Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

lttlabs.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 197 posts

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#71

Post by hatsunearu »

yuiegi wrote: post #33

Back in COVID times, when I had all the time in the world, my Switch got bricked after I charged it using my laptop charger. Nintendo refused to honor its warranty, citing some mumbo jumbo about proprietary USB-C hardware. Fortunately, we have pretty good consumer protection laws here in Australia By the end of an entire two month saga, they sent me a brand new Switch. I always did think it was odd that a USB-C cable…

USB-C was really really really rough in the early years. The switch 1 was one of the first products to come out with USB-C IIRC.

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#72

Post by franga2000 »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #42
alex_f_k wrote: post #18

From lttlabs: > The inability for most docks to support the Switch 2 may not be malicious from Nintendo. It might just be a poor or lazy implementation of the USB-C specification From the verge [0], 2 months ago: > When I analyze the conversation between the Nintendo Switch 2 and its dock, I can see the two devices begin speaking in Nintendo’s own flavor of “vendor defined” language early in the conversation, before…

Seems Nintendo has good reasons not to support it with 3rd party devices: Their own dock has active cooling, so with generic dongles the switch wouldn't be able to enter the docked performance mode (or have to throttle down pretty soon) and would have to output a blurry mess to 4k screens. Not a great user experience.

That's not a good reason not to allow it, it's a good reason not to support it. If I do that and complain to Nintendo support about overheating, they can tell me to fuck off. Worst case it should give a scary popup saying "your dock isn't actively cooled so your device is likely to overheat". Absolutely no excuse for not allowing third-party docks though.

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#73

Post by masfoobar »

With the behaviour Nintendo has been 'in the last few years' - I no longer will purchase Nintendo consoles.

We purchased a Switch and the kids have enjoyed many games on it. After reading other comments on here, I am surprised my Switch has not been bricked - and I am not doing anything dodgy at all.

As for the Switch 2. I was showing the announcement videos with the kids - they did not look excited for it. As for me, I was smirking when they were not revealing the price of the console and games. I knew something was up. Within hours there were angry youtube channels blasting their prices.

I am not even getting into Nintendo's legal behaviours over ROMs, youtube channels, or games like Palworld.

"Oh.. that thing you do in this game... Yeah... we have a patent for that!"

Of course, every game Nintendo creates are completely new ideas. Sure, I give Nintendo credit with their involvement in video game history - but I am sure "new features" in Mario Kart World are inspired from other games..... but if you do something Nintendo consider is their idea (especially patented) - they will throw money at you *towards their legal department*

Nintendo are not a family-based games company. They lost that title some time, now. Unless they really change their ways, I wont buy Nintendo again. I do not support their practices. Sure we might not have Mario Kart World or Zelda or other Nintendo specific titles - but a decent PC have many, many great games of the last 30 years - and they will run faster, smoother, etc.

This Dock USB-C drama is just laughable.

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#74

Post by rickdeckard »

> "The Nintendo Switch 2 only ever charges at a maximum of 15 W(as far as I can tell)."

This is already higher than stated in legal EU-compliance documents [0], where the PD-charger is required to not provide more than 12W "in order to achieve the maximum charging speed"

Also interesting[0]: "TV mode requires output power of 54 watts. This is higher than the power requirements for charging given above. This product supports USB PD fast charging and is capable of being recharged by means of wired charging at voltages up to 15 volts"

According to this, the device will obviously only use the 20V/3A mode (=60 watts) for TV mode, and will not utilize it for charging. Whereas the provided charger (NGN-01) also supports a 15V USB-PD mode which MAY be used for charging.

I assume the device will request max. 15V/1A for charging then, adding up to 15W (not sure why they state the charger should not support "more than 12W"). However, I guess at 15V the majority of power in this state is going to the device and not the battery (they only have a single battery-cell which should be charged with 5V. If they want to charge the battery, they could also request 5V/3A from the charger)...

[0] https://www.nintendo.com/eu/media/downloads/support_1/ninten...

