Nintendo Switch Teardown Images Pop Up Online

My god, that battery is indeed gigantic. What's the capacity again? Because I know that more and more smartphones have capacities of 4,000 mAh or more and take up way less space...

@Akropolon 4310mAh. It's really tiny, but you can read it actually on the 5th line

@FGPackers Ah, thanks! To be fair though, it is huge in relation to the other parts, but I conveniently forgot that the Switch isn't as tall as most 5.5" smartphones. So yeah, this size does work out with such a capacity.

Boo, I wanted to see inside the Joy-Con.

Pretty nice innards.

Oh wow. The size of that battery, though. Maybe that's why it's not able to be replaced by the user. There's probably no way to design the Switch hardware in such a way that it also creates space for a battery slot that can be accessed.
That's what I think, anyway. But yeah, insides of video game consoles are always interesting to see.

By the way the L shape heat pipe is confirmed now, just like the Foxconn leak said. Now: that leak seems to have a lot of real informations about the Switch, so can it be Pascal like in the leak itself? Maybe through a custom chip (like Nvidia said) and not directly an X2? If so that could be really a fantastic thing for the console so that job for developers is really easy, like in the last Capcom news (the part about people involved and months to do the job). Sorry if it's bad written, i'm a little bit tired

X1 is disappointing but we knew really that it was this chip.

Of course it's Maxwell. The Pascal chip is not an option for gaming yet, and was never an option for Nintendo. If it was, Nvidia would have pushed it in the new Shield that just launched. The Pascal chip is designed for AI and automotives.

no hyphen in 'tie in' used as a phrasal verb

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Disappointing? X1 is an incredibly capable and powerful chip. Even more so when customized for a gaming device, and results will be substantially better in a closed environment where developers master its capabilities (see PS3 game visuals despite being limited to a few hundred MB of RAM and exponentially less powerful CPU). Nothing really disappointing about it.

The X2 chip is not even out yet and is designed for cars. It would provide power on level with PS4. And technology is not to a point where we can expect a PS4 in a handheld for $300. Once you understand that limitation, it's hard to feel "disappointed" knowing it's just not viable at the same price point. Maybe next generation... hopefully next generation, or maybe even mid generation with a "PS4 Pro/Scorpio/New 3DS" like upgrade... it should be a reality. Especially with AMD and what they're bringing with Zen.

I'd buy a mid-gen upgraded Switch in a heartbeat. Maybe when X2 is out for a few years and costs come down, customize one of those with more GPU cores, bigger battery (which would certainly be needed to offset the added power draw), and a dock with a cooling fan (which might be needed as well with a jump to that degree of power, maybe even better cooling in the unit itself), HDMI 2.0 port on the dock for 4K video output... sell it as a Switch Pro for $399. I'm down.

Well that leaves little mystery for our first date.

This is rather interesting. Reddit thinks it's likely a Maxwell chip, which while a little disappointing is still way more powerful than anything Nintendo has used thus far, and we've all seen how Nintendo can pull off amazing feats even on underpowered systems.
PS, @ThomasBW84, "Tegra-based graphics processer"? (:

Does this feel sacrilegious to anyone else?

As long as the games come, whether it's Maxwell or Pascal doesn't matter. I just hope Nintendo has a strong E3, because the first year is just a tad bit lackluster in terms of the games IMO. Not bad necessarily, but there's definitely room for improvement.

@IceClimbers Pascal based graphics cards have been available in retail since may 2016. So it was an option. But it is as usual a matter of cost.

@JaxonH I agree mostly with your last paragraph and I'd like to see that too. As it is, the Switch is disappointing for me. One of the benefits of the X2 chip is that it needs less cooling.

Shame, I thought it would run on 1 Up mushrooms and pikmin ran around inside moving things 🤔.........

Nice guts!

Its ODNX02-A2 the O got scratched. U denotes a different meaning than O. But this is interesting i know the sheild tv is a rather strong piece of hardware it surprised me what it could do(older model) and this is apparently similar to the upgraded one that the 2017 model has still unknown if this leak can be verified maybe a very good mock up the scratch O seems to red flag it it maybe a recent paint stamp, also it seems it was made in 32nd week of 2016 can't determine if it is a maxwell or pascal still.

@JaxonH I was thinking about this before, for what the Switch is going to be asked to do I think the tech inside is absolutely fine.

However imagine this concept of a hybrid games system in another 5 years time when the surrounding tech and hopefully battery life options are there.

@JaxonH @IceClimbers I was gonna ask why Pascal and x2 isn't implemented yet.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE it needs less cooling because of the finfet 16nm process, not the architecture. This may very well be the newer process so that is a moot point.

Off topic, but has there been any news about an achievement system? Probably not since news has been limited.

