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Digital Foundry: New Nintendo Switch - 6 Hardware Upgrades We Must See

Deleted member 10737

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1. 4K output support (upscaling the games to 4K and outputting a 4K signal to the TV to avoid double-upscaling)
2. WiFi quality improvements
3. better dock to stop scratching the screen
4. larger internal storage
5. better kickstand
6. bigger screen size (smaller bezels)
 
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cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

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Oct 27, 2017
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Oh this should be fun - lets check it out.

"Must" sounds strong - those better are some essential upgrades then hah.

Edit:

4k upscale Support as the first point. Yeah this list should be fun xD
Checking that box would be smart for Nintendo though.

Okay finished the list - yeah those are pretty much all must-haves, otherwise there is no point in a Revision.
Especially if they want current users to upgrade.
 
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Inuhanyou

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I saw this earlier

100% realistic in all cases, there is no real excuse for these improvements not to be included in a new revision. They dont have anything to do with the core components of the machine itself and so should be much easier to implement
 
big_z

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Nov 2, 2017
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The name of the video comes off a lot more strong than what he ends up listing which is pretty basic improvements.

What chip did he mention? It seems as tho there will be little to no power bump. Mainly just refinements to the current model.


BY2K said:
Can I get a list?
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Better kickstand, better wifi, less bezel around the screen and more internal storage.
 

Nuclear Muffin

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Oct 29, 2017
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That list is surprisingly realistic and reasonable.

That being said, I don't necessarily feel that HDMI2.1/4K upscaling is absolutely necessary myself, nor do I think that the hardware budget would be well spent on more internal storage - They'd be much better off including two Micro SD card ports than more internal storage; why waste all of that hardware budget on storage, when they could pump it into making the CPU/GPU better? Or adding a Digitiser to the screen to support an active stylus? Hell, if they wanted people to have more storage out of the box, they could just include a cheap MicroSD card in the box; like they do for the 3DS/New3DS! (Say, 64GB)

The rest are all very reasonable requests that would be very welcome though. Glad to see that they're not pushing for a 1080p screen on the unit (which would be a tremendous waste of both hardware budget and CPU/GPU budget); 720p is the right sweetspot.
 

Deleted member 36622

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4K support is

1) not as essential imho

2) it's definitely not happening with Tegra X2

The rest of the list seems okay but I would include 1080p display, Better coating for the Joycons, and color options for the console itself.
 
Bonejack

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Everything outside of the 4K thing sounds reasonable to me, and certainly doable.

But man, i'm happy if games reach the native res in handheld/docked mode, please think of that first before even mentioning anything 4K.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 10737

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i'm glad they went with realistic and doable improvements, instead of having pipe dreams of a switch pro like some people. not sure if i'm lucky tho but i haven't used a screen protector in nearly a year but have no scratches on my screen.
 
BennyWhatever

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I'd replace the 4K thing with fixing Joycon issues via the Switch itself (if possible).
Otherwise, I like the list. Some of those might actually happen. I don't care about bezel-less though so I'm fine with the screen size.
 
Theecliff

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Bonejack said:
Everything outside of the 4K thing sounds reasonable to me, and certainly doable.

But man, i'm happy if games reach the native res in handheld/docked mode, please think of that first before even mentioning anything 4K.
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the 4k support doesn't mean that he wants games to run at 4K - just that the switch recognises screen resolutions above 1080p so there isn't sloppy upscaling to 4K panels.
 
Inuhanyou

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Harald23 said:
4K support is

1) not as essential imho

2) it's definitely not happening with Tegra X2
Click to expand...
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it has nothing to do with the hardware power. Its about 4K output. Almost zero games on 360 supported 1080p and only a minority on PS3, yet 360 supported 1080p upscaling so the games would not be scaled twice(to 720p and then to a 1080p television)

That does have an effect on picture quality
 
Mr. Shakedown

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LMAO at 4K being realistic for a Switch revision. We will get more games hitting 1080p docked and maybe a built in 1080p screen but frankly I'm not holding my breath for one.
 
Lyrick

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list seems completely rational, so maybe there's hope?

The base hardware can already output 4K in other devices that use the chipset.
WiFi improvements could occur by using a like for like replacement from a vendor that performs better
Dock issues just need some QA love to resolve the % of nonconforming issues, adding in extra HW like the LAN adapter would add to cost though.
Kickstand sounds easy enough, but will probably be a pita to actually fulfill customer wants
Smaller bezels are a very normative mobile revision step.
 
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Jahranimo

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Interesting he didn't mention better battery life, which I think would be more important than some of the other choices on the list. I'm still listening to his video though.
 
eXistor

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They could do all those improvements and my personal experience wouldn't change a bit.
 
Inuhanyou

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Mr. Shakedown said:
LMAO at 4K being realistic for a Switch revision. We will get more games hitting 1080p docked and maybe a built in 1080p screen but frankly I'm not holding my breath for one.
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People need to know what their talking about in regards to technology..

Jahranimo said:
Interesting he didn't mention better battery life, which I think would be more important than some of the other choices on the list. I'm still listening to his video though.
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Watch the video, he did at the end.
 
Bonejack

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Theecliff said:
the 4k support doesn't mean that he wants games to run at 4K - just that the switch recognises screen resolutions above 1080p so there isn't sloppy upscaling to 4K panels.
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The OS UI (!) isn't native 1080p in docked mode, so even if it hasn't anything to do with rendering, it's unrealistic to expect that. But maybe the UI will finally be native in both docked and handheld mode. ;]
 

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Mr. Shakedown said:
LMAO at 4K being realistic for a Switch revision. We will get more games hitting 1080p docked and maybe a built in 1080p screen but frankly I'm not holding my breath for one.
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ya don't understand what it means
it's not about the games being rendered at native 4k, it's for the ability for the switch to output a 4k image on TV. Tegra X1 is already capable of that but for some reason the Switch doesn't and caps it at 480, 720 or 1080p.
 
The Great Khali

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Oct 30, 2017
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I have one thing that's not listed

Stylus for Capacitive Screens (similar to GALAXY Note)

Then port Mario Maker, Kirby Rainbow Curse, and release new sequels for Nintendogs, Brain Age and Trauma Centre. Also add DS games to Nintendo Online.

People with old Switches can buy a Stylus seperatley.
 
OP
OP

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Mr. Shakedown said:
LMAO at 4K being realistic for a Switch revision. We will get more games hitting 1080p docked and maybe a built in 1080p screen but frankly I'm not holding my breath for one.
Click to expand...
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watch the video. he's not expecting the switch to be able to render games at 4K. it's about upscaling games to that res and outputting 4K signal to the TV.
 
Gobias-Ind

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Bluetooth audio is my #1 request, outside of a big, beefy 'pro' type upgrade. Extending the screen out to eliminate the bezel would also be real nice.
 
Dyergram

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4K won't happen imo best case scenario will be better speakers more sensible headphone jack placement and different but not actually better kickstand.
 
GhostTrick

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Harald23 said:
4K support is

1) not as essential imho

2) it's definitely not happening with Tegra X2

The rest of the list seems okay but I would include 1080p display, Better coating for the Joycons, and color options for the console itself.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...



It is essential.
Think of 2D games such as Sonic Mania. On Switch, if you play on a 4k TV, it.ll be displayed at 1080p then upscaled at 4k by your TV which will introduce blur because of the upscaling method.
If Switch supports 4k, it can display it at 4k by upscaling the game with nearest neighbour and not change the pixel look of the game with a terrible upscaling filter.
 
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