eh, that feels fair enough imo. a good ass usbc charger would run you abt $20, just chock the extra $10 up to brand tax. only issue is the cable isnt removable, but eh, so be it
The money is really for the convenience, ironically it's not very convenient with the size The docks should probably run less than 40 dollars to make with how little there is in there
It's probably easy to tell that the dock is as big as it is compared to the actual working hardware is so that the Switch itself can fit into it. However, $90 is more than pushing it. $40-$50 would be a more appropriate price.
the Nintendo switch is now actually worth $130, the joycons and dock take up $170 of the cost Edit: The Nintendo Switch is actually worth 96$, the usbc charger and hand grip remove another $34, making the switch 1/3 of the actual price. Yippee
Real talk, I would absolutely buy a couple extra docks if they were reasonably priced. Would be nice to keep one at my parent's place for when I visit, or in my bedroom for when I'm feelin lazy. But for $90, Nintendo gets $0 from me instead. Congrats Nintendo, you played yourself
before i moved out of my dads i actually really needed a second dock because my parents are divorced, but my mum was just never able to get me one bc of the price so for 5 years i had to bring a whole separate bag between houses just for the dock
And they prevented you from using generic Usb-c docks by arbitrarily using a proprietary video output protocol that offers literally zero benefit over the standard video-over-Usb-c protocol 😃
Fr, they could have made a ton of money from these, it's so annoying to move everything from the tv to the pc monitor every time someone else wants to use the tv, I definitely would have bought one of these if it was half the price and I'm guessing a lot of other people too. It probably is a market manipulation thing just to get you buy a whole new system since the dock is so expensive anyway
@@1enhanced1well that’s insane because the dock has always had an msrp of $90 so clearly target was deciding they would dump inventory and never touch them again.
it's crazy to me that there was a time where nintendo was selling a controller (the joycons) for the same price as an entire console (the 2ds, which also came with a game for that price)
@@julianmitchell5776It did. It was kinda the cheaper alternative to a 3ds. You could “play your 3ds games in 2d!” Which you likely already were doing. It was nice tho because it was much cheaper, opening up the opportunity for more kids to experience the ds era of nintendo
Go third party, honestly. The pro controller will do all the same stuff. Even 8BitDo do cheaper controllers that are perfectly fine and feel very solid.
@@UntrainableWizardexactly, the pro controller is great but imo overpriced I have a Zelda botw power a wired usb controller for £25 which has always worked perfectly
It's just plastic with a very small chip inside of it that honestly would probably cost 5-10 dollars in reality maybe even less than that. The only reason why we don't buy third party docks are because they are generally incompatible and can brick a console.
@@ryanw217i wouldnt even chance it tbh, my launch era switch bricked from the dock it came with. i know i got unlucky, but i dont blame people for not wanting to risk it with how dodgy it is
@@ryanw217 Look. I'm all for doing due diligence when it comes to buying 3rd party items that could brick a console, like what happened to mine. But the facts are that there are no 3rd party docks that got Nintendo's seal of approval, and that means your research is limited to word of mouth, reddit, or amazon reviews. There are no big official publications that really dove into the subject of compatibility on these things, so it really is a crap shoot as to whether or not you end up with a good product. That isn't even mentioning all the knock offs of knock offs from out of china. Figure out whether you're fully informed yourself before you question whether or not I did my research.
The craziest thing is, they could have made so much money off these if they were a reasonable price, I would have loved an extra one so I didn’t have to take it down every time I went to a friends
I did. I have a travel briefcase thing that holds the dock, its cords, and controllers as well as the switch itself. There’s like a lunch box looking one too sold somewhere, but I liked the brief looking one since it makes it easier to carry without bumping against your leg, it can lay lay when holding my laptop carry case in the same hand, and it’s got the zelda loftwing logo on the. And the graphic isn’t cheesy where the whole thing is colorful and sticks out marking you as a nerd, nah, it’s very minimalist and subtle. Love it.
Jeez, even a pre-owned Switch dock (over at GameStop) goes for roughly $80. What's even more hilarious is that there are 3rd party portable docks that go for $40.
@@TOMMYOOST I think they've recently solved the issue. It's worth checking reviews on external sites (as much as I hate to say it, sites like Reddit since it's not going to be people paid to leave the reviews) and making sure the specific one is good. But the one I have for example (which I wish I remembered the brand) works perfectly and I use it while I'm at work to play games on the monitor during lunch. (or... when it's quiet, to play with coworkers on a projector or big-screen)
@@tr1besJust because it was 4 years ago doesn't mean you still shouldn't be scared. I know I'm definitely scared. My friend who's switch got bricked is definitely scared.
@@michaelschwader7944 I like that, even now at $30, the dock is still more expensive than the more portable, more pretty looking, more feature-filled, more durable, 3rd party ones. lol
Ethernet is so important for some people. It's not just for "competitive" gamers. Depending on your living situation you may have a lot of wifi / radio interference, or you already have a lot of devices on your wifi taking up your spectrum. Having a physical connection is a great option.
if it makes you feel any better, valve priced their steam deck docks at $90 when that thing first launched. except, now they retail for $80 and include several USB ports and an ethernet port also, but even then you can still find a third party dock for $50 or less. so i guess first party docks just like being pricey.
At that one's actually pretty cruddy from my experience. Sometimes it just doesn't want to output, I have to unplug and replug the power to get it to do it. And then sometimes ill be playing and it will suddenly stop outputting and say on the deck "slow charger plugged" ...despite me using the charger that came with the dock. Once again forced to unplug and replug. This is something that doesn't really happen with many 3rd party steam deck docks at a fraction the price, I don't know how valve got away with that shit
@@Logos729They didn't 'get away with it' - most people interested in a Steam Deck already know that it's a shitty, overpriced product, and Valve don't really advertise it or really show it off much at all. I get the feeling that it's something that they never fully committed to, and they ended up just releasing what they had because they couldn't be bothered to spend more R&D time on a product that they knew wasn't going to sell well anyway.