@ULTRA-64
But... My Wii U runs on little Pikmin inside. Just look at them going to work on this data transfer:

@Morph
Ya it's gonna be awesome, we're just crossing the cusp now... it's only gonna get better.

@Captain_Toad
Ya, I think just logically looking at the high costs associated with cramming PS4 to PS4 Pro power in a mobile chip is self evident. And the extra costs associated with the fact more power = more processing power = more energy needed to power it = less battery life = larger battery needed. As a result, higher cost of cutting edge chip + higher costs to power said chip = unfriendly consumer price. But as prices come down (as @Morph pointed out) it will become feasible in the not too distant future. We could be looking at a "PS4 in a handheld for $300" in just a few more years. Definitely by next generation.

Just gimme games, games and nothing else.

I don't wanna count marbles everyday

Nintendo Switch has unique architecture like PS3, hardware specs should not be directly compared to x86-64 architecture. PS3 has 256 MB RAM and 230 GFLOPS, PS4 8 GB RAM and 1840 GFLOPS. Is there any huge difference between PS3 and PS4? Because different architecture. For this reason 3rd party developers are supporting Switch or waiting console sales. Negative comments only on haters not developers.

If they used the, what, 16nm architecture (Pascal) they probably would've saved space, cost, and battery life...
First, there might be space for a bigger battery. Second, it's more efficient. Third, it would cost less for something equal in power.

I'm really hoping this is just because they couldn't get it out on time.
This isn't about power, it's about efficiency. Less heat, money, energy, and space. If they delayed the console we could have that. NO. NINTENDO I REALLY WANT THE SWITCH BUT I DON'T THINK YOU MADE A GOOD DECISION HERE.

Very nice. The insides look cool... but what they do matters.

Console level gaming... on the go. Easy to port to. All Nintendo, console and portable, supporting it.

@Baker1000 I believe those innards are made up mostly of ice cubes

@Dakt Solely based on how it looks, it seems to be really similar to the new Shield SoC, which is based on Maxwell X1.

@Braok
More efficient, yes, but that doesn't mean less battery. It means less battery for the same output but you don't put an X2 chip in just to output X1 capabilities. It may have 10% more efficiency or whatever it is, but it's also considerably more powerful, which requires more power. So sure, it may only need 90% of the battery for these results, but for X2 results it would need 90% times 2, or however much more powerful it is. No way to double the computing power and jump to PS4 level graphics and use less battery power...It would surely result in needing a more expensive (and probably larger) battery, and ultimately higher cost.

@Manjushri its interesting isnt it?

Consumers are entitled to make an informed purchase in the free market. Give too little product details and you may kill drmand. Give too much detail and be exposed too soon without the games and screenshots to prove how powerful the hardware can be and hie much developers can do.

Nintendo is loved by so many that the expextations are so high. I think they could better clarify the vc and online service before launch but they did well otherwise.

Isn't the X1 at its best not even as capable as the Wii U? Then how would the Switch be able to outperform the Wii U with lesser hardware? I'm willing to hedge bets that its not even either X1 or X2 but some custom monster that resembles neither.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE There's no way to reliably tell what the exact chip type is just by looking at it. But regardless, X1 is a very good processor for the types of games that will likely come to the system, and Nintendo/Nvidia have been emphasizing the fact that it's not just a standard chip but a custom one, so there's not much point in speculating about its capabilities and feeling disappointed about it until we actually know some solid facts about the thing.

Maybe because I'm a big softy and what not but I hate to see Nintendo systems pulled apart... especially the brand new Switch. Though I think it's interesting to take an inside look at what it's got and capible of. I hope it still works!

For me I will play this mostly undocked. That being said, I think the processor is plenty fast to make some really great games on the Switch screen. I don't expect the machine to make 4K games running at 60fps, and it doesn't have to. At the end of the day it's about the content, and this Switch will be capable of good graphics with Nintendo content. Win/win

@Aslanmagic TBH I think this is one of those things that's been included from the previous gen for the sake of it but has probably run its course.

Well, this is interesting. Really, after the Nvidia shield was detailed as having an X1 chip, there wasn't much chance that the Switch would have Pascal; it seems they really are for cars.

However, there isn't supposed to be much difference between the 2nd generation Maxwell architecture and the newer Pascal architecture, except the increase in power output for power input and consequent drop in heat generation. It's possible that a heavily customised X1 could be pretty close to the X2.

I know it's nowhere near as powerful as the PS4 or the XBone, but this is great tech for what it is. Intel are out of the SoC race, finding it too hard to implement small die sizes. Nvidia isn't doing a poor job, it seems; powerful enough and affordable.

