Hey all, it has been a while.
We have recently learned through a source at Nintendo connected to the organisation of an upcoming hands on press event that the Nintendo Switch Dock does increase the performance of the handheld, but not due to any additional processing in the dock.
When the system is connected to the dock by USB-C, the system’s components will run at a higher clock speed to facilitate 1080p resolutions on the TV. Both video and power will be transfered over USB-C when docked.
Plugging the system into the dock will also activate a small additional fan to help with cooling when run at that higher clock speed. This fan is in the rear of the dock, and there is a gap in the back of the dock to allow the system’s inbuilt fans to vent when docked.
The dock is incredibly light weight and, while it does play a part in increasing system performance on the TV, it is designed to be cheap to produce. The intention is that some time after launch additional docks will be sold to place in differing rooms if you have multiple TVs.
Nintendo’s January 13th 2017 reveal events will feature near retail level hardware. Each title will be locked to playing one game demo, but press will be free to take the systems to a separate area of the event to play on sofas rather than the TV. When returning to TVs, they will not be required to return the system to the same dock it started at.
The event will be held in a large number of small sessions, each with a minimal number of press in attendance to ensure hardware is kept track of. UK Press are required to RSVP for the event by 11:59PM December 8th 2016. The location of the reveal event has not been made known to press. Let’s Play Video Games were not amongst the outlets invited to this event. They did not respond to our request for an invite to the event when we learned invites had been sent out.
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