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[protomouse]

Do you think 6 months will be enough time to improve battery performance margins (Further SoC optimization and refinement)? Or do these Tegra SOCs actually come "as-is" without the ability to be "custom-made to spec"?

My guess is battery life will be similar to OG 3DS, which wasn't great, but was servicable.

6 months is not enough for hardware changes. They need to be ramping up production in this time. That said, further optimization can be done in software. There's always time for that.

Also, consider the fact that these rumors are based on devkit hardware. Old, and not accurately representative of the retail product. It's very likely that the retail Switch will already have improved.

 

[daxgame]

If it's 3 hours with level 3-4 Brightness then i'm okay, i never play 3ds under the sun. Otherwise that'd be a bother. I do remember stories abut tegra being battery hungry, no?
I play w 2 outside and even 1 at home

 

[Waji]

Remember that this information is based on a devkit, which were most likely handed out way before the system allegedly going into early production. So they most likely will have had time to improve life, and that is assuming that the battery life of the actual product is the same as that of the devkit.

Absolutely, but I like to wait for the least so I'm pleased (or just ok) in the end, especially if Nintendo wants to sell it "cheap" enough.
But ultimately, the games are going to be the decisive point. And with Monolithsoft on it, I can't see how I could not get it at some point.

 

[Waji]

Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion from any of the leaks. There seems to be a fundamental lack of understanding of what a dev kit is. It's a device that's suppose to accurately replicate (but early on, approximate) what developing on the final hardware should be like. As a result, depending on what version of the kit devs:
1. Don't necessarily have the same hardware as the final retail device. Just chips with similar performance
2. Have a bunch of extra debugging/development related hardware and software running on them
3. Usually are a tad bit more powerful than the device (at the least have more RAM) to compensate for #2

So essentially, while a dev kit showing that docking improving performance and that the device has a touch screen can be assumed as being the case on the real device, the battery life isn't necessarily indicative. Not to mention that while chips can't change late in the game, things like RAM, batteries, physic appearance tweaks, and anything that doesn't require actual long term engineering, can change fairly late. As long as they're before the manufacturing of retail devices starts

Actually I wasn't mixing these 2 topics. The battery is one, the production is another.
But I guess it wasn't clear enough from me. I understand the answers now...
So
1) I was not expecting too much battery (but obviously, the more the merrier, for handheld heavy users)
2) Don't expect modification "now", which doesn't mean, "don't expect modifications from te devkit.
If you see what I mean.

Edit : Ouch... sorry for the double posting, I didn't plan this answering well at all...

 

[Zedark]

Absolutely, but I like to wait for the least so I'm pleased (or just ok) in the end, especially if Nintendo wants to sell it "cheap" enough.
But ultimately, the games are going to be the decisive point. And with Monolithsoft on it, I can't see how I could not get it at some point.

Of course, games are the primary reason I want a Switch, far beyond the portability feature and overshadowing the battery issues by a large margin for me. I want it for Zelda, Pokémon and Fire emblem, and its hybrid nature is a bonus for me rather than its primary appeal, so I don't mind the battery life issues all that much.

 

[ShadowFox08]

Do you think 6 months will be enough time to improve battery performance margins (Further SoC optimization and refinement)? Or do these Tegra SOCs actually come "as-is" without the ability to be "custom-made to spec"?

My guess is battery life will be similar to OG 3DS, which wasn't great, but was servicable.



From what I've read so far, it might be (?) upclocked/base-clocked when docked. Those whole reports about the dev kits making "audible" active cooling noise is perhaps starting to make sense.

Also the teaser showing the unit itself having vents answers on of the questions I've had if the idea of it being "boosted" while docked were real. I guess the fans just kick in while it's plugged in for power.

More like 3 months.. Things will probably get finalized by early next year(like Jan), and then Nintendo would start mass producing..

 

[CrazedProfessional]

Imagine docking the Switch to initiate the final sword swing in a cutscene.