@Jayvir It's difficult to directly compare across the older PowerPC architecture of the Wii U and the newer architecture of the Switch, but everything I've read says that the Switch is at least 1.5 times the power of the WiiU on lowest settings (undocked). Some estimates put it at higher than that, but we'll need Digital Foundry to do all the testing. Having seen how slick the user interface is, there's a lot to indicate this is indeed a powerful enough system (for the right consumer).

Interesting.
Nintendo is mad lol

@Jayvir
The fact Wii U games being ported, such as Mario Kart 8, are running at native 1080p 60fps vs the Wii U's 720p 60fps speaks volumes. That's like the jump PS4 Pro has over the PS4, to give a general comparison. The incredible thing is, it's doing that as a handheld.

Even in handheld mode, with the clock speed cut in half, it still renders Mario Kart 8 at the exact same resolution and frame rate as the Wii U version.

And that's just a port, and ports are never going to show a system's full capabilities because it wasn't built for that system ground up (see PS3/360 ports on Wii U vs exclusive Wii U games built ground up).

Another example would be Zelda Breath of the Wild, which runs at 900p on Switch vs 720p on Wii U, again with a game built ground up for Wii U releasing at the end of its lifespan, vs being the very first game releasing on Switch. And it has better lighting and effects in the Switch version.

So we can safely rule out being "less powerful than Wii U". Even in handheld mode with clock speed slashed in half it's shown itself to at least match Wii U, and with games not even built ground up for the system.

It's probably in between a Wii U and Xbox One in docked mode, and slightly more powerful portable Wii U in handheld mode. This is just a guess based on observation, but it's one generally agreed upon.

If I'm remembering correctly, the X2 is a strange design with Denver cores and A57 cores. Battery isn't a concern in automotive applications as it's apparently meant for. That's just not suitable for a portable gaming device where battery matters.

As for these pics, if I'm seeing things correctly, it looks like the battery has a connector and is not soldered directly to the board. Then the next thing I want to know is how easy it is to get into the unit. Since the thing is actively cooled and not meant to be the thinnest thing out there, it may not have many of the issues common in phone construction these days such as lots of glue which leads to breakage of parts during disassembly. So it might not be too hard to replace the battery. Hopefully, Nintendo's replacement service won't be too expensive either in that case. Still, that's something that I would like to know in advance before buying into the Switch as a platform.

@JaxonH they could underclock it though
EDIT: had a bunch of stuff written up for this edit but I realized I sounded like a complete idiot (more than before) and that I don't know shizzle about batteries
NINJA EDIT: theres still nothing wrong with underclocking it and they could just make this custom GPU equal to the X1 instead of underclocking it

@RadioHedgeFund
You could be right but that's too bad if that's the case. I liked seeing all the achievements/trophies on one fancy menu item. Some individual games on Nintendo have them but it's nice when it's all together. I just found it to be a nice little hobby to collect things.

@JaxonH Feeling the need to do a mid-generation upgrade wiuld be admitting that X1 is not up to scratch - which it isn't. The kind of games we'll get on switch will be limited if it does end up being closer to X1.

X1 has not been confirmed by these images. Various subreddits and GAF threads have been trying to figure out what the chip is based on these pictures, and they aren't any closer to consensus than they were before this leak.

@TheDavyStar
"Not up to scratch" is a very subjective and relative term. It's perfectly up to scratch to run Nintendo's games and a good majority of third-party games as well- certainly the ones that would likely come to the console anyways.

And I don't think it would be admitting anything other than the reality that technology moves forward each and every year. Doesn't mean it's not up to scratch in general, it just means that technology moves forward and some people are willing to pay more to get more. Because even if there was a mid-gen upgrade, it wouldn't likely get exclusive games. Maybe one or two outliers, but one only need look at New 3DS or PS4 Pro to see it would simply be a luxury experience for existing games.

It may very well be limiting to some degree, I have no doubt about that, but given the small portion of super high end games it would potentially limit probably wouldn't come to the console anyways ... I have to question whether it would really even matter much in that respect. It would certainly drive up the price which can be very limiting to your consumer base, and having a small consumer base can be limiting to the games you get also. After all, the kinds of games we get was already being limited by virtue of being a Nintendo product, where most western developers don't want to port anyways, regardless of power. Which, comparatively speaking, is 100X more limiting a factor than this small of a power gap ever could be.

I mean, if only 2% of the games that clearly can run on Switch are being announced, why would anyone think more than 2% of the games that cannot run would be announced (supposing they could run). And with such a relatively small subset of games being too demanding to run (in the big scheme of things), is it really worth jacking the price up by another $100+ Just for the hopes of seeing one extra game a year be announced which otherwise could not run?

@Sakura the Foxconn leak even after this teardown has been accurate except for resolution and weight. Foxconn leak mentions chip is 16nm. The X1 A2 in the Shield TV is 20nm. Pascal is 16nm. Still could be a 16nm Maxwell variant. But its not the X1 A2 that Nintendo life is mentioning.

