What would the Perfect Console be?

[Light-Yagami]

Hi guys. 

 

Me being a PC master race guy, I was wondering - what would a PC master race portable console be like (performance wise).

Portable consoles have many times been underpowered to the point where my head hurts. Latest Nintendo Switch for example is a perfect example of that. I'm not hating on it.. but 720p sh!t screen? locked Nvidia GPU to 40% speed when portable? Poor battery life? I mean come on. And poor game library makes it worse. But it sells, so who cares. 

 

I am one of those guys who would gadly spend $500 on a console that deliveres ultimate on the go preformance without compromising battery life. 

 

So here's my "upgraded Swich" suggestion

 

720p screen should be upgraded to 1080p OLED screen

Nvidia Tegra chip should be upgraded to Mali-G71MP20 (found in Exynos 8895 from Samsung (Galaxy S8)) that means the whole chip would come from Samsung.

Battery should be upgraded from 4310mah to 8000mah with quick charge 3.0

Screen should be covered with Gorilla glass 4 or higher. 

There whould be NO stand

Use of space would have to become sth on Samsung's level (not HTC's)

Controlers would not detach and would be a part of the console (increasing usable area for bigger battery and cooling solutions)

Cooling would be done pasively through copper heatpipes (like those found in Galaxy S8) and there would be No fans (they take too much space)

Storage would increase from 32 to 64gb

 

Now this is better. Sure, it would probably cost a lot more but this is the console I'd buy. 

 

I don't understand why portable consoles are always soo underpowered that they're obsolete in 2 years. Why don't they make a console that's just a bit more expensive 

and invest in performance and battery life. I'd be okay with poor material choices if the good stuff was where it mattered.

 

What are your thoughts on consoles in general? Do you think they're underpowered? What would you change? 

I know Switch is just one of many before, but still. I would really like to buy a portable console that I think would last me more than 2 years of game support. 

 

Your answers are always appreciated.

 

 

 

[Princess Luna]

The perfect console would be a portable super high end gaming pc capable of doing every game no "exclusives" thingy, imagine a machine capable of doing multiple movies on other screens while playing the game on another and if you want even browsing on a monitor at the same time.

[m0k]

what you described is similar to a $1000 flagship phone

how would that ever be reasonably squeezed into half the price? material choices aside

 

As for your underpowered argument,

you have to understand it takes years for R&D to test hardware and software so if a tegra chip is powerful today - and the product is to launch in two years time, your problem will never be solved

[m0k]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

The perfect console would be a portable super high end gaming pc capable of doing every game no "exclusives" thingy, imagine a machine capable of doing multiple movies on other screens while playing the game on another and if you want even browsing on a monitor at the same time.

The Perfect console Thing

 

lol im with you on this

[Guest lilbman]

Today's consoles are underpowered.  There's no argument against that; they were underpowered when they were first released and that certainly has not changed.  I feel like I would be using an XBOne right now instead of my current tower if it could dual boot to Windows.

 

Now that would be awesome.

 

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

720p screen should be upgraded to 1080p OLED screen

 

 

 

 

too much power to drive it also battery life hit 

 

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Nvidia Tegra chip should be upgraded to Mali-G71MP20 (found in Exynos 8895 from Samsung (Galaxy S8)) that means the whole chip would come from Samsung.

 

 

 

 

Tegra chip has more support also easier to port, a lot easier. 

 

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Battery should be upgraded from 4310mah to 8000mah with quick charge 3.0

 

 

 

 

make it really thick, quick charge 3.0 will kill the battery fast. 

 

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Storage would increase from 32 to 64gb

 

 

that would be awesome but would increase cost 

3 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Cooling would be done pasively through copper heatpipes (like those found in Galaxy S8) and there would be No fans (they take too much space)

 

so cooling would be designed by razer? serious overheating problem. 

 

4 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Controlers would not detach and would be a part of the console (increasing usable area for bigger battery and cooling solutions)

 

 

i love this as most people, this is what makes it fun to play with 

 

4 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Battery should be upgraded from 4310mah to 8000mah with quick charge 3.0

 

 

too thick for most people 

 

5 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

I don't understand why portable consoles are always soo underpowered that they're obsolete in 2 years. Why don't they make a console that's just a bit more expensive 

 

cost is very important, having it lower cost meanes more people can afford it, Nintendo is about fun not gfx.  if crysis 3 had all the gfx takes out of it, it would be a boring game that no one would play. 

