Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nintendo Switch Teardown

fictiv.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 192 posts

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#81

Post by Dylan16807 »

pikzen wrote: post #12
overcast wrote: post #3

The dock is pretty underwhelming from what I've seen. There is no protection for the screen, sliding in between two pieces of plastic. Pretty cheap, for a premium priced, and well engineered hybrid device, that will be taken in and out. Semi-relevant. Breath of Wild looks like such a fantastic game, but it's completely ridiculous that the performance is often times WORSE in the docked mode. I'm hoping this is just cr…

Going from 720p to 900p is a ~50% increase in pixel count, but the bandwidth increase from docking is only 20%. And since it already chokes at times in tablet mode, this doesn't bode well for a fix that isn't lowering graphical quality.

The memory only runs 20% faster (maybe?), but the GPU core runs more than twice as fast.

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#82

Post by [deleted] »

georgemcbay wrote: post #39
aaron-lebo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the docked mode is grating at times. You've got these great mechanics and beautiful world but constant input lag. Very frustrating. I'd prefer to be able to sit down and play on a TV at a higher resolution, but it's a worse experience. It effectively makes it a mobile game. It's 2017! 1080p or 60fps should be the minimum. To be fair that's not doable at $300 on a mobile gpu, but as a console that's rough. re: sc…

Even ignoring the underwhelming performance, it seems ridiculous that you can't just choose to run in 720p mode when docked. I'd rather have my TV upscale the content than have the game be close to unplayable due to lag... the engine is clearly capable of rendering to a 720p framebuffer since it does that when not docked, just add an option to let me do that when docked...

[deleted]

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#83

Post by simonh »

M_Grey wrote: post #52
gdulli wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how they justify selling it at the same price as the current gen consoles. You also have to pay extra for a real controller.

Because they have legions of rabid fans who not only buy their products regardless of quality, but act as an army of apologists for them. The result ironically, is that unlike Sony's harsh lesson learned around the PS3, Nintendo has no such backlash to fear. The worst they can do is just own the portable market, and sell a few iterations of a console to their diehards, which are numerous.

If that was true, Wii-U would have been an inevitable smashing success. But no.

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#84

Post by barrkel »

funkedelic_bob wrote: post #15
ndesaulniers wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I remember that a browser dev increased the Nexus 5's benchmark score drastically by placing it on a bag of ice. If the browser was stressing the system to the limits of the thermal envelope, then by being able to dissapate heat faster, you can schedule more work to be done delaying any kind of frequency governing.

That's crazy. I wonder if I can increase my output from my laptop working in front of an open freezer :P

When we switched to laptops from desktops at work, a full build including tests took quite a bit longer and a lot more variable in time; thermal limiting appeared to be the reason for the variance.

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#85

Post by simonh »

funkedelic_bob wrote: post #15
ndesaulniers wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I remember that a browser dev increased the Nexus 5's benchmark score drastically by placing it on a bag of ice. If the browser was stressing the system to the limits of the thermal envelope, then by being able to dissapate heat faster, you can schedule more work to be done delaying any kind of frequency governing.

That's crazy. I wonder if I can increase my output from my laptop working in front of an open freezer :P

You can get laptop trays that are supposed to improve heat dissipation.

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#86

Post by cma »

knodi123 wrote: post #29
aaron-lebo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the docked mode is grating at times. You've got these great mechanics and beautiful world but constant input lag. Very frustrating. I'd prefer to be able to sit down and play on a TV at a higher resolution, but it's a worse experience. It effectively makes it a mobile game. It's 2017! 1080p or 60fps should be the minimum. To be fair that's not doable at $300 on a mobile gpu, but as a console that's rough. re: sc…

> v2 should be nice Has there ever been a v2 of a nintendo console?

The NES 2:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v-c-XkVH82w/maxresdefault.jpg

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#87

Post by eludwig »

Just a few quick comments on the Switch after a day of use.

