A New Handheld War Begins
Switch vs. Smach
Console Specs
The Nintendo Switch's horsepower remains a mystery at this point. Nintendo has partnered with Nvidia this generation and is promising a powerful piece of hardware. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Remastered was shown as a game for the hardware in its reveal, even though Bethesda has not confirmed whether the title will be available on the device. Because of this, it is difficult to determine how powerful the system will be. Rumors have it pegged at anywhere from being a hair above the Wii U to as powerful as the Xbox One. Nintendo has stated there will be no more info until 2017 (probably to focus on marketing their holiday lineup), so it will be some time until we know the full capabilities of the machine and its price.
We do know, however, that the system will use cartridges as its media of choice with no backwards compatibility for Wii U discs or 3DS cartridges. Its storage options, however, remain a mystery though micro SD card support seems like a safe bet. Battery life and whether the console comes with a touch screen also remaisn to be seen. But it does at least have a headphone jack.
Team Smach, on the other hand, has been very open about how powerful the Smach is. The system offers two models, both of which come with a 720p 6 inch touch screen, 2.1 GHz AMD CPU, and a Radeon iGPU clocking at 800 MHz. As of now the base model will cost $300 and offer 4 GB of RAM and a 64 GB hard drive. The Smach Pro costs $500 offers 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB hard drive with both including a Micro SD slot. The Pro model also offers a camera and 4G support. There is also a limited edition Golden version with 16 GB of RAM and your name engraved on it for around $988.
It is worth noting that these are Kickstarter prices and the handheld will be more expensive at retail. In addition, if a stretch goal is reached then the screen resolution will be bumped up to 1080p. The system will have about 5 hours of battery life and run either Windows or Linux depending on the player's preference. It will be an open platform, offering the player as much freedom as a gaming PC. The Smach will also have options to stream games from your PC or PS4, play on the TV, and even allow you to connect a PC and mouse to it.
Comments