6 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

What are your thoughts on consoles in general? Do you think they're underpowered? What would you change? 

I know Switch is just one of many before, but still. I would really like to buy a portable console that I think would last me more than 2 years of game support. 

 

i personally think, it's good, yes i would love a bit more power. i think this can easily have support more than 2 years, especially if it had more AAA support. 

 

7 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Me being a PC master race guy, I was wondering - what would a PC master race portable console be like (performance wise).

Portable consoles have many times been underpowered to the point where my head hurts. Latest Nintendo Switch for example is a perfect example of that. I'm not hating on it.. but 720p sh!t screen? locked Nvidia GPU to 40% speed when portable? Poor battery life? I mean come on. And poor game library makes it worse. But it sells, so who cares. 

 

much as i love PCMR, i hate the fact " more power is better" the most fun i had with a console would be the switch, n64, ps and other "underpowered" consoles. zelda is better than witch 3 in my opinion gameplay wise, even my parents who don't play games picked up switch with shovel knigh, zelda breath of the wild, Mario kart, splatoon and bunch of other games. 

 

in the end it comes down to what you are looking for in a console, i personally love lan gameplay. 

[Bananasplit_00]

best console? no console

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

best console? no console

or every console if it has what you are looking for. 

[Light-Yagami]

@nerdslayer1 

Well you're right about the fun part. Consoles aren't about GFX

Bigger sized battery is possible with a design I presented. 

I don't know why if somehing is easier to port on a GPU that is underpowered but harder to port on a GPU that is much more powerfull - why choose underpowered for the sake of simplicity? That's not how the mentality should be oriented. Imho. (you could say "then You do it" but that's not the point here)

 

Even SD 821 would do just fine if I think about it. (for performance)

1080p screen is perfectly fine battery consumption wise. With battery size of 8k mah and SD 821 somewhere around 6+ gaming hours should be possible no problem.

Quickcharge isn't the most important (So you could skip it I quess..). It does not damage the battery (you should see how it works to prevent that exact probem) and batteries are optimised for it.

Cooling a SD 821/Exynos 8895 is easier. You don't need fans.(duh)

 

At the end of the day, If just the battery would be larger and GPU unlocked in portable mode (to sth like 60 or 70%) - I'd consider it. 

Is that a good enough compromise?

[The Sloth]

Just now, Light-Yagami said:

Well you're right about the fun part. Consoles aren't about GFX

 

 

yup

 

1 minute ago, Light-Yagami said:

Bigger sized battery is possible with a design I presented. 

 

 

but it would sacrifice the design, i sometimes play Mario kart with my wife on the switch on the kitchen table.

 

1 minute ago, Light-Yagami said:

Even SD 821 would do just fine if I think about it. (for performance)

 

 

driver support of a potato, Qualcomm is one of the worst company with drivers. 

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

1080p screen is perfectly fine battery consumption wise. With battery size of 8k mah and SD 821 somewhere around 6+ gaming hours should be possible no problem.

 

 

nope, use too much power also 821 has no support.

 

2 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

Cooling a SD 821/Exynos 8895 is easier. You don't need fans.(duh)

 

 

not easy as you think, 821 and 8895 is designed for 2 to 3 years max while a console is designed for 8 to even 10 years in mind.  

 

4 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

At the end of the day, If just the battery would be larger and GPU unlocked in portable mode (to sth like 60 or 70%) - I'd consider it. 

Is that a good enough compromise?

 

still not good enough for most of the fanbase, current design is mix of compromise and power. 

[iBabySlapper]

For me the perfect portable that's possible with today's technology would be:

About the size and weight of a PS Vita slim, with the great buttons from that vita- Mostly matt plastic, but has Alu/Stainless steel trim that act as a heatsink for the heatpipe cooling for the chips inside. They could checker the Alu/steel bits for extra surface area.

A capacitive touch 5 inch IPS that's aroud 900P- about 340 DPI screen that'll be a good trade between sharpness and energy savings

Nvidia Tegra X1 or PowerVR 7XT- Those are the mobile gpus with the best 3DMark scores

MediaTek Helio X30- 10 10nm Cores could probably do wonders with good omptimisations and helps keep costs down

Around 5000-7000 Mah replacable Li-Po

32-128GB EFS 2.0 intergrated + MicroSD support

Intel Wireless chip

Internal Hi-Fi DAC from the likes of sabre

Games in cartridges don't take up storage, or DL games from a store.