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#75

Post by SifJar »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #56
crote wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but what about 3rd party docks which do have adequate cooling? And how is it a good user experience to just silently refuse to work? If Nintendo genuinely cared about experience they'd just follow the standard and work with any dock, then pop up a notification if it notices that the device is overheating - perhaps even with a "We recommend the official dock" text. The current behaviour is completely unacceptabl…

I agree that their behavior is user-hostile, but doing it their way gets rid of all of the ambiguity involved with USB C. I kind of understand why they would rather break their USBC support intentionally and make it very clear that video out is only happening with their dock. Especially considering their audiences.

> doing it their way gets rid of all of the ambiguity involved with USB C

At that point, why use USB-C for the dock connection at all? Just use a proprietary connector if you're not going to follow the standards.

Having a separate USB-C port for charging should satisfy e.g. the EU regulations requiring that, I think. (Assuming that is the reason they used USB-C in the first place)

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#76

Post by indrora »

hatsunearu wrote: post #71
yuiegi wrote: post #33

Back in COVID times, when I had all the time in the world, my Switch got bricked after I charged it using my laptop charger. Nintendo refused to honor its warranty, citing some mumbo jumbo about proprietary USB-C hardware. Fortunately, we have pretty good consumer protection laws here in Australia By the end of an entire two month saga, they sent me a brand new Switch. I always did think it was odd that a USB-C cable…

USB-C was really really really rough in the early years. The switch 1 was one of the first products to come out with USB-C IIRC.

Not even.

Early devices were things like the OnePlus 2 [0] and there were plenty of phones out before the Switch even hit the market in 2017 [1]. There were some issues with standards compliance, sure, but the market had vastly improved by the time the Switch had come out.

[0] https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_2-6902.php [1] https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMax=2017&nUSBType...

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#77

Post by blueflow »

I mean, we are already at the point where you have to put a colored tape on all your usb plugs and sockets to know which ones are compatible and which ones will brick your devices. Maybe its time to drop the "universal" aspect and go back to propietary ports?

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#78

Post by ignaloidas »

dagmx wrote: post #30
Gigachad wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Switch 1 had more of an excuse since it was released just as USB-C, particularly the more advanced parts like video out and PD were still very new. And the hardware was likely designed long beforehand. The Switch 2 came out in a world with widespread standards compliant USB-C.

I feel like that’s a significant retcon. Switch 1 was released in 2017. PD 1.0 was 2013 , and display port out was 2014. Both were supported by numerous devices by the time the switch 1 was out. Granted they really wanted hdmi alt mode which was 2016 but the switch 1 doesn’t even support display port out which could have been coupled with a converter in the dock. The simpler reason is that Nintendo both cheaps out on…

Don't ever mention PD 1.0, it's a cursed standard that was never actually used and that nobody should ever use. USB PD started with PD 2.0, and we shall never speak of the stillborn child that is 1.0

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#79

Post by WmWsjA6B29B4nfk »

alex_f_k wrote: post #18

From lttlabs: > The inability for most docks to support the Switch 2 may not be malicious from Nintendo. It might just be a poor or lazy implementation of the USB-C specification From the verge [0], 2 months ago: > When I analyze the conversation between the Nintendo Switch 2 and its dock, I can see the two devices begin speaking in Nintendo’s own flavor of “vendor defined” language early in the conversation, before…

> Our monitoring of the interactions with the USB-C monitor shows that the negotiation does not even get to the point of the Vendor Defined Messages(VDM) where the dock would theoretically have to send the correct responses.

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

#80

Post by Eater_of_food »

SifJar wrote: post #75
KeplerBoy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that their behavior is user-hostile, but doing it their way gets rid of all of the ambiguity involved with USB C. I kind of understand why they would rather break their USBC support intentionally and make it very clear that video out is only happening with their dock. Especially considering their audiences.

> doing it their way gets rid of all of the ambiguity involved with USB C At that point, why use USB-C for the dock connection at all? Just use a proprietary connector if you're not going to follow the standards. Having a separate USB-C port for charging should satisfy e.g. the EU regulations requiring that, I think. (Assuming that is the reason they used USB-C in the first place)

Presumably, sticking with USB lowers costs. Just buy mass-produced ports rather than invest in tooling to build a bespoke port.
Post reply on HN