First, a quick digression, Nintendo seems to have gauged the launch demand pretty well. There are some other comments here regarding Target morning waits. I was 2nd on line at 6:40am in a northern NJ Target. The guy in front of me had slept in his car (!), but he seemed to be the only one that did. By 7:45 the line was 20ish people. Our Target had 25 consoles. So everyone that got there by 8 (opening time) got one. Nice.

The hardware seems really good. I was surprised at how nice it all fit together (nice, solid clicks) for a product that costs half as much as an iPad! It's obviously still a "toy," but I don't mean that in a bad way. The finish is below typical Apple HW standards for sure, but I think that's to be expected at $299. It feels rugged enough to take with you, although as some said, a screen protector might be nice for extended away play.

To me, the nicest, most thoughtful thing about the HW of this gen of tech products is (believe it or not) USB C! Can I please shout out my love for this freaking connector!! GO USBC! Seriously, I didn’t realize how much subliminal psychic damage non-symmetrical USB plugs have done to me. This connector is so great. You no longer feel that weird little moment of anxiety where you know it will take you an extra second to look inside the damn connector and re-orient the blasted plug 3 times. If you are an old man like me (58), you will probably need to go find a pair of reading glasses, adding insult to injury.

The new Zelda is breathtaking, but you can tell that it wasn't designed for the small screen. It looks really, really great on my OLED 1080p TV, where I think it is meant to be played. Little things like HUD element size are too small for my eyes on the little screen. The FOV is not quite right for the small screen either. Not deal killers, but also things that could be fixed in a patch.

The Pro controller is a very nice "on the couch" controller. Very solid. No lag time. The analog sticks are fine, although I much prefer a mouse for camera controls, but that is my age talking.

I am totally loving this little thing. It's well put together, the only game I care about is Zelda, so the software is great. I think Nintendo has a potential home run here.

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#88

Post by raverbashing »

gravypod wrote: post #9
WestCoastJustin wrote: post #4

This might be slightly off-topic, but if you like this type of teardown content, I highly recommend checking out AVE's channel on Youtube [1]. He does plenty of tool teardown's, things like drills, all types of heavy industrial gear, and some electronics thrown in. I find is fascinating, because you start to learn about the manufacturing process, why mechanical engineers choose specific materials, how they cut corner…

If you find youself watching AvE's vid-jeos and enjoying the content pertaining to machining Id sugest you check out This Old Tony [0]. He's the "Dad" to the AvE's "estranged uncle who can only come over if he wears an ankle bracelet". IF you like the teardowns then EEVBlog [1] goes without saying for an electronics-perspective. I learn a lot just by watching him mess around and take apart piles upon piles of gear. I…

Oh that's a hilarious description of AvE (and I'd say it does match the purveyed image)

Keep away all body parts from the vise

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#89

Post by Magnets »

eludwig wrote: post #87

Just a few quick comments on the Switch after a day of use. First, a quick digression, Nintendo seems to have gauged the launch demand pretty well. There are some other comments here regarding Target morning waits. I was 2nd on line at 6:40am in a northern NJ Target. The guy in front of me had slept in his car (!), but he seemed to be the only one that did. By 7:45 the line was 20ish people. Our Target had 25 console…

How is selling out by 9AM considered 'gauging the demand well'? What about all of the people who go at lunch of after work?

I'm pretty sure they always like to sell out as a marketing ploy anyway

Re: Nintendo Switch Teardown

#90

Post by erelde »

eludwig wrote: post #87

Just a few quick comments on the Switch after a day of use. First, a quick digression, Nintendo seems to have gauged the launch demand pretty well. There are some other comments here regarding Target morning waits. I was 2nd on line at 6:40am in a northern NJ Target. The guy in front of me had slept in his car (!), but he seemed to be the only one that did. By 7:45 the line was 20ish people. Our Target had 25 console…

About the USB C, can you use a standard C to HDMI converter, or do you have to use the base ?
Post reply on HN