"seems to tie-in with a teardown of the 2017 'NVIDIA Shield TV'; the chips may not be the exact same (with the Switch chip described as 'custom' in the past) but they seem to share a status as second iterations of the Tegra X1 technology"

Every Nvidia chip has had 2nd iterations (A2) including the Keplar(K1). Nintendo life should know better than this

Well well back to the X1 vs X2 discussion.. does it really matter?...this is a hybrid with exclusive 1st party games.
I hope Iwata-san's vision comes to fruition. One console with all the Nintendo games. Awesome!!

Wow.....People are just insane....when I look at the circuit board compared to a DS cart its amazing to think we are getting something 1.5-3x (go/home) as powerful as WiiU in this dinky little board.....running at this power level (8-20w).

Those that act like a chipset like pascal that is in grafx cards that cost more than a Switch ($400 on the low end)......and act like because they used Maxwell they cheaped out? Your just nuts OK. If we got a Pascal based Switch it would be what $600......and NO ONE would buy it.

Switch has more power and RAM than WiiU and also I think the entire architecture is much faster as WiiU had some serious bottlenecks so Switch will have a much faster bus. You were always hamstrung by ODD or USB2 on WiiU so you werent ever loading data faster then 25-30mbit/sec. Carts or fast MicroSD will easily create load rates 2-3x that rate.

I think its a slick design and I believe it is going to be very scaleable. As the line grows with a portable only option we could also get a home only option. All they got to do is drop that cheap little board in a shell and could sell a Home only micro console for $150 that plays all the same games as the hybrid and mobile only.

Lets just relax as this Spring launch gives N plenty of time to build to an incredible xmas.

Seems like everything was engineered with extreme detail and focus. Everything is really compact.

@Vee_Flames It looks replaceable to me. It seems a lot like how replacing the GamePad battery is, just with more work involved.

@PlywoodStick
We were discussing this in the forums, but the issue I see is finding a quality 3rd party battery in those exact LxWxH dimensions with higher milliamp hours, with the proper cord length.

Seems like custom dimensions to me, but then again I don't know squat about batteries so...

@ollyander Yes it totally does! Like we've seen her in her altogether before we've even met!

Well, according to this Korean page:

http://bbs.ruliweb.com/news/board/300004/read/2121643

Google translated (lol):

https://translate.google.com/translate?ie=UTF-8&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbbs.ruliweb.com%2Fnews%2Fboard%2F300004%2Fread%2F2121643

They think that the NS edition of the Tegra X1 is a noticeable revision of the original hardware, listed as Maxwell Custom in the Chinese leak. In other words, the NS edition of the Tegra X1 is most likely a newer edition over what was used in the 2015 edition of the NVIDIA Shield TV. In fact, it may even be a newer edition than what's being used in the 2017 edition of the NVIDIA Shield TV.

According to these reviews:

http://www.droid-life.com/2017/01/24/nvidia-shield-tv-2017-review/

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/20/nvidia-shield-tv-review/

The Tegra X1 and other hardware parts used in the 2017 edition of the NVIDIA Shield TV equates to more or less a carbon copy of the 2015 edition. It's specs were not improved, rather, the device package had updates in other regards, such as smaller physical dimensions and an improved controller. Thus, the NS should have a superior edition of the Tegra X1 over the 2015/2017 NVIDIA Shield TV.

Just for reference, the NVIDIA Shield TV without extra storage pre-installed costs US$200, and the Japanese price for the NS is about US$261 at the moment. Factoring in the inclusion of the L and R JoyCons, this further highlights that the Japanese are getting quite a good deal for the NS, while everyone else in the world is getting a raw deal.

That said, considering the NVIDIA Shield Tablet is capable of running Witcher 3 at 1080p/60FPS on lower/medium settings, the NS will be capable of the same thing. Anyone who knows how demanding Witcher 3 is can safely draw the conclusion that the NS won't have any problems running modern games. Finally, a new Nintendo console that won't get left behind in the tech department...

@bolt05 That's exactly it. Customers have the right to know exactly what they're getting. Too many times in the past have manufacturers hid something awful or manipulated a little to seem like a lot. Eventually consumers found out about a lot of the dirty dealings, and now we have a really good defense mechanism: we wait for all the information to be out, or bust.

In my opinion, you should never buy a product until the whole thing is laid out bare to be judged by those who wish to buy it. Consumers were starting to get stupid again as of late. They started to pre-order based on excitement alone, I think now a lot of people have been burnt so badly time and time again they're weary of anything from the current games industry. Game corporations are going to have to do a lot more to win people over whenever they launch anything.

