Hardware Nintendo Switch - Heat Design Flaw

[whoamii]

Hi,

I'm rather new here. I received my Nintendo Switch yesterday and I am very pleased with the quality. However, I have noticed something that I can't find any information about online and it is possibly a design flaw in regards to the display.

First and foremost; this does not affect gameplay (and is very minor) and is not a pixel issue. I will not return my console because of this (EDIT: It now seems like that is needed. ), but I would like to inform you of the situation and want to know if someone else are affected.

Let me get to the issue. As you know, during play and in the dock, the console can get very hot. This heat affects the backlight of the display when taking it out of the dock. There appears either a light or dark shadowing effect at the edges of the screen in all directions (very faint and visible on dark and grey areas inside of the system menu and games). If you turn on the black theme it is very visible, indeed.

What makes me suspect this is heat-related is that if the console cools down and reheats outside of the dock, the shadowing goes away. I don't think it is due to air humidity, but I am not excluding that possibility.

What do you think? Does anyone else experience this issue? Do you think it really is a design flaw or a matter of air humidity or possibly something wrong with my device?

 

[9thSage]

My impression of Switch and heat is that it can get a little warm, but nothing that seemed excessive. I've never see anything where the screen looked weird because of heat either. I'm thinking there's something going on with your device, but maybe wait until more people chime in (I have no idea what other people's experiences might be).

 

[whoamii]

My impression of Switch and heat is that it can get a little warm, but nothing that seemed excessive. I've never see anything where the screen looked weird because of heat either. I'm thinking there's something going on with your device, but maybe wait until more people chime in (I have no idea what other people's experiences might be).

The console does not get extremley hot, like dangerously so, but I think even these small changes in temperature do affect the display. The effect is stronger after using it in the dock and is almost unnoticeable when using it in standard handheld mode.

I am not in any way denying that my unit may have some fault, but it does seem very unlikely as the device is perfectly put together and there are no cracks or bends in the display or anywhere else. It does work great and the performance does not suffer and the device does not seem to complain about overheating.

 

[9thSage]

The console does not get extremley hot, like dangerously so, but I think even these small changes in temperature do affect the display. The effect is stronger after using it in the dock and is almost unnoticeable when using it in standard handheld mode.

I am not in any way denying that my unit may have some fault, but it does seem very unlikely as the device is perfectly put together and there are no cracks or bends in the display or anywhere else. It does work great and the performance does not suffer and the device does not seem to complain about overheating.

I spent a lot of time yesterday playing on the dock and in portable mode and didn't see anything about the screen that looked weird, so not sure what to tell you other than that.

 

[Xzi]

My experience is pretty much like 9thSage. Console gets slightly warm, mostly on one side. Haven't noticed any display issues through about two hours of portable play. I use the black theme exclusively.

 

[whoamii]

My experience is pretty much like 9thSage. Console gets slightly warm, mostly on one side. Haven't noticed any display issues through about two hours of portable play. I use the black theme exclusively.

After using the device for some time, the shadows start fading away. I now believe that they were caused either by condensation or by some kind of adhesive / cleaning solution used during manufacturing which kind of "seals itself" between the digitizer and LCD. Still, this is not so common to see on modern electronics. My iPhone or iPad did not have these kind of issues, for instance. I do think that is mostly due to the LCD and digitizer being laminated these days.

If I continue to use my device regularly and by playing it, this will eventually go away.

EDIT: The shadows are still not gone, only slightly less noticeable. I think I will return it to Nintendo, and as you haven't had this issue there must be something wrong with it. I hope they will offer me a repair or replacement and this should be covered under warranty. My experiences with their service has not been great before, but I hope they will understand my worries and help me out.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

I haven't had that issue. Played botw for a few hours on dock, then took out out and didn't notice anything

 

[souler92]

where do you place your dock? is it inside an thight shelf or something?