@alfo2804 wha? Nah it gets advertised, not only on steam itself which is just what it needs since that's their audience, it also gets pushed hard every game awards since its release, it's sold at a substantial loss so they can gain market traction(therefore, not overpriced, actually underpriced for the tech), they've been putting constant effort into maintainance and feature updates to the thing since launch, it's a fantastic device I spend most of my time gaming on honestly lmao. But the dock is an absolute mess, that was my only point lol. They get away with it cuz everything else about the deck is fantastic
If only. But I think it's not that way. Considering the dock's internals, there's no way it costs anywhere near $90 to construct. I'm sure Nintendo could profit off selling it at $60. But they jack up the price because they can. Same thing with the Joy-Con. There's a bunch of tech in there, but most likely not $80 worth. And that grip? Probably $3 of materials, sold at $15. So I'm sure the tech on the Switch itself is probably more than "just $200", at least at launch. Now? I'm sure Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank with every Switch sold.
@@ChiruKobraPretty sure the Joycons and the Docks are barely $90 to produce, so at that logic, the Lite is prob the same price than the regular Switch
The worst part is that for a while the third party docks were a quarter of the price but it was a guessing game on whether or not they would brick your switch.
People are allergic to buying used stuff apparently. I just sold a dock, with two chargers and hdmi cable for $35 on eBay. Even that took a few days to sell.
back when the switch first came out, there were a bunch of 3rd party docks. at the time, there were reports of them damaging the switch due to some kind of voltage/amperage inconsistency. the official dock was the only safe way to use it and keep your switch safe. i got no clue if things are different now and 3rd party docks are safe to use, but the massive difference in price can be seen as an excuse for "quality" product
I have a Steam Link mostly because Valve was selling them for 5 dollars because they were an abysmal failure. But, dawg, I have that thing all hooked up into my bedroom entertainment center with an ethernet connection... The picture isn't stunning exactly but it's totally playable and looks just fine. I love being able to just access and use my PC all the way across the house. If you're trying to do remote play with a wireless device, though, God help you. That SUCKS even with good Internet.
I remember Nintendo had said before when the OLED Switch was released that they would let you buy the dock separately, that never happened and it still pisses me off to this day. Edit: apparently they sell it on their website and nowhere else.
@@dinoshi64 Scott has one in the video... it's literally the thumbnail... and if you look on nintendo website they sell it both from them and from retailers. Also the dock is only 60 bucks
Honestly, the dock box could end up being pretty collectible. How many of those do you think will get sold, and how many of those do you think will have the box saved? It's first-party Nintendo. People will collect it.
The dock new never opened from Nintendo sells for $90. The local game store sells the dock used for $25 the highest price I’ve seen is $30 max. 3rd party dock on eBay and Amazon go for $35, for goodness sake it’s just a glorified hdmi Nintendo branded cable.
As an owner of 3 Switch systems who had to monitor ebay like a hawk to find a retail priced copy shortly after launch, I've thought about this question extensively. My theory is they priced the docks at nearly $100 to discourage the used "tablet only" Switch market. My 3 switches are: a used launch copy that I got for $360 with Mario Kart 8 and BOTW, an Animal Crossing Special edition I bought new to have a 2nd one for the kids, and a used "tablet only" one that I bought Hori controller sized handheld only joycons for. We paid $150 for the tablet only: if someone tried to do that while ordering a dock and joycons seperately, the price would be higher than a new Switch, so you should just buy a new system instead if you want the whole package. So, discourage used sales by hiding the true cost of the system behind system necessary accessories. Frankly, I think Nintendo's pretty smart on this one.
The switch dock reminds me of any of the plastic wii accessories where there’s no weight to it besides the remote except with this there’s a tiny circuit board
I bought a $26 USB-C hub for my Steam Deck, then discovered it also works fine with my Nintendo Switch as well. Admittedly you can't slot the Switch into it all sleek like, but it does mean I never take the Dock anywhere anymore.
including the ethernet adapter is great because most people don't realize they don't have very good wifi and there are tons of complaints that are solved being wired on while using the switch. the more people wired in on the switch, the better the gaming experience for everyone.
I bought a Switch OLED specifically for the ethernet port. Ethernet is more reliable than wi-fi and I don't do a whole of portable gaming. But yeah, an ethernet port on a switch dock appeals only to a very tiny minority of modern Nintendo fans. But I'm glad they did it.
Usb ethernet cables are like $10. I know, my son bought me one to show me that I'm an idiot for thinking about buying a Switch OLED just to get an ethernet port. He's 16
@@penguinreloaded7756I was going to say I got a dongle for $10. More importantly though isn’t the dock sold separately? If anyone “just” wanted the dock wouldn’t they “just” buy the dock?
Ah yes, let me buy a switch oled for ethernet just so I can STILL get lag trailed on mariokart because nintendo has the worst fucking online servers known to man
I bought myself a regular old usb-c dongle with HDMI and 100W max power charging support for ~30 bucks at Walmart and it works perfectly. Especially handy for work trips and travel. No sense in buying a second dock. Adding an edit for those looking into this: I still use an official Nintendo power adapter, and advise if you go down this route to do the same. They are like 15 bucks at Walmart as well.
Please be careful with third party docks that include their own charger. There are plenty, really plenty videos online of people who bricked their Switch by using Amazon-type third party docks that were not compatible with Nintendo's proprietary technology.