@Braok
What an idiot.

@BiasedSonyFan Known by some, yes. But there are still people who think the NS will be weaker than the Wii U... In fact, there's a post in this very comment thread that thought as much. Ultimately, such misplaced thoughts are due to Nintendo not expounding upon the technical specifications of the NS.

@Braok This could actually be a 16nm Maxwell Custom SoC. So it should be an improvement in various areas over the original iteration of the Tegra X1.

For Pascal (P1) in particular, it's being used in very expensive car AI systems, such as that used in the upcoming Tesla cars. The board and SoC put together costs around US$1500 for a standard issue Tesla AI system. So that edition of the Pascal SoC probably costs as much or more than the NS is being sold for.

A future gaming variant of the Pascal SoC will only be possible if the NS sells well. Until then, I doubt NVIDIA is willing to take the risk beyond Maxwell. But at least the NS is most likely using an improved Maxwell chip!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Well, unless you were willing to spend an extra US$200, there wasn't going to be a Pascal SoC in the NS.

@JaxonH The way the NS battery shown here connects to the system board is similar to how the GamePad battery connects to the GamePad board. I wouldn't expect third party batteries right away, but if Nintendo doesn't supply new and improved ones, then someone will step in to fill the gap. Otherwise, all official NS batteries will eventually die, and then the portability aspect of the system will be completely defeated.

The online Nintendo Store has GamePad batteries that are noticeable improvements over the ones the systems were shipped with. I would be surprised if Nintendo didn't offer such a thing again this time around, considering the NS battery connector doesn't require any special tools to insert into the system board. Judging by all those screws (which are not well organized by the one who took them off ), Nintendo's messaging that the battery can't be replaced would seem to be a white lie...

Who gives a fffffffffffflying toss if it's an X1 or X2 chip really. It could be a potato chip and I couldn't care less as long as the games are amazing.

@BiasedSonyFan Assuming people knew what the Tegra is... A lot of people think/thought it's something like a Snapdragon, since they're associating it with mobile hardware. After all, the NS is... a mobile device pretending it's a traditional console.

@Braok it might be smaller but I am pretty sure people have said it would use a lot more power and be hotter.

@Baker1000

This Nintendo product is brought to you by: Captain Spuderica. Bringing you only the best chips for your new system.

@Royalblues Portability and Nintendo games, that's what the Switch has, as well as typical Nintendo innovation.
Really for most it comes down to the games, and waiting a period of 6 months or so means when you do buy there's more games out that you want and at a cheaper price.

@TheDavyStar So that means the PS4 and Xbox One aren't up to scratch? Nintendo themselves haven't any whispers about a mid-gen new iteration.
However, with Nintendo's modular processing patents, it's possible a mid gen interation will only be a new dock with some processing power and maybe a fan inside it as well as power supply, which would mean the life of your actual Switch would be extended quite a bit, instead of having to buy a brand new console 3very year like Xbox or PS4.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE "we" did? Nintendo nor nvidia have confirmed this.

@Royalblues "What can I get here that the other systems don't already fulfill for me?"

Nintendo games.Isn't that the main reason everyone buys a Nintendo console first and foremost?If they don't do much for you then there is no point buying a Nintendo console as you'd be better served elsewhere.Then there is the unique controllers and the games that are built around them that every Nintendo home console now has that can offer experiences out the box that the others can't.Then as you said,the portability too.With all this and the odd exclusive 3rd party games and possibly massive VC library,the Switch will offer a vastly different experience than what you'd get on the other consoles.Whether that's enough for you,I don't know.

@OorWullie A "possibly massive" VC library that apparently isn't important enough for Nintendo to actually talk about it leading up to release...

@PlywoodStick
“That said, considering the NVIDIA Shield Tablet is capable of running Witcher 3 at 1080p/60FPS on lower/medium settings, the NS will be capable of the same thing.”
This is great news. However I still worry about undocked. I know the screen resolution is lower but even so without the plugged in power I really hope it can keep up.

@Royalblues
its the only place in the universe you will be able to play splatoon2. enough said.

Looks well built, I'm really looking forward to getting a Switch. One thing I'd like to know and I'm not sure it has been covered yet, is the screen IPS or TN? I suspect it's IPS based on the screenshots it appears to be a beautiful screen, I'm hoping it's IPS for the multiplayer aspect having it on a table with a TN screen would kind of suck.

I just dont care anymore. Nintendo will support it and I will play Nintendo games. Japanese developers will support it just like the 3ds and I will play their games. Indie developers will suport it and I will play their games as well.

Do I want Dark Souls 3 on the go?Absolutely. Will I buy Skyrim? Day one. If western third party developers dont want my money that is perfectly fine, there will be other games to spend it on.

