☣️ The unsolvable ugliness of the Nintendo Switch dock (Part I)

Nintendo then made sure not to include wireless video transmission functions, not even as a secondary option, even if homebrew programs like SysDVR demonstrate that the hardware is perfectly capable of a broadcast video via WLAN.
For another thing, the Miracast standard has been around since 2012 , so there was plenty of time to implement it in the console, if only the parent company wanted. To tell the truth, since it is something implementable via software (the only hardware requirement is Wi-Fi), Nintendo has never had a deadline to include such a function, yet no firmware update released in these 6 years has yet filled this gap (or various others); something that does nothing but confirm the laziness of the company.

A blow to the wallet!

Despite this Nintendo fixation with not implementing widespread standards — or, even worse, with doing it incorrectly, reinterpreting them and breaking them (I don't dare open my mouth about Switch issues that go beyond the base...) - at least the dock is included in the package of the console, and does not have to be purchased separately... something that I don't know whether to see as good or bad, considering that, costing 80 euros if purchased separately, I imagine that its inclusion in the tablet box < strong>heavily impacts what would otherwise be the cost of the console alone.

If it is also true, however, that critics arrive even where someone offers a perfect product, this plasticume accessory deserves all its bad reputation. I mean: all of us gamers would have expected something a moment better, with that bounty of €80, and therefore it must be said that >the negative aspects of this ornament honestly weigh much more than the positive sides.

Ban the doors

First of all, I find it a little ridiculous - albeit realistically insignificant, considering what competing consoles and other electronic devices in general offered in 2017 — that the dock provides only one digital audio-video output port (HDMI), and no analog.
I repeat, it is not an intelligent excuse to go to Nintendo with pitchforks in hand, but it is at least disappointing, considering that the previous home console of the great N, the much-maligned >Wii U, had both releases.

A lack of input/output considered a problem by far more than 4 cats, however, concerns the Ethernet port. In specific areas, Wi-Fi has never really replaced wired network connections, and gaming is one of these.
On Switch then, with the Wi-Fi drivers of Horizon OS (Nintendo's operating system), which is to say disgusting is a compliment, and with the lack support for USB tethering drivers (those that allow you to use, for example, an Android smartphone as a wired router), the only way to have a connection < strong>Quality Internet is buying an Ethernet-USB adapter (at least this one, fortunately, can be generic).

Yet, in this case, the lack of space is not a digestible excuse for not having included plenty of ports... the dock inside is >mostly empty space, rather than electronic components, and I think it would have been possible to do more (the OLED dock, in fact, at least has an Ethernet port).
By the way: in itself, the lot of ABS plastic wouldn't be a problem — on the contrary, it gives good solidity and a weight compared to the product , which otherwise might tend to fly off tables and desks with little effort, and would perhaps be a little fragile.

Due to this, however, the dock is not at all easy to transport, mainly because it is too large.
The weight, frankly speaking, is not a problem in this regard: the console alone with the Joy-Con (the side controllers) equipped it already weighs more than the dock alone... all that lithium in a plastic tablet, trust me, it looks like lead.
The dimensions, however, if apparently small (at least compared to an entire fixed-only console) are problematic if you want to bring the dock in a bag or backpack together with the console. All transportable cases, obviously, cannot reserve a space for the base, unless they are as large as briefcases.

Pausing for a moment with words in the wind, and talking about numbers, we are at 238x98x13 millimeters for the console (Joy-Con included), and 172x102x50 mm for the dock: in short, the latter it is almost 4 times as thick as the tablet, which is a problem.
My generic briefcase case (one of those quasi-padded ones, with space for accessories) is, when closed, 249x126x52 millimeters: if it also included space for the dock it would be a duffel bag!

Beyond banal appearances

And it is exactly like this, by carefully observing ever more minute details in order to produce refined deductions, that we remember something - at least, I and all those who learn do- yourself and programming from my blog (much wrong?): the over - engineering is a danger always around the corner, when you try to do something particular.

Clawed walls included!

One of the design oversights that immediately emerged with the design of the base, and which would not have been present at all if only Nintendo had opted for a more essential design, is that the space in where the Switchtablet fits and rests is a little too tight. The two plastic faces are not so close that it feels strange when inserting or disconnecting the console, yet close enough to create scratches on the front of the console.
To be fair, no scratches can accumulate in the actual area of the display, but realistically only at its edges (and on the most extreme pixels of the display, and here's where it comes from collective anger), given that it is only in that area that the dock has 2 symmetrical protrusions, which act as guides for insertion.

Obviously, the front panel gets scratched only because it is made of plastic: if it had been made of glass, no accidents would have occurred. However, considering the breadth of the market target to which the console is aimed, and the rest of its technical characteristics, a glass display would actually have been inadequate. After all, anyone who cares can, as I did, buy glass film for a few euros, and apply it in an instant.

Reduced air flow

Many games that run on Switch, in attempting to maintain an acceptable performance regime during the gameplay session, work to the detriment of temperatures, which rise by a lot (especially on the very first revision of the console, which features a more energy-intensive chip.¹ ). Hence the need for the console to have an active cooling system, which sucks air from a small grill on the back, and then spits it back (hot) at the top.

Not that I have much experience in fluid physics, but it seems to me, from the simple use of the console, that in dock the fans tend on average to always spin with more force than in portable mode, even with the same video resolution (720p) and, as a rule, CPU and GPU frequencies.
In fact, due to the way the tablet rests in its base, half of the rear grill faces the dock cable compartment, while the other half is directly obstructed (very close to a wall plastic). This first half, in addition to possibly being partially obstructed by power and video cables, receives air only from the two small open spaces (on the left and top) on the back of the dock; and to me, this air seems little.

• The compact ones that contain - or at least, so they say, but it seems so looking at the photos (the layout of the ports and the dimensions of the card, by eye, match) - the official card contained in the base produced by Nintendo (such as this one for €24.99).
• The same thing just presented, same design, same dimensions, but without any integrated card (like this one for €19.99): they are < strong>do-it-yourself kit, the idea is to take the card from the dock you already have and mount it in this new body. li>

...and that was how his money burned.

Whatever option you choose, it seems that you end up paying at least 20 hard euros just for bad plastic, screws, springs, and some other nonsense< /strong>. Even this, in terms of price, is simply excessive to say the least; it's too much, period. Everything is overcharged, and I bet that if one of the Chinese housewives in my shop sold at least one DIY kit, it would hardly cost more than 10 euros.