 

More expensive model with larger battery, more metal trim and glass fibre instead of plastic and OLED display might be an option.

 

 

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, ibabyslapper said:

MediaTek Helio X30- 10 10nm Cores could probably do wonders with good omptimisations and helps keep costs down

 

 

ps1 is better supported 

[iBabySlapper]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

ps1 is better supported 

Well, the X30 is faster than a SD820, and since this is a console, software will be made for it?

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, ibabyslapper said:

Well, the X30 is faster than a SD820, and since this is a console, software will be made for it?

nope, the company who produced the chip usually puts malware and spyware in everything. 

[iBabySlapper]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

nope, the company who produced the chip usually puts malware and spyware in everything. 

Then what would you put in it? An 835 is faster, but it's not available.

 

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, ibabyslapper said:

Then what would you put in it? An 835 is faster, but it's not available.

 

 

something that's dev friendly with lots of support like an X1 which they did. 

[iBabySlapper]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

something that's dev friendly with lots of support like an X1 which they did. 

But then again the X1 is built on Maxwell, and the Pascal Tegra pretty much doesn't exist, and the Volta Tegra probably isn't going to be in any devices aside from AI in SD cars.

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, ibabyslapper said:

But then again the X1 is built on Maxwell, and the Pascal Tegra pretty much doesn't exist, and the Volta Tegra probably isn't going to be in any devices aside from AI in SD cars.

 

....yes they put the best Tegra they had at the time, Switch will have much more support than other Tegra devices. 

[iBabySlapper]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

....yes they put the best Tegra they had at the time, Switch will have much more support than other Tegra devices. 

Wait, when was this about the Switch?

Isn't the whole thing about this thread because the current consoles are crap?

[The Sloth]

Just now, ibabyslapper said:

Wait, when was this about the Switch?

Isn't the whole thing about this thread because the current consoles are crap?

 

you are talking about portable consoles, currently switch is the only one that people buy. 

[iBabySlapper]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

you are talking about portable consoles, currently switch is the only one that people buy. 

Yeah, so this is a discussion on what we'll actually want in a portable.

[Light-Yagami]

If only Apple made consoles..

 

That sweet sweet optimisation.. I think consoles aren't using even 50% of their potential.. 

 

[Guest]

A portable super computer that I didn't have to download games on; they would just magically appear.

 

Slow 1.1 mb/s life... 

[Mira Yurizaki]

On 5/6/2017 at 11:12 AM, mok said:

you have to understand it takes years for R&D to test hardware and software so if a tegra chip is powerful today - and the product is to launch in two years time, your problem will never be solved

You're like the only other person I've seen that acknowledges this is a thing.

 

On 5/6/2017 at 11:16 AM, nerdslayer1 said:

much as i love PCMR, i hate the fact " more power is better" the most fun i had with a console would be the switch, n64, ps and other "underpowered" consoles.

Well, I wouldn't call the N64 "underpowered". It was very advanced for its time, it's just that Nintendo didn't let anyone bare the console's fangs until late in its life.

 

On 5/6/2017 at 0:14 PM, Light-Yagami said:

If only Apple made consoles..

 

That sweet sweet optimisation.. I think consoles aren't using even 50% of their potential..

I think they are. Maybe they're not using more efficient code, but I'd wager there's a few games that are really pushing the system.

[tatte]

You basically described a phone. The only reason Nintendo is still able to sell not only one line but two main lines of handheld consoles is games. Sony tried taking the performance route and they had a honorable run with it, but without the Nintendo effect it's really expensive to compete against phones (or tables, if they're still a thing).

 

Moving on to what would be the perfect console to me: It's all about software. it would be as versatile as any PC operating system, but with the convenience on being perfectly usable from a couch with a controller. I loved the Snap feature Xbone had, it had so many uses but went underutilized. Sony was also on the right track with the way they expanded the potential of the controller. Great things can be achieved without a keyboard and a mouse, and the most obvious place to pioneer this would be on the PC... but Valve's Big Picture was sadly pretty miserable and I'm not aware of anything similar being built right now.

 

Sony plays it safe and Microsoft is all over the place... and Apple couldn't care less.