Also, if CAPCOM doesn't bring Monster Hunter, we revolt 😉

@PlywoodStick huh i never thought of that

@BigWhoady you didnt have to state the obvious :^)

@zionich Well said man.

I think the golden era of the mighty switch is about to dawn upon an unsuspecting world...

Sony and MS should be trembling in fear. Developers are going to be porting anything they possibly can in 6 months time...

Oh yes it will happen.

Oh and if you read this Remedy Entertainment... max Payne 4 Switch version on the go... Go on guys do it...

@Tarvaax uh people preordered because it offers AAA gaming on the go. No other platform comes close or even exists. Yes we all want to know what the hell is in it, but it matters little because its just as powerful as the X1, which is the most powerful GPU for its size thats currently available. Hey if its not for you, dont buy it; simple right? But no your brain cant fathom people would want this thing, and you go calling them stupid. Stop trolling and stop telling people what they should do. We know its hard to be lonely...

battery would last longer if they went with pascal.

@DiscoGentleman great point... optimism vs pessimism .It's all in how you perceive things.

There was a story about 2 salesmen (Salesman 1 is Pessimistic and Salesman 2 is Optimistic)... The first shoe salesman goes to an island to set up shop and sell shoes but immediately after seeing the people he cried "OH NO! No one here wears shoes I cannot do business here!" then heads back home.
The Second Salesman goes to the island and is overjoyed saying " Oh My God I hit the jackpot! Everyone here needs shoes."

Took a switch to bits to confirm what we already know.........

Thank goodness I'm not going to have to tear my own Switch apart on March 3rd.

Sooo now we know the guts of the switch how does this compare to the wii u in terms of power and graphics.?

@PlywoodStick It wouldn't have cost $200 extra. Where did you pluck that figure frm?

@JaxonH I think like others have that the dock is the key to an expansion of sorts. it would be simple to implement not too costly and fits neatly out of the way.

it's a little disappointing, but it's cool

@Akropolon As it says right on the image, 4310 mAh, 3.7V and 16.5Wh

I know the Switch is priced less than top end tablets (but it's not like the Switch is top end technology itself), but for most tablets the battery can be almost 1/2 of the space the tablet itself takes up (spread long and flat along the tablet to balance the weight), so that's what I would consider a " hulking beast of a battery", unless the battery in the Switch is really thick (which can't be seen from the picture), but that would severely throw off the balance of the Switch since it's on one side of it, so I doubt that's the case.

The reason I bring this up is the Switch's 2.5 hour estimated portable battery life that is expected for most AAA games is one of the Switch's notable faults.

Also, the fact that the battery is completely shoved to the side of the device means there was even less of a reason to have it be non removable and require it be a paid maintenance service from Nintendo to have it replaced.

I've never been bothered about this kind of stuff. Just look at Vita vs 3ds as a great recent example of why games are infinitely more important than mechanical horsepower (and I say that as a fan of the underappreciated Vita).

@JaxonH This is something that I feel is often overlooked by people expecting miracles from Switch. The mere fact that it's punching anywhere near XBONE in power is a miracle in itself.

Agreed - come at me in 2 or 3 years with a 'Switch Pro', and I'll happily take one off their hands. Until then, I'll be quite happy with the affordable, accessible piece of tech they have put together for us now.

@YANDMAN It would sure make sense in the light of the SCD patent. They could push 4K as well as a host of graphical improvements with a simple add-on. Whether they themselves see it as 'worth it' - or a source of confusion to the layman consumer - is another discussion all together.

@snintendog I was hoping someone else noticed that! That curvy, asymmetrical U was driving me nuts.

@DarkKirby
I think they said 3 hrs for Zelda, which is about as AAA as you're gonna get on this thing. Is it anything to write home about? Certainly not. But is it a "notable fault" when 3DS and Vita are 3 hrs for their demanding games (games not even 1/10 as visually demanding as Switch games)... I don't think it is. In fact Vita was quoted at 3 hrs on default brightness, no wireless, no Bluetooth and audio running through a headphone jack. I own one but, I've never timed it or anything.

Maybe I would actually call it a weakness... but one shared by pretty much all modern handhelds. The Switch's battery is twice the mAh of Vita though (4,310 vs 2,210). I would gladly have paid for them to go with 6,500 and triple it against Vita, but... I know they're trying to keep cost down.

Idk, handheld battery life just sucks nowadays compared to the old DS days. I used to never even consider a portable battery due to pocket friendly handhelds, but since Switch needs a case anyways, no reason not to keep a portable battery now that there's a case to carry it in.

@YANDMAN
Yeah, I think you're probably right. Heard some rumors about that recently too.

@JaxonH I really appreciate your detailed and well-thought-out posts!