I want some fucking QTEs like Asura's Wrath involving ripping out the Joycons to tear out guts in DOOM or docking it to falcon punch the bad guy in Captain Falcon: Race Attorney.

 

[deleted]

Wait, wait, wait - hold your horses for a second.

If it really is just a downclock for mobile mode with the dock acting as a way to use the full power of the switch. What happens in the following (most likely pretty standard) scenario?

I'm getting on a train driving home for 2 hours, get out my Switch and use a Power cable to charge it up while playing. Will this act in the same way as the Power station? Full clock and full power? Maybe higher FPS or better IQ?

That'd be awesome!

Or is all of that unlikely because it's not fixated and the active cooling might not work perfectly?

 

[Budi]

Then why bother making it portable? Nobody here has been able to answer that.

So people can easily take it with them to wherever they go? Let's say I travel to work with a train, ride takes 45 minutes. I can easily play games with that rumoured battery life even without there being an ability to charge in the train. I can even make two trips to work and back without charging the machine. And personally as fun as Clash Royale is, I would much rather play Breath of the wild on the go. I can't actually even play CR on my current phone, it's a bit older And I would much rather spend 300 bucks on Switch than I would on a new phone.

What is the part that you don't understand?

Edit: I seemed to reply in a pretty old post, somebody already probably answered in that.

 

[Ieu]

Wait, wait, wait - hold your horses for a second.

If it really is just a downclock for mobile mode with the dock acting as a way to use the full power of the switch. What happens in the following (most likely pretty standard) scenario?

I'm getting on a train driving home for 2 hours, get out my Switch and use a Power cable to charge it up while playing. Will this act in the same way as the Power station? Full clock and full power? Maybe higher FPS or better IQ?

That'd be awesome!

Or is all of that unlikely because it's not fixated and the active cooling might not work perfectly?

A lot of mobile devices can tell when they're running on batteries or mains. Expect the Switch to be no different.

 

[Oregano]

Wait, wait, wait - hold your horses for a second.

If it really is just a downclock for mobile mode with the dock acting as a way to use the full power of the switch. What happens in the following (most likely pretty standard) scenario?

I'm getting on a train driving home for 2 hours, get out my Switch and use a Power cable to charge it up while playing. Will this act in the same way as the Power station? Full clock and full power? Maybe higher FPS or better IQ?

That'd be awesome!

Or is all of that unlikely because it's not fixated and the active cooling might not work perfectly?

It might need to turn the screen off to use those extra resources so possibly/probably not. We really don't know though.

 

[Leafhopper]

No surprise to me. Like I said it's a portable console not a handheld. Nintendo keeps calling it a "home console". I knew the battery life would probably be on par with the WiiU gamepad.

 

[The Maverick]

100 dollars for every hour of gaming. Lol. Folks will yell it's the devkit all the way until the blowout. I don't think people realize how tiny 3 hours of gaming time is until the system is dead on standby before you even pull it out.

But we'll see. I don't trust Nintendo on battery life with the power level we're talking.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Wait, wait, wait - hold your horses for a second.

If it really is just a downclock for mobile mode with the dock acting as a way to use the full power of the switch. What happens in the following (most likely pretty standard) scenario?

I'm getting on a train driving home for 2 hours, get out my Switch and use a Power cable to charge it up while playing. Will this act in the same way as the Power station? Full clock and full power? Maybe higher FPS or better IQ?

That'd be awesome!

Or is all of that unlikely because it's not fixated and the active cooling might not work perfectly?

I don't think the Switch will up its clock while its charging but not on dock. Two reasons:

- the fan is far more prone to breaking if the console is moving, so it could be that the fan actually don't activate at all unless the console is docked
- the screen is a considerable thermal constraint if turned on. The dock turn off the screen, which is something that help considerably the thermal constraints of the device.

I could see a very moderate increase, like more brightness and a slight bump in GPU frequencies for smoother FPS maybe, but i don't think you'll get anywhere close the actual dock mode (if that exist, which is still unconfirmed).

