Hardware Why is pretty much every New 3DS an XL

[Arecaidian Fox]

I've had an XL and a regular and I've found that I far prefer the more pocket-friendly size of the regular. I do miss the IPS panel and better speakers of my XL, though. But I got lucky, I was on a business trip in northern Idaho and my job site was across the street from a GameStop. Found my non-XL there, one of the Black Friday editions and it was on a hackable firmware (which mattered at the time ). It's really sad the regular ones didn't sell better here in the US, we might have seen more from that specific form factor.

 

[silvershadow]

i thought the XL was more popular in north america because of nintendo's assumption of americans with big hands. and the normal size was more common in japan. i always wanted a black new3ds but i never got one, just because outside of a special limited edition one, i dont think we got it over here.

 

[D34DL1N3R]

I do miss the IPS panel

I've NEVER thought the IPS panels were better. Severe black crush is the main reason.

I prefer the XL. When you're 6'4" with large hands combined with being 48 and not the best eyesight... it's the XL all the way.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Why do people prefer IPS panels over TN panels despite the fact that the TN panels have a better refresh rate on a handheld gaming system where the improved viewing angles of IPS style panels really don't matter? Why do people prefer a heavier, harder to pocket system with blurrier screens? That latter one at least can be well explained by having big hands. But I'm a grown man, have quite average/above average hands, and the standard model is still a better fit for my grip. Maybe some people just prefer their controllers to run down the whole contour of the palm, even though most controllers don't actually do that.


It seems like eye tracking should have always been a thing, until you learn that the eye tracking takes an entire ARM11 CPU core all for itself, and a single N3DS core (of which there are four) has more processing power than both cores of the O3DS combined.

Since handhelds never go above 60 FPS the refresh rate is a non issue. IPS panels can go way higher than that.

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

I've NEVER thought the IPS panels were better. Severe black crush is the main reason.

I prefer the XL. When you're 6'4" with large hands combined with being 48 and not the best eyesight... it's the XL all the way.

Totally fair, it's all about preferences. I just miss the better viewing angle with the IPS panel is all. I've never really seen the black levels as too crushed, but again, preferences. I'm ~6'1" and have long-ish fingers myself, so I know what you're talking about in terms of grip and comfort, but I always come back to the XL just not being pocket-friendly enough for my needs. For me, going from an XL to regular-sized N3DS has actually helped me take the aging handheld more places and play it instead of instances where I would have just pulled out my phone (a growing habit I'm trying to break). Again though, it all comes back around to the needs of the individual user. I'm happy you have the option to pick an XL because it suits you better. I just wish that it had been profitable for the regular sized-system to be a more common option for people, too.

 

[bobo0921]

idk for me I always liked bigger one. Maybe because I really dont care much about graphic displays... Bigger screen is much comfortable for me