are going to skyrocket soon they say. Maybe Nintendo will stay on cheap MicroSD. But will the speed be enough?
Please no.
Sure micro SD will "work" but I'd rather have faster load times and not have games with 1min+ loading screens.

SD express(up to 4GB/s) would be perfect, Nintendo has the ability to bring the prices down to reasonable levels and then after a couple of years the prices will be solid.

I think a 512GB SD express card that does 1500MB/s R/W for under $70 at launch would be reasonable.
 
Please no.
Sure micro SD will "work" but I'd rather have faster load times and not have games with 1min+ loading screens.

SD express(up to 4GB/s) would be perfect, Nintendo has the ability to bring the prices down to reasonable levels and then after a couple of years the prices will be solid.

I think a 512GB SD express card that does 1500MB/s R/W for under $70 at launch would be reasonable.
I think the issue is what Tegra T239 actually supports, if it actually support PCIe then SSD is possible, but if it only supports eMMC or UFS then it remains to see what the external storage expansion could be. There are some rumors going around that internally the Super Switch will use UFS 3.0 which is extremely fast for internal storage, but external storage is an open question
 

JimboJones

Member
The amount of hard drive space is why I passed on the switch. 64 would be ridiculous and I’d pass on it again if that’s what their doing.
Really? Switch doesn't even need installs from physical games, and high capacity SD cards are fairly inexpensive.
 
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Jesb

Gold Member
Really? Switch doesn't even need installs from physical games, and high capacity SD cards are fairly inexpensive.
I’m not into buying physical games. And the value is just not there. Not when other handhelds have 10x as much or more.
 

JimboJones

Member
I’m not into buying physical games. And the value is just not there. Not when other handhelds have 10x as much or more.
Your still stuck in the same situation of buying expanded storage in the end, especially with PC ports of games generally having bigger larger file sizes. But hey it's your money.
 

Jesb

Gold Member
You’re still stuck in the same situation of buying expanded storage in the end, especially with PC ports of games generally having bigger larger file sizes. But hey it's your money.
No I wouldn’t. If I bought a deck I would never have to buy more. The base model has enough that you can manage the storage. 64 will give 1-2 games if your lucky.
 
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JimboJones

Member
No I wouldn’t. If I bought a deck I would never have to buy more. The base model has enough that you can manage the storage. 64 will give 1-2 games if your lucky.
I bought the 256GB one and had to buy an SD card in less than 6 months. 🤷🏼‍♂️
Took me until the second year of the Switches life before I really felt the need to get an SD card and only then I bought a 256GB one( which still isn't full) but again I buy a combination of physical and digital.
Deck is all digital and PC games come with higher Res textures in general, (also have proton shader stuff eating memory ) Unless your only playing indie games or games from over a decade ago even 512GB is gonna fill up fairly quickly.
 
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Tams

Member
4K has become the standard, and Nintendo will want to adopt it as well at some point. They're not gonna go another 7 years holding everything back with 1080p. It has nothing to do with battery, any 4K upscaling would obviously only apply to TV Mode.

We're at the point of dimishing returns though.

For many people 1080p is good enough. It is for me. Sure, I've seen and use higher resolutions, but I don't need them, especially on anything 24" or smaller.

So when you also factor the mobile form factor and therefore the need for low power components, and the need for low cost components too; it becomes quite obvious that 1080p is a good enough target.

With upscaling being good enough too now, those who want higher resolutions (who are not the majority), can still get good enough results.
 

Woopah

Member
I think a lot of Nintendo users will be very disappointed with the specs, Nintendo will try to make the switch 2 profitable day 1.

But a lot of their users still have the pipe dream that Switch 2 games will be close in performance compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X.

As an example, the Steam Deck is miles ahead of the Switch and the entry point is priced at $399, and Valve are still losing money at that price point.

I hope the Switch 2 will be BC since I have a decent backlog that could benefit from boosted fps and resolution.
Most expectations I'm seeing are that, in docked mode, it will perform between a PS4 and PS5. Which is fairly reasonable and what we will most likely get.
 
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