@@yang5811 its not proprietary technology, its the switch uses a difference wattage than the USB-C standard for some god forsaken reason, and then most 3rd party docks use the USB-C power standard not wanting to pay to get a non standard usb power adapter
@@videogamesarecool9280 Thanks for the correction. One of my friends actually lost their OLED switch to this. When she sent it in with Nintendo, they found a "charging solution outside the device's specifications" and denied her request to repair it within warranty regulations if she wouldn't be willing to pay 200$ for the repair. She paid for the diagnosis, got it returned as a brick and sold it for parts on eBay after that...
Having a lan port on the oled dock makes sense because most usb lan adapters are too bulky and short to be able to close the back - my og dock has the back removed for that very reason. Sure another usb port could be helpful, but Nintendo probably collected data and found that most of the usb accessories connected were lan adapters.
the dock helped me heaps since I live back and forth between my parents houses, so I got 2 docks specifically for that. could not find it ANYWHERE in stores, no matter where I went, and online I found them for the same price I bought my pro controller for! I bought one anyway but I also do not see why the dock needs to be as much as it is with so little features
There is no reason that the cheap piece of plastic that sits there and does nothing, should be more expensive than the cheap piece of plastic that actually lets you play your games 😂
Traded in my launch Switch for a newer one recently and only traded in the tablet and a pair of joycons. Kept the dock because i wanted the ability of having two docks 🥴
@@Emerald-Fluffie i know i know. Even the title questions the stupid price of this cheap piece of plastic 🗿. Just thought it was funny calling it fancy in the slightest. Myself had to replace this garbage twice in 5 years 💀
@@Emerald-Fluffie First one, i borrowed it to a friend whose new console was faulty. Wanted to check if it was his console or the dock. The moment he connected it, my dock just died… can’t remember why i had to buy a second one. Regardless, ive never liked the design, it just sucks.
Doesn't the switch already do that? Docked mode boosts its performance because it isn't worried about battery life anymore. If you want to get really specific, you just want an e-gpu for your handheld PC.
0% chance Nintendo would use an external GPU dock. That would be disgustingly expensive and that money would be better spent improving the SOC of the console itself
The best thing I did with my dock was buy one of those kits where you gut the dock you got with your switch and slap the board into a tiny plastic shell to make it like a quarter of the size. Now I have a hollowed out plastic toaster haunting my basement.
I think you hit the nail on the head with your throwaway comment about someone saying "oh well, that's so expensive I might as well buy another Switch." If the Switch Dock is so expensive that someone is willing to buy a second Switch over just getting a second dock, Nintendo has now increased the total number of units sold for the Switch itself. Shareholders don't care as much about accessories sold as they do the sales of the actual console itself.
I bought a knock off for $10 (just the dock item. No cables.) and it works awesome. Bought one for my wife's little brother and he loves it. It still needs the nintendo power cable for it to work.
@@TimurSokol It was just that they have their own proprietary standard that is a little bit different to the USB C Standard... So likely they wanted third parties to be unable to sell docks which IMO is an anticonsumer practice
Everyone who played Smash online complained about no Ethernet port. And how they said. Please use a Nintendo Brand USB to Ethernet..... It was pretty silly the switch didn't have it to begin with.
So, the Switch's charger by itself is overly expensive, and the tiny board that is housed inside the dock is also expensive, but for terrible reasons... Even though the Switch connects via USB-C, it doesn't exactly follow USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) standards... Through the Switch Dock and Power Supply, atypical voltages can be provided, and that is what the Switch uses when in Docked mode to push out a bit more power to display everything onto a larger and higher-resolution screen, and NOT drop half it's frames. It is this reason why when other companies were trying to make their own switch docks, they assumed it would just use normal USB-PD standards and set them up like that, but the moment the Switch got the signal saying "Hey! I'm a Dock, we're operating in combination DisplayPort + Data + Power Mode; What voltage level are you asking for?" the switch then asks for an unusual voltage level, the third party Dock provides the closes one, and the voltage-mismatch kills the Switch. Not only does the Switch ask for unusual voltages, but it is constantly fluctuating, so a Switch on a third party dock may look to be okay for a little while if running games or functions that don't require pushing the Tegra chip past what it normally does in Handheld mode, but either leave it on there too long or make it start to really work? ** Dead. No 3rd party dock manufacturer managed to figure out the exact power-draw requirements to run the Switch in docked mode without killing it, and they were scared off by how many of their customer's Switch units were killed by their products, so they noped out of the Switch Dock industry REAL fast, leaving it barren. TL:DR; Switch Dock (and power supply) is expensive because Nintendo didn't conform to USB Power Delivery standards, preventing 3rd party docks from appearing on the market without killing the user's Switch. Custom Hardware, Custom Voltages, and a monopoly on accessories to hook a Switch up to a TV; That's why it's so expensive.
I pick up a extra Switch Dock years ago on a discount. Now each TV in my house has a dock. My office has mine, the bedroom has my wife's and living room has the extra dock.
Worth noting: if you have a monitor with a usbc input port, you use a usbc to usbc cord and connect your switch to that monitor. Admittedly, you won't be able to charge your switch while you play. But it does work.
I see so many unofficial docks being sold online for a fraction of the cost with all the same functionality. It's essentially just a glorified USB hub. They definitely have a steep markup on it relative to what it actually costs them.
@bt3743 if I remember correctly, the bricked switches wasn't really due to the docks themselves being poor quality (for the most part), it was Nintendo that did some funny stuff with their "usb-pd" protocols
Okay lets math. 300 dollars minus $90 for the dock, $30 charger, $10 HDMI, $10 Grip, about $15 bumpers, $80 Joycons... So it's roughly (NOT EXCAT I KNOW) 65 for the tablet...
