Consolised Switch & Hardware Preservation

[LDigital]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this but I recently found out on another forum that the switch does not work at all without a working battery unless it is modded, even while docked.

As someone who has never lifted their switch out of its cradle even once to play a game, I was horrified by this revelation.

To me this is not a handheld machine and I had hoped that when it eventually retires it can still last 20+ years like it’s older siblings.

Now it seems that unless someone develops a mod, when the battery eventually swells up or dies, this thing is a brick. I had never even thought about the battery until now as I don’t see it as a handheld.

There is a guy who has managed to Jerry rig his but the mod is super crude at the moment. Hopefully someone comes up with something tidy.

Am I the only collector/preservationist out here worried about this?

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this but I recently found out on another forum that the switch does not work at all without a working battery unless it is modded, even while docked.

As someone who has never lifted their switch out of its cradle even once to play a game, I was horrified by this revelation.

To me this is not a handheld machine and I had hoped that when it eventually retires it can still last 20+ years like it’s older siblings.

Now it seems that unless someone develops a mod, when the battery eventually swells up or dies, this thing is a brick. I had never even thought about the battery until now as I don’t see it as a handheld.

There is a guy who has managed to Jerry rig his but the mod is super crude at the moment. Hopefully someone comes up with something tidy.

Am I the only collector/preservationist out here worried about this?

I think it's important to note that the battery is user-replaceable meaning when the battery fails you can replace it with a third-party one just like the DS, 3DS, PSVita. Sure it might be a bit annoying but if something like the GPU fails you'd have to replace the motherboard (not 100% sure).

 

[randy_w]

Relax, there's nothing to worry about. Even if the battery dies you can change it in 30 minutes. And replacement batteries will be manufactured long after the console is discontinued, like GBA SP, DS and PSP. You can even buy brand new replacement gumstick batteries for walkman. Same for other parts like joystick and card reader.

Yeah I've seen that consolise mod before, pretty neat idea for those who have a switch with broken screen but never play in handheld mode. Tbh nintendo should release a screenless console like pstv. They've already made switch lite for those never play in tv mode, why not make one for those never play in handheld mode?

Anyway, build quality of switch is not as good as old nintendo consoles like ds and gba, and I'm a bit skeptical about whether it would last 10 years, let alone 20 years.