Making a €40 USB-C hub work as a Nintendo Switch 2 dock (blog.nozomi.space)

39 points by mkopec 3 days ago

greggsy an hour ago

Curious to hear why they did this to begin with.

I can understand the warranty aspect: they don’t necessarily want to be in the hook when users stuffs up the port using a janky 20-in-1 USB-C hub.

Why play around with the VRR and HDR side of things too?

Edit: I know someone will say ‘because they want to sell more docks’, but it already comes with the console… the market for people buying multiple docks I doesn’t justify the development and manufacturing costs.

pletnes 17 minutes ago

Every single laptop vendor deals with this. Ipads, desktops, you name it. Nintendo are simply not anywhere near industry baseline here.

ramses0 15 minutes ago

IMHO, their USB-C-ish is frustrating. Same shape but not all chargers work. But on the flip side, understand what they're doing.

Nintendo is not making a USB-C computer, they're making a _product_ or a cohesive system.

They do not want you plugging in an arbitrary charger (which may not have the right wattage), don't want you laying the switch face up (nubs on the controllers getting in the way), face down (scratching the screen), plugging in a usb-c controller and dragging the spiderweb of wires off the entertainment center, or trying to use the touch screen while attached to a TV.

They wanted a vertical dock that managed airflow, charged at the appropriate rate, and guided you away from asking why you couldn't have some janky setup where you're trying to treat it like a gameboy advance (local screen simultaneous to big TV) being held by kindergarteners who pull the TV off the stand).

...so the dock is effectively a sacrificial buffer/safety system to prevent your switch from causing damage to your TV.

Raed667 an hour ago

> doesn’t justify the development and manufacturing costs

At Nintendo scale, I bet it does though