I can complain on joycons, heck yeah i only bought a used switch and NEVER ever bought a new joycon because of how much they fricking cost, even if my right joycon miss fricking R button, im not spending that much... i'll just wait for the new console at this point
before the switch lite im pretty sure they sold the switch dockless in japan because there was a market for just the handheld console, so it's $90 to prevent someone from just buying the switch and the dock separately at a discount -- which would explain why they sent you a japanese one instead of a us one.
That wouldn't be preventing people from getting it at a discount, it'd be preventing people from realising that the full Switch set is horribly overpriced. If ~$210 is a reasonable, profitable price for the Switch, _with_ a charger, then clearly they could reasonably sell the full set for only around $250, especially if they got rid of all of the useless plastic shit by making the dock closer to the size of its PCB, and not including the stupid Joy-Con Grip. But no, Nintendo decided that they wanted more money, so $300 it is. I can't even imagine how much profit they make from Switch consoles now that they must be ridiculously cheap to produce. They have to be pocketing between 50-75% of the retail cost. Absolute rip-off merchants.
@@alfo2804 Not running defense for Nintendo because they mark the shit up out of their products but the switch joycons charger and dock are estimated to cost about $250 to manufacture so the logic is probably sell you the switch and when you eventually want the dock the profit is there
My friends mom was such a caring and uninformed mother that she bought two switches, two switch docks, two pairs of joycons, and two usb c charging cables for two of her sons. She of course returned everything else when she realized it was included in the box.
You can actually use any ordinary usb-c to HDMI adapter. But there's a catch, it needs to be able to send power to the switch as well. So any usb-c dongle that has both HDMI and a usb-c port works. Source: I have a $3 one of those adapters that works like a charm
Classic Nintendo making their USB-C power delivery non-standard so that people fry their Switch with 3rd party docks and are forced to buy Nintendo's $90 mound of plastic. No way that wasn't intentional.
So due to some very specific circumstances I didn’t have access to my Switch dock for over a year. I bought a third party one that worked fine, but when I finally got my actual dock back it felt SO nice. I loved how my switch just slid into it so snug. That being said, yeah, when you pick the thing up it’s essentially just hollow plastic with a few charging ports sticking out. For 90 bones that’s wild. I think $50-60 is when I’d be willing to buy a separate one
There are alternatives available and work better. I've got one for under £10 ann its great and small to take to hotels. I do use the original charger that plugged into the dock but it works great with a usb c with an adapter. Been using for 15+ months, no issues.
I bought a refurbished Switch in late 2018. About a year/year and a half after I got it, the dock just stopped connecting to my Switch. It wouldn't at all recognize when the Switch was in it. I went online to get a replacement, and just absolutely balked at the price. I went with a much cheaper third-party dock instead, which not only still works today, but takes up much less space, feels a lot more secure in its connection to the Switch, and doesn't need you to open a door to access the power and hdmi ports. It is insane how much the official dock costs, when it's just a plastic box with some standard connection hub hardware in it, and it's definitely not premium quality in terms of materials or design. Reminder that the standard dock doesn't even have an ethernet port, despite that being a point of criticism on the Wii-U.
I know it's advertised as "bring your switch to other rooms without unplugging the dock" but for 2 cables I've never had an issue with just moving the whole damn thing
Console accessory prices are usually frozen in time from the point of release. USB-C docks used to be really expensive and decent quality units are still quite expensive (don’t count the drop shipped Amazon random name garbage). Additional storage for the Xbox is like this, the 512gb Seagate expansion card is like $110 but today you can get fast 512gb SSD storage for half that price.
My speculation is that the dock is priced so high to incentivize you to buy another Switch. Maybe even upgrade to the OLED model. If you're spending 1/3 of the console's price on the dock, what's another $200~ for the whole console?
The main reason I don't get pricing the dock so high is that it's extremely easy for third parties to make an alternative for so much less. Sure, there's some value in it being official, but not 4-5 times more. And third party docks often come with extras like the ability to charge up extra joycons or hold your games.
I have three docks, the dock it came with in the bedroom, a second in the living room and a third that I originally bought for the RV (which was always parked in the driveway during the summer) back when I was still living with my parents, but since I moved into my own place, it doesn’t get much use except as a travel dock. It’s worth noting, that I bought one of them directly from Nintendo over the phone before they were available in stores or even on Nintendo’s website. They must not have had the price worked out just yet, because they only charged me $60 for it. Though to be fair that was for the dock only, no power adapter or HDMI cable, but I already had about a half dozen extra HDMI cables lying around, so the latter was a big deal.
"I'll just waste money." And, there you go, in one sentence, the reason why Nintendo can charge such princely sums: fanboys will still bitch, but all while opening up their wallets and dropping their pants.
The Switch isn’t a hybrid console anymore than your phone or tablet are hybrid consoles when you connect them to your tv. If the Switch was a true hybrid, there would be a GPU in the dock is direct memory access instead of USB C connecting it. That would also theoretically allow a “pro” version to be released years ago with a 4K dock with a beefier GPU to support the visuals. Instead you have to pay for such a thing but instead of a dedicated GPU that would justify the price, you get a USB-C to DP to HDMI adapter surround by 3 cents of plastic.
I think the hybrid part doesn't come from it having different power levels, but more from it being compatible in different screens. Not sure why hybrid would mean more power from the dock. I think they just mean you can play it handheld and docked. Seems pretty hybrid to me
@@demiano8605 OK, but then EVERYTHING is a hybrid so long as there is any form of connecting it to a TV. Is your phone a hybrid? Is your tablet a hybrid? Is your laptop a hybrid? Is your gamecube with the mini screen plugged into a battery backup and then plugged into your TV a hybrid? Those are all "pretty hybrid" by your rationale. What you just argued means the term hybrid means nothing because that is so ubiquitous it covers pretty much every modern gaming platform and most older ones as well.