 

[Mr. Giggles]

While the battery life is indeed disappointing, this thing will never leave its dock lest I break the screen

So a home console it remains

 

[Camoxide]

Wait people are shocked/disappointed at 3 hours battery life? I thought it would be 2 hours in portable mode.

This is a home console that can also go portable.

Also have you ever played a game for an extended period of time on your phone? It destroys the battery.

 

[Oersted]

100 dollars for every hour of gaming. Lol. Folks will yell it's the devkit all the way until the blowout. I don't think people realize how tiny 3 hours of gaming time is until the system is dead on standby before you even pull it out.

But we'll see. I don't trust Nintendo on battery life with the power level we're talking.

So the bottom line is, you are hopeful the actual retailer device will end up being less than 3 hours?

 

[Jack Videogames]

Nintendo should make the battery compatible with the extended battery pack some of us purchased for the Wii U controller. Please?

 

[Jimrpg]

Gotta say the Wii U game pad has about 3 hours battery life and it plain sucks. Anyone else not happy with the Wii U game pad? Expect more of the same I'm guessing.

 

[deleted]

I don't think the Switch will up its clock while its charging but not on dock. Two reasons:

- the fan is far more prone to breaking if the console is moving, so it could be that the fan actually don't activate at all unless the console is docked
- the screen is a considerable thermal constraint if turned on. The dock turn off the screen, which is something that help considerably the thermal constraints of the device.

I could see a very moderate increase, like more brightness and a slight bump in GPU frequencies for smoother FPS maybe, but i don't think you'll get anywhere close the actual dock mode (if that exist, which is still unconfirmed).

It might need to turn the screen off to use those extra resources so possibly/probably not. We really don't know though.

Yep, that's my thinking too, after the initial bit of extra hype The screen and the active cooling might be problems while running under full power in mobile mode.

A lot of mobile devices can tell when they're running on batteries or mains. Expect the Switch to be no different.

Sure, but the question is, if it makes an extra distinction between the dock and a power cable..

 

[2+2=5]

Guys it's not the hardware that defines the console but its use, the nx isn't a handheld console, it's more like a "portable" home console, an evolution of these:

 

[Rodin]

You say that in every fucking thread. O__o

Who are you? Happy Nintendo Gamer?

He just wants to believe that

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

4 hours for multiplayer AAA game with wifi
5 hours for AAA offline game
8 hours for basic use, internet surfing, drawing etc

That would have been much better. Hopefully there's room to fit an aftermarket battery to get closer to these numbers.

 

[Oersted]

4 hours for multiplayer AAA game with wifi
5 hours for AAA offline game
8 hours for basic use, internet surfing, drawing etc

That would have been much better. Hopefully there's room to fit an aftermarket battery to get closer to these numbers.

Would have been?

 

[gustave154]

3 hours? I expected less but this still isn't good news

 

[Pif]

Any word yet on the joyconw battery life?

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

In terms of battery, I'm praying for it not to have a Note 7 situation!

 

[Panajev2001a]

Would have been?

Yes, 3 hours or so could be max when pushing games hard, but mixed web and video and basic apps usage should be way longer in the era of All Day Battery Life as Apple puts it.

 

[ozfunghi]

4 hours for multiplayer AAA game with wifi
5 hours for AAA offline game
8 hours for basic use, internet surfing, drawing etc

That would have been much better. Hopefully there's room to fit an aftermarket battery to get closer to these numbers.

If the GPU in the Switch gets the rumored upgrade, then the GPU (which is a powerhog) will become about 60% more power efficient at the same performance. That's your 5 hours offline right there.

 

[AllenShrz]

I really can believe people are defending 3 hrs battery life, specially when it was shown used on the go and even flights.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Yes, 3 hours or so could be max when pushing games hard, but mixed web and video and basic apps usage should be way longer in the era of All Day Battery Life as Apple puts it.

I don't think you understand. The system isn't out yet. We don't know the battery life, so why is he talking in the past tense?

