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Ok, this is an arguement waiting to happen. Do you consider the Switch a "portable"?
- Thread starter Exellus
- Start date
This. I can hook my mouse and TV up to my laptop and that doesn't make it a desktop PC. It is a portable.
Name a home console that can be unplugged from the wall and be powered by its own battery...You can't, because if you could then you'd be showing me a portable system.
You are looking at it in a hardware perspective, i'm looking at a product perspective. You call a drill a household appliance product because you can use it as a food mixer?
*ding ding ding*
It's nice moving around my house but otherwise it's not going anywhere else.
I'm getting ready to start taking my Switch with me on my commute. What games are you usually playing?
It's a hybrid console which I prefer to use docked with a Pro Controller whenever possible. The handheld mode is simply for convenience.
I don't think of it as a portable. No.
I don't think of it as a portable. No.
I agree with this.
To me, there are a such things as hybrids.
It's just that almost every hybrid device I know of has a core function. That the Switch can still function without the dock tells me its core function is as a portable, handheld.
That the dock is useless without the Switch tells me this too.
I saw this:
http://fortune.com/2017/03/16/nintendo-switch-without-dock/
This tells me even more. It's still connected to the T.V. , it's just not docked in the traditional sense.
Someone posted out the box it can be docked to the T.V. No, out box you can turn it on and start playing.
Wow, he took it one step further...no Switch dock at all.
https://youtu.be/Li0s2SUETPQ
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Anything which doesn't need audio and that I can play while listening to podcasts.
So recently, Dead Cells. In the past, tons of Picross, Zelda (just exploring stuff, not story stuff or any important events), Stardew Valley, Steamworld Dig / Steamworld Heist, and other such games.
I didn't refuse to address it at all, it's clearly not relevant as I've stated, but for argument's sake, let's say I bring up what you mentioned about coding, software, and hardware compatibility: 1) Why does it matter if devices have different programming languages? Fundamentally, there are similarities between multiple devices even if the programming language they were brought up in, is completely different from one another. That doesn't stop them from being considered PCs. This would be like me saying "well an Android Phone does X, Y, Z, differently from an Apple phone due to the nature of their operating systems and how differently they handle each function, despite the fact that both products basically do the same functions" and then going off and saying how one of them is not a phone. It's a silly argument that accomplishes nothing other than to create lines because people care more about brand allegiance than they do about what the device actually does. 2) Related to programming language, software compatibility falls under the same problem. Does a device stop being recognized as such simply because there are different applications that accomplish the same thing? Macs have access to Microsoft Office even if it's completely different in development compared to Windows MS Office? Are they any less of a PC despite the fact that both apps accomplish the same things? Again, another silly argument that disregards what apps are available in what OSes because you're focusing on the pedantic elements that ultimately do not matter much. 3) Hardware compatibility means what exactly? Are you talking about when you have to upgrade your parts? Or are you talking about proprietary hardware? Because if it's the latter, then by your logic, any old PC in the 1980s are not PCs because of their propriety nature up until IBM decided to open it up. Even then it runs into the same problem as the other two components, focusing on things that has nothing to do with general use of the device. The choices that a manufacturer makes, does not affect whether I or anyone else use the device as a PC. All of which is the reason why I said it's irrelevant in the first place.
If you also read the thread, you would realize that the main problem with portability is not the "ambiguous" nature of the word, the word itself is very clear. One of the problems is that people mistake portability for pocketability, which has nothing to do with portability in the first place. Portability isn't limited to JUST taking your devices and putting it in your pocket. It's why no one mistakes tablets, and laptops for being portable devices because they recognize that there are people who take these devices on the go, and yet, people have a problem with the Switch because they cannot simply pocket it, when you can just as easily pack it onto a bag and maintain its status as a portable device.
It's a portable with TV out and controller functionality, just like the PSP Go. Nintendo can call it a console all that want, but it's a portable. But unfortunately due to it's size and form factor it isn't a convenient portable to bring with you in normal situations.
I've never understood the comparisons to PSP/Go or even a laptop being used on a TV. If a PSP/Go is used on the TV, the performance and image quality doesn't change. You'll be playing a 480p game on a larger screen (which oftentimes is worse if you stretch the image to fit on a TV screen). That's why the comparisons fall flat, they're not the same things.
And the size thing is equally stupid considering it's as thick as a 3DS XL and about half the size of a tablet, which most people take on the go anyways. So how is it less convenient?
I keep seeing Dead Cells pop up as a great Switch game. I think I'll check that out. Thanks!
I really want to know what the hardline pocketable posters feel about the OGGB since apparently thats a feature which defines portables.