Switch works in docked mode with any powered usb-c to hdmi dongle + original power brick. The proprietary part is the Swtch’s power brick. It won’t work with any other usb-c power brick, even with those supporting quick charge with high power output or with macbook power brick
the OLED ethernet port seems useless, but it’s lowkey huge. as a college student, my university would only let us connect consoles to their internet through ethernet. if i wanted to run my switch online, i NEEDED ethernet. i’ve also lived in apartments where the switch simply could not access the page to sign in to the complex’s wifi, or some other issue prevented connectivity. i am far more likely to have difficulty connecting to wireless with the switch than any other console, so i feel it needs an ethernet port more than any other system.
you could fudge the sign in usually by checking out the address code of the switch, using that on a laptop to sign(you can just change the mac to whatever on a pc) in and then changing the laptop back to normal and then connecting the switch again.
My guess has always been that, after the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo really wanted to ensure high sales so they sell the $300 Switch at a loss or maybe very small gain to get a larger install base. No idea if that's true, but could explain why they overcharge the Dock and Joycons - to help offset the loss a bit.
Fun fact: the Switch charger by itself is $30
it's literally a USB-C cable.
eh, that feels fair enough imo. a good ass usbc charger would run you abt $20, just chock the extra $10 up to brand tax.
only issue is the cable isnt removable, but eh, so be it
@@Post_Stall_Maneuver to be fair it’s a really good one.
@@okayemjayit really is, use it for everything
@@okayemjayYeah I use it to charge my phone and laptop
"90 dollars for a plastic toaster?"
"With cheese Mr. Squidward, with cheese"
Charger*
It's basically an hdmi port 😅
with cables, mr squidward, with cables
Also worth noting is that the dock by itself is almost completely hollow, the hardware part is really small, really doubt it's worth that much.
Capitalism go brrrrrrr
The money is really for the convenience, ironically it's not very convenient with the size
The docks should probably run less than 40 dollars to make with how little there is in there
It's probably easy to tell that the dock is as big as it is compared to the actual working hardware is so that the Switch itself can fit into it. However, $90 is more than pushing it. $40-$50 would be a more appropriate price.
Hardware isn't priced by volume. Otherwise all smartphones would be free.
The apple effect
the Nintendo switch is now actually worth $130, the joycons and dock take up $170 of the cost
Edit: The Nintendo Switch is actually worth 96$, the usbc charger and hand grip remove another $34, making the switch 1/3 of the actual price. Yippee
Even less
Remember Nintendo said a base switch costs $257 to manufacture
They sell them to a profit
For a 6 year old tablet that checks out.
And if you get the Mario Kart bundle, it's only worth $70
@@cyrus8886That was ages ago, and I'm sure that the price has gone down.
Don’t forget joycon grip is $4, so that makes the tablet $126.
Real talk, I would absolutely buy a couple extra docks if they were reasonably priced. Would be nice to keep one at my parent's place for when I visit, or in my bedroom for when I'm feelin lazy. But for $90, Nintendo gets $0 from me instead. Congrats Nintendo, you played yourself
before i moved out of my dads i actually really needed a second dock because my parents are divorced, but my mum was just never able to get me one bc of the price so for 5 years i had to bring a whole separate bag between houses just for the dock
And they prevented you from using generic Usb-c docks by arbitrarily using a proprietary video output protocol that offers literally zero benefit over the standard video-over-Usb-c protocol 😃
@@alfo2804nintendo (and tbh other console companies) at its finest
Fr, they could have made a ton of money from these, it's so annoying to move everything from the tv to the pc monitor every time someone else wants to use the tv, I definitely would have bought one of these if it was half the price and I'm guessing a lot of other people too. It probably is a market manipulation thing just to get you buy a whole new system since the dock is so expensive anyway
@@alfo2804it technically has a slightly higher bandwidth, but they aren’t taking advantage of it at all… which actually makes it more ridiculous
I managed to swipe what must have been a mistakenly priced brand new sealed dock for $20 back in 2017. It was at a local game store.
Wasn't a mistake, Target had them on clearance for 30 bucks.
@@1enhanced1well that’s insane because the dock has always had an msrp of $90 so clearly target was deciding they would dump inventory and never touch them again.
@@Parker-- it's cuz most people don't need multiple docks
@@Parker-- this was 3-4 years ago?
I think that store was doing everyone a favor
it's crazy to me that there was a time where nintendo was selling a controller (the joycons) for the same price as an entire console (the 2ds, which also came with a game for that price)
I think that just speaks to how cheep the 2DS truly was. That thing was crazy budget.
Meanwhile today a 2ds is more expensive than a switch
Makes me really wish I picked one up when they were still being sold, a used one goes for abt the same amount WITHOUT a game.
I don’t think the 2ds ever cost $80 did it ?
@@julianmitchell5776It did. It was kinda the cheaper alternative to a 3ds. You could “play your 3ds games in 2d!” Which you likely already were doing. It was nice tho because it was much cheaper, opening up the opportunity for more kids to experience the ds era of nintendo
I just spent roughly 9 minutes looking at a box and a pair of hands.
Neat.
Pretty much like watching ashens is like but he is one of my favourite TH-camrs
@@therunawaykid6523 Scott somehow makes it intriguing! 🤣
You need to learn about ”This old Tony”
Dankpods
A box and a pair of hands… on a carpet… on a table!
Im still trying to convince myself to buy another pro controller. $90 for a second dock is completely insane.
