What the portable computers to combat Nintendo Switch 2 should do

I stopped buying most of the Nintendo adapter on the day I bought the deck. It was the key to my country Mario and Zelda Machine since then. It is simple: Steam Deck established the best Switch-Pick-up and play-with more games that work better. I can easily resume those that started on my desktop computer, or continue to run portable addresses on my desktop and Marvel in improved graphics.

but Nintendo Switch 2Later this year, this value proposal may change. It will not only continue the The control unit that attracts families and children with innovative and surprising Nintendo games Several separate tricksBut it also has a real opportunity to persuade enthusiasts who may buy a mobile computer – or who were waiting for laptops to become less than the wild West.

Key 2 may meet or overcome the steam surface in performance. If the date is any indicator,, easily Sell ​​better than every computer mobile games. When the original Nintendo Switch was launched nearly eight years ago, there was there Nothing almost to play but ZeldaNintendo grabbed the game catalog in an iron fist-but now, Switch 2 will be launched with one with someone The largest and most welcoming libraries in all timesOnly compete by smartphones and computers. The theoretical key can become the new foundation line for gaming developers to target them, and the most reliable place to find new hand titles.

So: How can you Emerging computer revolution by hand Escape from the shade of switching 2? I will definitely know that I know, but I am an act You only need to check the industry temperature in CES 2025, the largest technical show in the world – and I am afraid that the laptops will be portable in this shade unless the industry does more.

The hand -filled work environment was one bright point in 2025. While I was still the best of the surface, every hand -laptop that touched it was well wiped, making it more comfortable than its predecessors. from 8 inch MSI Claw 8 AI Plus Lenovo The Legion goes sTo The 8.8 -inch Legion goes 2And the giant Sunday dragon 11 inchesEven the largest Windows Handhelds did not feel embarrassed like some of their first generation ancestors.

There are four places that I think the industry should change – and perhaps, collecting together – if these mobile devices want to get a useful piece of the key.

Buyers need to know that their game will be ready He plays When they press the power button on a portable. This is the Nintendo Switch experience, and it is similar to how Steam Deck works once you download games – but it is far from what Windows Handhelds currently offers.

For this reason, the largest parts of mobile games in the exhibition were not a great relationship with the same devices. They were about getting rid of today’s version of the portable windows.

First, Lenovo revealed that she would produce The first third party approved For charging with Steamos is easy to use instead of windows-which is only the steam surface has done so far. Second, Valve told us that it would bring Beta Steamos to an additional external destination Once this is April. third, A CEO of Microsoft said Drilling The company will finally make something meaning about the amplified Windows experience on Handhelds later this year, which combines “the best Xbox and Windows together”.

These moves are encouraging, because they are wild wild in the hand of the laptop by hand. Most companies choose a copy of Windows that do not reliably unleash games or sleep and wake up properly, defeating some of the purpose of the pickup experience and playing by hand. It is full of user interface service that is difficult Steamos Steamos thorn created by society is a much better experience From Windows.

It is also a good thing for Steamos fans: Although Steam Deck is a great platform for Steamos, we have already seen that the deck cannot compete with the key alone. Publisher of the game Do not see raw sales numbers To bring large players games like Fortnite or evaluation To Steamos. (They say Grains are very big))

However, although CES movements are important, Microsoft and Lenovo are not binding around the amount of things that may improve. You will only give me Microsoft the most hint about making Windows feel like a Xbox control unit at some point later this year. Lenovo hedge stainos difficult – It will not only ship Legion in both types of Windows and Steamos, the Windows version will be sold months ago, and you will not abide by Lenovo to Steamos in order to get more in 2015.

No other company has announced the presence of Steamos by hand in CES, either, with the exception of the GPD computer, With the apparently false claim Or lost in translation. Valve told me that he has no other partner devices currently working in Steamos, although it would be good to work with more companies. I think every mobile maker should give Steamos a bullet.

This is easy: to increase performance, battery life and economics, and provide an experience closer to the game Global adoption OLED 1080p-P-OROWER-DEERESSION screen with a variable update rate.

Many manufacturers of PC are lost in the little performance that they can mobilize from chip and battery carried on a screen with a lot of pixels for the task, artificially restricting performance and battery life compared to 1600 pixels or 1,200 pixels that most players will not miss 7 inches to 8 inches. In addition, all mobile without The variable update screen is likely to be lost a large part of the tires that can serve it because its screen is artificially challenge FPS.

finally, HDR is the revelation on the OLED screen on the deckLeave both the original titles and HDR games that I broadcast from my PS5 and feel that it is full of real light that explodes outside the screen. It is something that has not always provided Windows laptops and laptops how to control control panels today, but can be portable gateway to change this.