@Royalblues Same fore me, done the mistake on wii u getting it day one and then bundles came by that I wished I would have gotten instead.

Why is there a DS cart in there ? maybe a sign it will play DS games in future ? ....;0

@JaxonH You're missing the fact Mario Kart is constant 60fps this time around, framerate was cut in half when more than two players were involved in the Wii U version.

I don't get the people who are making the "power doesn't matter" argument are also the ones that are getting in line to buy the Switch Pro.

@PlywoodStick amazing. Can't wait for the Captain Spuderica Joy-Con.

Really really interesting. I LOVE teardowns. It's not as handy as iFixits are where they show every step of every screw and layer being removed and rank the repair-ability. But this is still amazing to see.

The takeaways: The battery is almost 1/2 the internal body. Wow. I'd have loved a bigger battery, but looking at the space this one takes, and the overall weight profile, I'm not sure that would have done wonders for the utility of the machine. Relying on an external charger maybe isn't so bad after all in contrast. Our wrists will thank us.

The good news for user replacement is, it is NOT soldered on, it's just plugged in with a 5 pin connector, just like WiiU and 3DS, so if you can FIND a replacement, and if it turns out to be easy to remove the caseback, replacing it is a cinch. Finding the batteries will be the difficulty (Nyko to the rescue in 5, 4, 3, 2....)

The other interesting note is that the cooling solution looks like a bit of a compromise to keep the form factor thin. I assumed the fan would be directly over the SoC heatsink, but instead there's a shockingly large copper heatpipe leading to the fan. That's an amazingly sophisticated design. And a whole lot of copper for a $300 300g device.

Really impressive machine on the inside. Beautifully laid out, not that that's unusual for Nintendo hardware.

@Yorumi It's an FCC & UL thing. (And probably CE, TUV, etc.) For a user replaceable battery you have to have sufficient safety measures, shielding for the components, etc. That means having a battery "slot" of sorts with plastic all around, and adding more space, adding an "inside layer" and "outside layer".

If they sealed the back with adhesive and clips and you have to get into with with a spudger then they're trying to keep people out of the box like Apple & Friends for built-in obsolescence. If it's just a bunch of screws on the back, it's not really doing much to keep anyone out, it just makes it seem "difficult" to give them legal indemnity but makes it simple to actually repair IF someone makes batteries available (Which probably depends on how popular the machine is.)

Patiently awaiting the iFixit breakdown to show us how easy the caseback is to remove.

If I were to guess it's just a bunch of screws (at worst, triwing screws) because they need to keep access easy due to the need for fan repairs over time too. Tablets & phones don't have moving parts that will require service. But I never trust that electronics won't require a spudger until I see it in writing.

So it's a Tegra X1, which basically means the Switch is a slightly more powerful Wii U. That's pretty impressive for a portable, pretty underwhelming for a home console. Honestly, I prefer to consider this system a powerful handheld, though.

@hYdeks I thought a slightly LESS powerful WiiU that you could stick in your pocket would be amazing a year ago. A slightly MORE powerful WiiU you could stick in your (very oversize) pocket is astonishing. It's not even all that underwhelming as a home console at the moment which is twice as impressive (WiiU was never terribly under-powered, it's architecture was its problem.)

@RickRau5 Where the heck did all of that come from? I think you misinterpreted what I said.

@NEStalgia I think that what frustrates me about discussions these days. A lot of people see power as end all, be all. If those same people would read developer comments about how easy it is to put games on the Switch because of its architecture, they would find out that there is more to it than just raw horsepower.

Seriously, If I can play a slightly less shiny game anywhere I go because it was easy to get up and running on the Switch, I will choose that version first. That is why I haven't bought the PS4 Skyrim. The Switch reveal did loose this sale on the PS4 version in favor of the Switch version. I have the Elder Scrolls Anthology on PC and I am still excited to buy Skyrim one more time just to play it where ever I am.

@zionich I think it's a mix of the low-knowledge tech consumers and the high-knowledge tech consumers. The high-knowledge crowd comes from PC culture and tends to think in terms of whatever the most leading edge performance possible at any price is, and then whittles down from there. From that angle Switch is lower performance and undesirable.

The low-knowledge tech crowd doesn't really know WHAT they're looking at so they rely on easy to use numbers and charts to tell them what's good and what's not. To them Switch seems to have a bunch of low numbers and therefore is undesirable.

The former is convinced modern games won't run on it because they demand too much (while somehow also defending early Steambox concepts.) The latter doesn't really understand why games couldn't come to WiiU (both from a tech and a business perspective) and relies only on the comments of some belligerent independent PC studios and over-simplified comments from big studios like EA to assume "it's not powerful enough."