Go third party, honestly. The pro controller will do all the same stuff. Even 8BitDo do cheaper controllers that are perfectly fine and feel very solid.
Don't not worth it. I'm happy with the 8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth controller. Cheaper and way better!
@@UntrainableWizardexactly, the pro controller is great but imo overpriced I have a Zelda botw power a wired usb controller for £25 which has always worked perfectly
@@therunawaykid6523I think I have the same one 😂. That controller lasted me for so long and I still use it sometimes
@@ApertureTestSub nice 😏
It's just plastic with a very small chip inside of it that honestly would probably cost 5-10 dollars in reality maybe even less than that. The only reason why we don't buy third party docks are because they are generally incompatible and can brick a console.
I can confirm the 3rd party console bricking stuff. 😑
if you were to buy a third party dock, why wouldnt you do research first? theres plenty of reputable brands that have made one
@@ryanw217i wouldnt even chance it tbh, my launch era switch bricked from the dock it came with. i know i got unlucky, but i dont blame people for not wanting to risk it with how dodgy it is
@@ryanw217 Look. I'm all for doing due diligence when it comes to buying 3rd party items that could brick a console, like what happened to mine. But the facts are that there are no 3rd party docks that got Nintendo's seal of approval, and that means your research is limited to word of mouth, reddit, or amazon reviews. There are no big official publications that really dove into the subject of compatibility on these things, so it really is a crap shoot as to whether or not you end up with a good product. That isn't even mentioning all the knock offs of knock offs from out of china.
Figure out whether you're fully informed yourself before you question whether or not I did my research.
you can get a replacement pcb for $17 if that tells you anything.
The craziest thing is, they could have made so much money off these if they were a reasonable price, I would have loved an extra one so I didn’t have to take it down every time I went to a friends
did anyone buy multiple docks
I did. I have a travel briefcase thing that holds the dock, its cords, and controllers as well as the switch itself. There’s like a lunch box looking one too sold somewhere, but I liked the brief looking one since it makes it easier to carry without bumping against your leg, it can lay lay when holding my laptop carry case in the same hand, and it’s got the zelda loftwing logo on the. And the graphic isn’t cheesy where the whole thing is colorful and sticks out marking you as a nerd, nah, it’s very minimalist and subtle. Love it.
Jeez, even a pre-owned Switch dock (over at GameStop) goes for roughly $80.
What's even more hilarious is that there are 3rd party portable docks that go for $40.
some of those have been noted to kill your switch though, so keep an eye out for that.
@@TOMMYOOST
I think they've recently solved the issue. It's worth checking reviews on external sites (as much as I hate to say it, sites like Reddit since it's not going to be people paid to leave the reviews) and making sure the specific one is good. But the one I have for example (which I wish I remembered the brand) works perfectly and I use it while I'm at work to play games on the monitor during lunch. (or... when it's quiet, to play with coworkers on a projector or big-screen)
@@TOMMYOOSTthat was 4 years ago. Now it's different.
I bought a used Official used dock on Whatnot for a mere $30 and it's in working condition. That's like 4-5 months ago.
@@tr1besJust because it was 4 years ago doesn't mean you still shouldn't be scared.
I know I'm definitely scared. My friend who's switch got bricked is definitely scared.
Scott, we've talked about your Hot Cheetos addiction, you've been caught red handed.😂
Came to the comments for this specific reason 😂
I hope he gets help 😢
Don't forget. The ac adapter is $35 by itself. That means the dock is actually $55.
So not only is the dock overpriced, so is the adapter.
You forgot the £15.99 HDMI cable. :P
@@UntrainableWizardOh, and don't forget the $10 usb cable. So the dock itself is $30 then, right?
@@michaelschwader7944
I like that, even now at $30, the dock is still more expensive than the more portable, more pretty looking, more feature-filled, more durable, 3rd party ones. lol
@@Shrapnel82 35$ for a power brick is resonable. That's basically the price range of every actually good quality power adapters in the market.
Because they're in that "we're hot shit lmao" mood
Nintendo is always like that
except when they're not
@@therunawaykid6523 not during the aftermath of the wii u launch lmao
Only Scott can make an interesting video about the price of a Switch Dock
k.
Anybody could make an interesting video about it. It's an interesting topic.
Filmed on a carpet too
He didn’t. I like Scott, but this was kinda a dud. The dock is not worth $90. The plug alone is $30.
He didn’t make an interesting video. It just seems interesting to you because you'll just watch anything.
Ethernet is so important for some people. It's not just for "competitive" gamers. Depending on your living situation you may have a lot of wifi / radio interference, or you already have a lot of devices on your wifi taking up your spectrum. Having a physical connection is a great option.
I would also say so you can get really high speeds for near instant game downloads but I forgot the Switch can't do speeds that high
if it makes you feel any better, valve priced their steam deck docks at $90 when that thing first launched. except, now they retail for $80 and include several USB ports and an ethernet port also, but even then you can still find a third party dock for $50 or less. so i guess first party docks just like being pricey.
Yeah steam at least says you can use third party docks on their website
That doesn't help sadly 😢
At that one's actually pretty cruddy from my experience. Sometimes it just doesn't want to output, I have to unplug and replug the power to get it to do it. And then sometimes ill be playing and it will suddenly stop outputting and say on the deck "slow charger plugged" ...despite me using the charger that came with the dock. Once again forced to unplug and replug. This is something that doesn't really happen with many 3rd party steam deck docks at a fraction the price, I don't know how valve got away with that shit
@@Logos729They didn't 'get away with it' - most people interested in a Steam Deck already know that it's a shitty, overpriced product, and Valve don't really advertise it or really show it off much at all. I get the feeling that it's something that they never fully committed to, and they ended up just releasing what they had because they couldn't be bothered to spend more R&D time on a product that they knew wasn't going to sell well anyway.