Is a screen like that I describe expensive or difficult to find? Collecting together, computer companies can, and certainly the show maker can change this for you.

Unless Nvidia Tegra is counted at the heart of the Nintendo key, AMD is the pioneer in portable chips. But half of it Aerith and Sephiroth parts Steam girl feels like only Those designed proactively with a portable effort in mind, leaving everyone in a non -favorable position. It looks like AMD’s New Z2 line Not all of this may be different.

The AMD Z1 chips were not at a manual side like ASUS ROG ally for the sake of mobile; They are modified laptop processors that need 17 or 18 watts to start hitting their steps, enough to drain a model 50Wh battery package in less than three hours with moderate intense games.

The Z2 line is a set of modified laptop chips, and while AMD told me that some may make more performance in the same strength and add improved efficiency adjustments, the total energy consumed may not decrease. Alex Zhu, Lenovo Product Manager, told me that he is looking to run Chip Go’s Z2 Go in about 20 watts, which may give it the battery life worse than the 15 -watt steam surface even if its graphics processing unit is more capable. AMD also confirmed that Z2 Go is less powerful than the previous Z1 Extreme.

The older MAHESH Subramony colleague at AMD Mahesh Subramony, pioneering Z2 Extreme Chip, in TSMC n4P node, with a mixture of newer core Zen 5, Zen 5C and RDNA 3.5, and slightly better than Z1 Extreme as well, but it is not a jump forward. It may require that AMD Even the latest RDNA 4 drawingsThis may require custom processors.

Don’t get your breath if you hope that Intel provides a meaningful competition in the world of portable chips. While the early reviews of the Intel Lunar in MSI Claw 8 AI Plus is completely promising, it is completely promising, Lake Lake Slice may be a little bit from one timeWith future Intel parts away from the energy saving memory that is experimentally added. I am curious if this is the reason MSI did not fully launch the claw As expected.

Meanwhile, Antel is certain Fish larger in the pan is now It is made dedicated portable chips. “It is not a market that we are actively following, but it is a market that we are happy to enable,” Intel VP told me from technical marketing Robert Haluk about mobile games. He added: “It is somewhat outside the curriculum,” explaining that it is a fun and exciting but small market and that Intel must choose its battles. “We start with confession, about five or six years of conflict, and we have to decide where we want to invest.”

Some manufacturers have been able to improve battery life defects in AMD chips, which are practiced today by including a much larger battery package- Asus Rog ally x The size of its predecessor package has doubled to 80 watts, and the 80Wh is no longer the only one you can buy. But this comes with the sizes of size and weight that can Just is partially designed far away.

We need mobile makers to join each other and create a better chips.

Computer industry also needs to lower prices if you want a chance to have Nintendo lunch.

Nintendo Switch appeared for the first time at $ 299 in 2017 – about $ 380 in today’s funds – and the OLED version reached $ 349 in 2021. After a year, Valve’s Steam Deck appeared for the first time at $ 399. But today, The only Windows Games PC It costs $ 799, that is, twice the price of the deck, and most Windows Handhelds began at $ 600 and above. Advanced options are great, but the space may remain specialized without low options, too.

Only the lower -cost model for the Lenovo Steamos variable from the Legion goes This tape will reduce to $ 499 This May. All of these prices are still more than Sony or Microsoft fees for a much larger TV console, and Nintendo will like to switch 2.

I am not sure what exactly Computers will need to challenge the price, but it is likely to be simple. Valve Gabe Newell CEO He said it was “painful” but “critical” To launch the steam surface at $ 399, which suggests that the company may have followed Business and milk business model Where the console makers initially sell the devices at a loss, then restore the money when people buy games. If so, this is difficult to follow, as the other computers maker does not control the largest computer game store in the world and can afford the costs of support by hand in hand in this way.

But not every control unit was a loss leader: According to what was reported, Nintendo did not sell the key at a loss, and Sony stopped selling PS5 with a loss Less than a year after it appears for the first time. Therefore, it is possible to reduce prices with the appropriate material and economy bill. Lenovo explicitly told me that he worked with AMD on Chip Z2 Go to help reduce Go Legion, for example.

To compete with Nintendo, you need a company like Microsoft, Valve or even Sony to drive these drawings, secure components and provide appropriate operating system for dozens of real Switch competitors imagine dozens of Portable xboxes Or PlayStations or Steam machinesInstead of every computer maker walks to their rhythm.

I think it is time to push the industry level on mobile games. It may be the future of games, the period. There is a lot at stake to treat it from the semi -baked windows at one time.