 

[EatChildren]

Battery technology is antiquated in comparison to processing technology, even considering modern hardware efficiency. I get the very real concerns with three-hour-battery-life, but portable hardware is basically fucked by default for this kind of software, given the smallish form factor. Batteries just suck, plain and simple. We really, really need some advancements in battery engineering and technology.

Overly simplistic maths probably, but wouldn't you need a doubling (halving) of clockspeeds to go between 720-1080p?

Not really. Thumb rule with all of this stuff is that there's just too many factors to simplify. Quality of assets and target framerate being the two big ones. One game may push from 720p to 1080p fairly easily, whereas another will struggle due to the engine/asset quality.

In the same way so many console games have varying framerate targets and native resolutions, so too I would expect this with the Switch, especially comparing docked to portable.

This is my reasoning as well. I'm wondering if the device even has fans that are only active/necessary while in dock mode.

Entirely possible. Or they're just cranked up higher during docked to accommodate the power draw.

It's also worth noting/repeating that it's an existing feature of the Nvidia Shield Tablet called Console Mode. It turns off the screen and renders at higher res(I think?).

We also see that the screen of the Switch is definitely off when docked.

Pretty much. Modern hardware is seriously so fucking easy to overclock. Almost all PC GPUs dating back years are built to fluctuate in clockrates, and most vendors have their models overclock automatically out of the box. CPUs too are easier to overclock today than they've ever been. I can literally change the clockrate of my GPU right now, between games, by moving a slider.

All Nintendo has to ensure is that the system is receiving a stabilised power draw, and cooling is efficient. That's it.

 

[BreakAtmo]

Hmm, the quote above only indicates FP16 using half the register storage space, it doesn't really confirm that they compute at double the rate. (I haven't read the whole thing)

Yeah, sorry, the article is rather jumbo and they talk about it more further down.

“One of the features appearing for the first time is the handling of 16-bit variables - it's possible to perform two 16-bit operations at a time instead of one 32-bit operation," he says, confirming what we learned during our visit to VooFoo Studios to check out Mantis Burn Racing. "In other words, at full floats, we have 4.2 teraflops. With half-floats, it's now double that, which is to say, 8.4 teraflops in 16-bit computation. This has the potential to radically increase performance."

I mean, no way will it actually be 8.4TF, but this feels promising.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I don't think you understand. The system isn't out yet. We don't know the battery life, so why is he talking in the past tense?

So? One discusses making educated guess based on what data points you have. Based on historical evidence (Wii U GamePad specs and battery life as well as other consoles like 3DS for example), it is not unreasonable for NX to have a similar battery life.

 

[Teletraan1]

A system designed for gaming should be able to do more, imo.

Expectations don't magically improve battery life and technology. If I play a demanding game on my phone I am lucky to get 3-4 hours. If anything the fact that it is playing games should have set people's expectations a little more realistic. Rather than all the high levels of concern over something that seems pretty much on par with the rest of technology. They don't have charging stations at airports in preparation for this device alone. Batteries are a constant struggle with all mobile devices.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Expectations don't magically improve battery life and technology. If I play a demanding game on my phone I am lucky to get 3-4 hours. If anything the fact that it is playing games should have set people's expectations a little more realistic.

And phone comparisons don't magically make 3 hours feel any less awful. If awful is literally the best thing possible, then maybe the idea is bad to begin with. It's not like people outside of Japan are dying for another handheld.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

So? One discusses making educated guess based on what data points you have. Based on historical evidence (Wii U GamePad specs and battery life as well as other consoles like 3DS for example), it is not unreasonable for NX to have a similar battery life.

How is it an educated guess to estimate the battery life of one device based on 2, unrelated devices, using completely different hardware, both of which have drastically different battery life from one another for different reasons??

 

[Ran rp]

This sounds like about what I expected. Anyone going, "3 HOURS?!?" are either being disingenuous with their reactions (because it's fun to play the hyperbole game) or were completey delusional fanboys.


This thing is packing above Wii U level hardware, on the go. Y'all fucking nuts if you expected much more than 3 while playing something as nice looking as that Mario game or Zelda. Big ass tablets with worse gfx fair about the same.