@alfo2804 wha? Nah it gets advertised, not only on steam itself which is just what it needs since that's their audience, it also gets pushed hard every game awards since its release, it's sold at a substantial loss so they can gain market traction(therefore, not overpriced, actually underpriced for the tech), they've been putting constant effort into maintainance and feature updates to the thing since launch, it's a fantastic device I spend most of my time gaming on honestly lmao. But the dock is an absolute mess, that was my only point lol. They get away with it cuz everything else about the deck is fantastic
This man can play with a box on his living room floor and it’s better than 90% of TH-cam
Average cat comment
If the Dock by itself is worth $90, than the standard Switch by itself is around the same cost as a Switch Lite
Yikes
Now, $80 Joycons
This makes the tablet portion $130.
Double yikes.
Reminder the lite purposely lacks the ability to output to a display, something that's been apart of usb c's standard for awhile now
If only. But I think it's not that way. Considering the dock's internals, there's no way it costs anywhere near $90 to construct. I'm sure Nintendo could profit off selling it at $60. But they jack up the price because they can. Same thing with the Joy-Con. There's a bunch of tech in there, but most likely not $80 worth. And that grip? Probably $3 of materials, sold at $15. So I'm sure the tech on the Switch itself is probably more than "just $200", at least at launch. Now? I'm sure Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank with every Switch sold.
@@ChiruKobraPretty sure the Joycons and the Docks are barely $90 to produce, so at that logic, the Lite is prob the same price than the regular Switch
I mean… to be fair… it does make sense. The switch has the same hardware as the lite. It’s just a bit bigger with detachable joycons😭😭
The worst part is that for a while the third party docks were a quarter of the price but it was a guessing game on whether or not they would brick your switch.
People are allergic to buying used stuff apparently. I just sold a dock, with two chargers and hdmi cable for $35 on eBay. Even that took a few days to sell.
back when the switch first came out, there were a bunch of 3rd party docks. at the time, there were reports of them damaging the switch due to some kind of voltage/amperage inconsistency. the official dock was the only safe way to use it and keep your switch safe. i got no clue if things are different now and 3rd party docks are safe to use, but the massive difference in price can be seen as an excuse for "quality" product
someone’s finally asking the important questions around here
And here I am fighting the urge to ask why his fingertips look so red🤔
Apparently I paid $94.34 for my Steam Deck dock so it checks out.
I have a Steam Link mostly because Valve was selling them for 5 dollars because they were an abysmal failure. But, dawg, I have that thing all hooked up into my bedroom entertainment center with an ethernet connection...
The picture isn't stunning exactly but it's totally playable and looks just fine. I love being able to just access and use my PC all the way across the house. If you're trying to do remote play with a wireless device, though, God help you. That SUCKS even with good Internet.
Why is the Switch dock $90?🤔
Bc the off-brand docks can destroy your console, like it did mine. 😐
I know the first gen of switch docs had this problem. newer ones are a little better with this problem
That is not a reason
I didn't even know they sold docks separately.
Has anyone noticed that Nintendo has never lowered the price of any of their games as they get older? At least in the switch era
yes
I miss Nintendo Selects they need to bring it back
Maybe not permanently, but you can snag quite a few AAA games on sale all the time if you're willing to wait a couple of months
@@s.th0masI’m not talking about sales. I mean they permanently lower the price. They have never done that to a switch game
They do 30% off sales every couple months, and I was still seeing Wii games for full price at Walmart in 2016
I remember Nintendo had said before when the OLED Switch was released that they would let you buy the dock separately, that never happened and it still pisses me off to this day.
Edit: apparently they sell it on their website and nowhere else.
They literally do though?
@@dinoshi64the video????
@@dinoshi64on the online nintendo store. they sell atleast refurbished oled docks but i think new ones too.
@@dinoshi64 it's on their website, it's the first google result
@@dinoshi64 Scott has one in the video... it's literally the thumbnail... and if you look on nintendo website they sell it both from them and from retailers. Also the dock is only 60 bucks
Honestly, the dock box could end up being pretty collectible. How many of those do you think will get sold, and how many of those do you think will have the box saved? It's first-party Nintendo. People will collect it.
The dock new never opened from Nintendo sells for $90. The local game store sells the dock used for $25 the highest price I’ve seen is $30 max. 3rd party dock on eBay and Amazon go for $35, for goodness sake it’s just a glorified hdmi Nintendo branded cable.
As an owner of 3 Switch systems who had to monitor ebay like a hawk to find a retail priced copy shortly after launch, I've thought about this question extensively. My theory is they priced the docks at nearly $100 to discourage the used "tablet only" Switch market.
My 3 switches are: a used launch copy that I got for $360 with Mario Kart 8 and BOTW, an Animal Crossing Special edition I bought new to have a 2nd one for the kids, and a used "tablet only" one that I bought Hori controller sized handheld only joycons for. We paid $150 for the tablet only: if someone tried to do that while ordering a dock and joycons seperately, the price would be higher than a new Switch, so you should just buy a new system instead if you want the whole package.
So, discourage used sales by hiding the true cost of the system behind system necessary accessories. Frankly, I think Nintendo's pretty smart on this one.
Brother those are horrible deals for both things you listed.
@@TheScrubmuffin69Oh yea, it is, I was reading this in AUD.
This better not be USD
Scott has now officially acknowledged the PlayStation Portal
The switch dock reminds me of any of the plastic wii accessories where there’s no weight to it besides the remote except with this there’s a tiny circuit board
I bought a $26 USB-C hub for my Steam Deck, then discovered it also works fine with my Nintendo Switch as well. Admittedly you can't slot the Switch into it all sleek like, but it does mean I never take the Dock anywhere anymore.
including the ethernet adapter is great because most people don't realize they don't have very good wifi and there are tons of complaints that are solved being wired on while using the switch. the more people wired in on the switch, the better the gaming experience for everyone.