I agree with you on the form factor though. I'm an Elder Scrolls fan...loved Morrowind, adored Oblivion, never got my hands on a version of Daggerfall that didn't need a DOS boot back in the day. I actually got the limited edition Skyrim soundtrack signed by Jeremy Soule. It's a beautiful 3 or 4 CD master work. I bought Skyrim on PC back when I had my last gaming PC...a wonderfully powerful and expensive Xeon based box meant for work. I never played it much past getting the first horse. I bought Skyrim on X360 for convenience. Never played it much after I fell through the floor (darn Bethesda bugs) and had to reload an ancient save. Getting that game, that when it came out required my uber-powered PC to barely push it along on a HANDHELD that can still play on the big screen too? It just doesn't get cooler than that, and I'll finally get to play it.

The other thing for me is cartridges. Carts alone will make Switch versions of any game coming to it my default version. No installs, no fussy CDs to have to clean off (I got my first ever "Disc dirty, please eject and clean any smudges" error from my WiiU the other day. There was a TINY fingerprint near the edge of the disc), no going into the data management menu to figure out which games to delete every time I get a new game like on PS4, and I can keep them all handy, on their own storage.

There's so much convenience in the Switch. I KNOW I'm going to be terribly spoiled by it, shiny graphics or not, and my PS4 will feel like a relic once I get used to it and I'll put off playing Persona 5 forever.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Estimated pricing of the Pascal used in the Tesla car AI system vs inflated prices for the NS edition outside of Japan. Those are $1500 including the Pascal SoC, not even factoring what it would cost with an upgrade to Xavier. Since the Pascal is perhaps the most important part there, I figure it would cost close to at least US$300.

It would have inflated the NS price outside of Japan even further, probably into the US$500 range. (And of course, the equivalent of around US$461 in Japan.) Maybe US$450 if it were being priced to sell, any less would be selling at a significant loss.

@JaxonH The 5,000 mAH battery on my O3DS is keeping it going for 24+ consecutive hours without needing to be recharged, I dunno what you're talking about with low battery life on recent systems...

@NEStalgia NO, DON'T SAY THAT... PERSONA 5 IS COMING TO NS... PERSONA 5 IS COMING TO NS...

@PlywoodStick Haha, I still have that dream, every single day. I know there's a 0.0% possibility of any mainline Persona game coming to any platform but Sony, yet I refuse to let go of that dream. If my tears were crystals I could sell them to Squeenix to build an entire FF anthology out of.

I hope the system is pretty evenly-balanced and not heavier on one side because of the battery

@bofis That copper heat pipe is on the other side. And copper remarkably heavy.

@NEStalgia Find the PC Elder Scrolls Anthology Edition. Has all the Elder Scrolls starting with Arena and plays on the modern PC .

Many respected people have stated that it could in fact be a highly customized Tegra chip that's sporting Pascal. The saga continues......

@zionich True...but I just can't see myself sitting down and playing PC games these days. Back in the day it was a fun retreat to isolation, but working with PCs all day every day kills the fun in that. Consoles spoiled me enough, but once Switch comes out....desk gaming will seem so passe! Skyrim + Switch is as good as TES will get for me from now on. I'm crossing my fingers that Bethesda's E3 will announce TES 5 and announce that it's coming to Switch

@Iggy-Koopa i dont see any confusion it would simply be the N64 expansion port all over again.

@YANDMAN I say confusion, but I only refer to the layman. It's only the average consumer that I would be concerned about, I'm certain the core would lap it up.

@RickRau5 I'm looking forward to finding out the specs in a bit more detail. I'm leaning towards a 16nm X1 custom on Maxwell, but it could be custom something else and could be Pascal. So custom it's essentially its own thing?

Looking forward to using the Switch more though. Part of me doesn't care what the chip is, part of me just wants to know.

@NEStalgia it's very underwhelming as a home console compared to the competition, which those consoles have been out for at least 3 years now. But I don't consider it a home console really, as a portable, it's really impressive, but I don't have any use for a portable in my life.

@hYdeks Fair enough if you don't need a portable. But are you suure you don't need a portable? I do take mine out of the house with me (3DS I mean....I'm living vicariously through the images of Switch online for 3 more days... ) , but it's not just about leaving home. How about making dinner, doing laundry, doing random other things around the house....these are wasted minutes we could be GAMING! I played through most of Project X Zone 2 (and Sonic Fire & Ice, throwing that out there since he's your avatar), purely just in the spare minutes wandering around waiting for things. Switch makes me not have to pick up a different special game for that and continue to play the same one.

For the casual market it's about playing with friends and not being a basement gamer. For us "hardcore gamers" it's about no longer having to waste an idle minute not making progress against our backlog!

@Baker1000 Looks like these folks took a look: https://www.fictiv.com/blog/posts/nintendo-switch-teardown