The rumor is 3 hours max. Not 3-5 hours depending on the game. That's the issue.

3 hours running picross would be ridiculous.

 

[blackjaw]

As long as the battery life isn't below 3 hours, I'll be perfectly fine with it. 3 hours is a lot of time if you're on the go, tbh.

As someone who travels often for work, many times on cross country flights 5-7 hrs long, I beg to differ.

Sometimes you get a nice plane with USB charging but most often you don't.

A product that lasts half of a flight is no use to me.

 

[skypunch]

Gonna have to turn down the brightness.

 

[Easy_D]

Battery life could be better, but what I hope is that you can charge it via USB and keep the charge, I had a phone that drained battery faster than it charged and it sucked, because it'd die despite having a constant supply of power.

 

[Peru]

As someone who travels often for work, many times on cross country flights 5-7 hrs long, I beg to differ.

Sometimes you get a nice plane with USB charging but most often you don't.

A product that lasts half of a flight is no use to me.

One battery pack should give you three times that.

 

[Teletraan1]

And phone comparisons don't magically make 3 hours feel any less awful. If awful is literally the best thing possible, then maybe the idea is bad to begin with. It's not like people outside of Japan are dying for another handheld.

Try all mobile devices that rely on the current battery tech. So don't buy one if it is so awful. Literally.

 

[darkwing]

people forget that tablets usually have long battery life, I mean look at the iPad, there is no way this is just 3 hours

 

[ozfunghi]

The rumor is 3 hours max. Not 3-5 hours depending on the game. That's the issue.

3 hours running picross would be ridiculous.

Yes, i'm sure it's 3 hours max on Miiverse and 15 minutes playing Assassins Creed. Seriously.

Entirely possible. Or they're just cranked up higher during docked to accommodate the power draw.

If you blow into the fan in portable mode, you'll be charging the battery!

 

[Hermii]

Wait, wait, wait - hold your horses for a second.

If it really is just a downclock for mobile mode with the dock acting as a way to use the full power of the switch. What happens in the following (most likely pretty standard) scenario?

I'm getting on a train driving home for 2 hours, get out my Switch and use a Power cable to charge it up while playing. Will this act in the same way as the Power station? Full clock and full power? Maybe higher FPS or better IQ?

That'd be awesome!

Or is all of that unlikely because it's not fixated and the active cooling might not work perfectly?

I suspect the extra power in dock mode will only be used to render in a higher resolution than the 720p screen of the tablet. So this correct then it will only work in the dock.

 

[Durante]

people forget that tablets usually have long battery life, I mean look at the iPad, there is no way this is just 3 hours

I already said this at least 2 times, but let's try it again: tablets (and smartphones for that matter) typically don't run anything which even remotely uses all their hardware to its full capacity. For things like web browsing or watching a video, 95% of the time both GPU and CPU idle.

If you were to run an optimized game making full use of the hardware using a low-overhead software layer on a tablet, it would

1. Clock down significantly from its maximums almost immediately.
2. Certainly not achieve anywhere close to the battery life you get in standard tablet tasks like browsing the web or looking at videos.

 

[Oersted]

Yes, 3 hours or so could be max when pushing games hard, but mixed web and video and basic apps usage should be way longer in the era of All Day Battery Life as Apple puts it.

That doesn't answer my question but thanks for quoting.

people forget that tablets usually have long battery life, I mean look at the iPad, there is no way this is just 3 hours

Under certain conditions, the battery of the Ipad reaches certain amounts of battery life.

We d)o not know the conditions under which this one Nintendo Switch devkit reached 3 hours.

 

[I Stalk Alone]

As someone who travels often for work, many times on cross country flights 5-7 hrs long, I beg to differ.

Sometimes you get a nice plane with USB charging but most often you don't.

A product that lasts half of a flight is no use to me.

You travel that much and you dont carry a charge pack around for devices?

 

[karnage10]

I'm fine with 3 hours, I'd prefer 5.
My main concern is still the games and the price.