that’s good. and I guess if they scale the M1 GPU efficiency numbers up linearly they could probably squeeze about 5 TFLOPs out of 15W… but… 5 TFLOPs isn’t very much for something that you’re going to be wanting to run whatever new releases on, if not for the convenient 800p limit (which will probably lead to a lot of non-QAed font sizes)
not making this streaming-forward (i.e. a subset of most current phone functionality but in a dedicated cheaper device) still seems to introduce too many steam box-y compromises that I can see
ooh, I should try to play Arkanoid on a Steam controller (I like its ergonomics but it’s the most aggressive enforcer of hand-placement I’ve ever seen; if you try to move your thumbs off the trackpads it practically snaps at you. The thumbstick and face buttons are a trap)
I think their best process and their best architecture could do at least 3.5@15W, but who knows how they’re binning these and what they have ready to ship in this size
Right, but I was negative about the Switch when it was announced for the exact same reason. And I’m still pretty lukewarm about the Switch now that I own it. Meanwhile out in the real world most people seem to feel this type of compromise is exactly what they were looking for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i’m kind of over the whole everyone wanting to be the Switch thing at this point. there are so many games on PC i’d really prefer to just use mouse + keyboard for. it works for a reason. plus i already have a Switch - why would i need another handheld device like it? i think all signs point to this thing not sticking around for more than a few years.
but anyway in its own way i appreciate the novelty and i am looking forward to when they discontinue this and i can buy it on clearance massively discounted and proudly be in the possession of a failed experiment, just like the Steam controller.
The value I see is in having that form factor with access to my platform-agnostic Steam (and PC in general) library. Sony and Nintendo are actively hostile toward forwards compatibility on digital libraries so I am loathe to give them a cent.
I had a few dozen PS1 and PS2 classics I could play on my non-BC PS3 and Vita. Those licenses are now worthless. Same goes for any downloadable games on pre-Switch Nintendo consoles.
I don’t buy anything that isn’t strictly exclusive on non-PC platforms anymore.
Yeah the PC mainly has that advantage going that far back thanks to Microsoft’s obsession with back compat. They’re the only company that doesn’t make a cost benefit calculation about whether to support older software whenever they refresh their architecture
