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Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility

(www.lttlabs.com)
298 points croes | 1 comments | 31 Aug 25 23:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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snailmailman ◴[01 Sep 25 02:25 UTC] No.45088874[source]▶
Interesting. I saw some of their video about this the other day. The video gives the impression that Nintendo is intentionally not supporting external monitors that aren’t the official switch dock.

But the conclusion on this article seems to lean more towards that it could be a mistake or bug. I guess that might be the case - didn’t they screw up USB-C on the switch 1? I know it’s an incredibly complex standard.

I guess the only way to know if it’s intentional or a bug, is if Nintendo updates the switch to fix it. As Linus said in his video, the Nintendo USB isn’t very “universal”.

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Gigachad ◴[01 Sep 25 03:04 UTC] No.45089056[source]▶
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.

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dagmx ◴[01 Sep 25 05:04 UTC] No.45089619[source]▶
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 parts and has no incentive to increase compatibility. The number of users who care is not worth it for Nintendo to care, and they’re not afoul of any regulations.

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Gigachad ◴[01 Sep 25 05:51 UTC] No.45089830[source]▶
Displayport would have been fairly useless. I've never once seen a TV with Displayport inputs. They really should have had 9v PD working but at least 5v worked.
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1. dagmx ◴[01 Sep 25 06:48 UTC] No.45090147{3}[source]▶
If you were to read the entirety of my comment, you’d see that I mention HDMI alt mode as well as the possibility of including a signal converter in the dock to get it to hdmi prior to hdmi alt mode existing.

Display port would have still allowed for a standardized format for other docks to provide conversion, or for connection to computer monitors.