Really depends on how you use it: for me, I just keep that shit on the dock because the game I play the most, Splatoon 2 is plays really awkwardly in portable mode if you use motion controls. It also doesn't help that the Switch's wifi chip is garbage, so keeping it docked lets me use my lan adapter so I can avoid disconnecting during matches.
Maybe when Fire Emblem comes out I'll start using it in portable mode. I always preferred console Fire Emblem and if Three Houses can give me a console experience, but portable then I'll probably start running around with my Switch undocked when I feel like it
Maybe when Fire Emblem comes out I'll start using it in portable mode. I always preferred console Fire Emblem and if Three Houses can give me a console experience, but portable then I'll probably start running around with my Switch undocked when I feel like it
The dock does not make the Switch better, they simply underclock the Switch outside the dock to make the battery life longer. The 3DS can fit in your pocket and its clamshell design protects both its screen and it's controls, the Switch unfortunately is too large for a pocket and it's screen and controls are exposed.
This is a better way putting it for me. It's a home console that can work on the go, but when I am on the go for work or vacation I never bring my Switch. It's far to large and it's battery life doesn't justify bringing it over another device.
My Vita or 3DS can fit in a pocket with my Vita almost double the battery life in one go .Switch needs it's own compartment
It's a hybrid and depends how you use. I personally have plugged my switch dock in once and it was when I first got it, I just keep it in the box now. I use my switch primarily in bed or on the go so I fully use it as a handheld, but I know people who never really undock their switch and just use a pro controller all the time.
I play it portably all the time, so yes. I also have the option to dock it and use it more like a typical console. It can do both depending on your needs and I absolutely love it.
I knew someone that did this with a Wii U at work, used the game pad for gaming while the console was hidden away under the table.
That was ingenious.
The Wii U, the forgotten hybrid.
I would say it's more like an iPad to a smart phone. There's a huge difference between an iPad an a laptop.
I don't think it matters what people "consider" it. It's a portable gaming system, end stop. The question is how people choose to use it. I understand if some people only play it 'docked', of course, and are too uncomfortable playing it portably.
Fact is I play it on the plane, on the bus, in my bed, and also docked. It is a portable console that can be docked.
Fact is I play it on the plane, on the bus, in my bed, and also docked. It is a portable console that can be docked.
When there's good news about the Switch it's a portable.
See: talk about its sales figures, the rush of content providers pumping it up, this thread
When there's bad news about the Switch it's a console.
See: Any discussion about Nintendo and hardware since 1983.
See: talk about its sales figures, the rush of content providers pumping it up, this thread
When there's bad news about the Switch it's a console.
See: Any discussion about Nintendo and hardware since 1983.
That doesn't make any sense. The underclocking isn't just for battery life, it's also affecting performance thresholds of a Switch functioning in portable mode. You wouldn't be able to reach console mode performances because of the lack of electricity consumption (through the USB-C port which is that the Dock has to enable the Switch to draw in power), and by extension the inability to move video signal to reach higher thresholds + limitations of the Switch screen being 720p. The PSP/Go doesn't have that kind of option and maintains the same performance regardless of whether it was connected to the TV or not. Ergo, the PSP/Go comparison is still garbage.
Everyone keeps saying the Switch is too large for pockets as if portability just means pocketability. It doesn't. Otherwise by your logic, tablets aren't portable devices because they are too large for pockets (and roughly the same size as a Switch). Portability can also refer to taking the Switch in a case and bag if protection is a major deal. Also, in what world is a 3DS pocketable? I wear regular pants and have a hard time fitting the 3DS and its larger variants in my pocket. The best I can do is put it in my wallet pocket of my winter coat, otherwise, I use a case and a bag.
All I know is that I can count on one hand the number of times I've played the Switch undocked and came close to running out of battery power... and have several fingers left over.
It's not any less portable to me than my 3DS XL or my old GameBoy Color. None fit my pockets and I need to carry them in a bag.
So, conclusion, if I don't need it hooked to a power outlet and TV to play, meaning I can play anywhere I want, then it's a portable.
So, conclusion, if I don't need it hooked to a power outlet and TV to play, meaning I can play anywhere I want, then it's a portable.
I consider it a home console that can be taken on the go. I never take it out of the dock and always treat it as a home console. I personally don't see it as a handheld whatsoever. It's too big to be treated as such in my eyes. 3DS and Vita to me are handhelds, Vita being the perfect one.
I like what others have said. It's the laptop of consoles.
Battery life prevents it from bring truly portable but I can take it to the shitter with ease.
Battery life prevents it from bring truly portable but I can take it to the shitter with ease.
