Am I surprised that the "specs" included no mention on the stuff that matters to programmers? (or fanboy wankers, apparently?) No, not at all. Still, I stand by my earlier estimates of the machine's specs; the clock speeds are based on the assumption that Nintendo wants a similar power draw to the original DS:
■400-800 MHz ARM-11 CPU (single CPU, 3.2-6.4 GFLOPS)
■200-400 MHz PICA200 GPU (1.6-3.2G pixels/s, 15-30M polys/sec, unlimited/free shaders)
■64-128MB mDDR2 main memory, 400-533 MHz, 64-bit interface (3.2-4.3 GB/sec)
At the minimum end of the range, this represents approximately 2.4 times the pixel/memory bandwidth of the PSP, which could handle 0.66G pixels/s, and 1.33 GB/sec, respectively. The CPU would "only" have an on-paper maximum of 1.2 times the FLOPS of the PSP, however that doesn't take into account the fact that the PSP lacks hardware T&L, meaning that the GPU has to constantly hog the CPU for making those triangles. Additionally, the r4000 is an ancient CPU core, nearly 20 years old, while the ARM11 is far more modern, sporting far more instructions and optimizations that give it probably a 2:1 improvement in clock-cycle efficiency for modern gaming applications.
The only real weakness we might see is the RAM supply, which has been a constant Achilles' Heel in every single console and handheld design Nintendo has ever made from the NES onward, though given that the 3DS doesn't have a bloated iOS or Android operating system to feed, the problem will probably be the least severe it's ever been.
[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]You what would be nice, being able to use it for more than just games but also support homebrew apps such as using it as a PDA. Some questions.What is the maximum size SD card that it can support? Can it run ported N64 games such as Zelda or Conker's Bad Fur Day? Can it do more than just games like watch Low Res video that can be encoded and played on the console? It would be nice to be able to enjoy more than just a few casual games.[/citation]
To try to add some thought to your questions, especially since you ask "CAN" rather than "WILL":
■I'd ASSUME that the 3DS would support SDHC, ("Secure Digital High Capacity") in which case it'd accept to at least 64GB. However, it's true that they don't specify SDHC vs. SD; the latter tops out at 2GB.
■Playing N64 games would depend on what you mean by them. Certainly, as we've seen, the 3DS has the capability to run ports of N64 games... Or even ports of PS2 games with visual enhancements. (namely Metal Gear Solid 3D) outright emulation would obviously be not what Nintendo would do, though however "homebrew" could add it. CPU-wise, we're looking at something at least similar to what we see in Nvidia Tegra-based phones.
■Obviously the CPU(s) on hand are capable of handling video decoding. So the question is whether we would see this; if Ninteno felt that the PSP was too successful for comfort, they may include this as an official feature. If not, it's for homebrew.
[citation][nom]pozaks[/nom]Thank God. No one affected but filthy pirates and a miniscule, vocal minority of hobbyists, about whom no one cares. No loss.[/citation]
Let's not forget the perhaps 10% or so "honest," "sheeple" users who will see their perfectly legit, unaltered 3DS bricked through a firmware update. Nintendo will claim that they must've been pirates, and got their just deserts. Then, once enough word gets out that this wasn't the case, then they'll say it's a "very small" number of machines were affected. Eventually, they'll promise to repair things "free of charge." Except that this won't be for days (or even weeks) after the update, and will take another few weeks for shipping and repairs, leaving a these "normal" (as you imply) users without the very machines they bought and own for several weeks total, through no fault of their own. CLEARLY no loss.
Don't think this would happen? Well, it happened with the Wii. Several times. Overzealous anti-piracy/anti-homebrew scripts often return false positives and act upon them, or simply screw up from some unforseen contingency, such as assuming that every byte of the Wii's/3DS' internal flash is okay, when it's very liable for a tiny sector or two to be corrupt.
What also burns me is that this basically amounts to theft on Nintendo's part. At least in the USA, (though it may not be the case in other, less-free countries) for >100 years it's been recognized that if you purchase a patented device, you OWN it, and are free to modify/dispose/destroy of it as you wish.