I bought a Switch OLED specifically for the ethernet port. Ethernet is more reliable than wi-fi and I don't do a whole of portable gaming. But yeah, an ethernet port on a switch dock appeals only to a very tiny minority of modern Nintendo fans. But I'm glad they did it.
Usb ethernet cables are like $10. I know, my son bought me one to show me that I'm an idiot for thinking about buying a Switch OLED just to get an ethernet port. He's 16
@@penguinreloaded7756I was going to say I got a dongle for $10.
More importantly though isn’t the dock sold separately? If anyone “just” wanted the dock wouldn’t they “just” buy the dock?
Ah yes, let me buy a switch oled for ethernet just so I can STILL get lag trailed on mariokart because nintendo has the worst fucking online servers known to man
I bought myself a regular old usb-c dongle with HDMI and 100W max power charging support for ~30 bucks at Walmart and it works perfectly. Especially handy for work trips and travel. No sense in buying a second dock.
Adding an edit for those looking into this: I still use an official Nintendo power adapter, and advise if you go down this route to do the same. They are like 15 bucks at Walmart as well.
Please be careful with third party docks that include their own charger. There are plenty, really plenty videos online of people who bricked their Switch by using Amazon-type third party docks that were not compatible with Nintendo's proprietary technology.
Reeeeeeee
@@yang5811 its not proprietary technology, its the switch uses a difference wattage than the USB-C standard for some god forsaken reason, and then most 3rd party docks use the USB-C power standard not wanting to pay to get a non standard usb power adapter
@@yang5811got bestbuy branded one and it’s fine since 2018. Better form factor tbh
@@videogamesarecool9280 Thanks for the correction. One of my friends actually lost their OLED switch to this. When she sent it in with Nintendo, they found a "charging solution outside the device's specifications" and denied her request to repair it within warranty regulations if she wouldn't be willing to pay 200$ for the repair. She paid for the diagnosis, got it returned as a brick and sold it for parts on eBay after that...
Years ago GameStop had a deal where pre owned docks were like $20 and I bought 2 and to this day it’s one of the best deals I’ve ever seen.
Having a lan port on the oled dock makes sense because most usb lan adapters are too bulky and short to be able to close the back - my og dock has the back removed for that very reason. Sure another usb port could be helpful, but Nintendo probably collected data and found that most of the usb accessories connected were lan adapters.
Fair - which is probably why Hori made a LAN adapter specifically designed for the Switch so one could use it with the back closed.
the dock helped me heaps since I live back and forth between my parents houses, so I got 2 docks specifically for that. could not find it ANYWHERE in stores, no matter where I went, and online I found them for the same price I bought my pro controller for! I bought one anyway but I also do not see why the dock needs to be as much as it is with so little features
There is no reason that the cheap piece of plastic that sits there and does nothing, should be more expensive than the cheap piece of plastic that actually lets you play your games 😂
@v4n1ty92 it does have a purpose, it allows you to play on the TV. But it doesn't mean it should be the price that it is
Traded in my launch Switch for a newer one recently and only traded in the tablet and a pair of joycons. Kept the dock because i wanted the ability of having two docks 🥴
damn, launch switches are the only ones capable of modding. how much did they give you for it?
Where’d you trade it in at? I have a launch switch too.
@teksu0082
$80 credit. Bought 3 games with it and thought it was fair 🤷♂️
@@Crepist
A local games store in my area. Almost never go to gamestoppe 🫠
Calling the Switch Dock “fancy” it’s a really big stretch 💀
Bro didn’t watch the whole video
He says a lot about the bad things
@@Emerald-Fluffie i know i know. Even the title questions the stupid price of this cheap piece of plastic 🗿. Just thought it was funny calling it fancy in the slightest. Myself had to replace this garbage twice in 5 years 💀
@@PavelR1 ok that’s concerning what are you doing to this
@@Emerald-Fluffie First one, i borrowed it to a friend whose new console was faulty. Wanted to check if it was his console or the dock. The moment he connected it, my dock just died… can’t remember why i had to buy a second one. Regardless, ive never liked the design, it just sucks.
On Nintendos website the switch dock is only $60 and the OLED version is only $70
I don't pay full price for remasters that price themselves as remakes, Zelda Links Awakening and Skyward Sword were ridiculously overpriced
i see your arguement for SS since it's just higher but LA is basically a new game
I do think that the next console, if it is a Switch 2, could really use a dock that gives a significant boost to the console.
That sounds like a cool idea, A handheld that isn't as powerful but when plugged into its dock has modern level firepower.
I hope so, but then the issue of maintenance would arise
Doesn't the switch already do that? Docked mode boosts its performance because it isn't worried about battery life anymore.
If you want to get really specific, you just want an e-gpu for your handheld PC.
0% chance Nintendo would use an external GPU dock. That would be disgustingly expensive and that money would be better spent improving the SOC of the console itself
That’s how I envisioned the Switch Pro everyone was raving about. Wasn’t expecting 4K, but at least 1080p ALL THE TIME, NO MATTER WHAT
The best thing I did with my dock was buy one of those kits where you gut the dock you got with your switch and slap the board into a tiny plastic shell to make it like a quarter of the size. Now I have a hollowed out plastic toaster haunting my basement.
The genki portable dock is the best. The only one I would ever trust and a great price.
Used my own switch and others countless times with no issue
Got a second dock used for $40, no cables. Put it in a custom mini shell for travelling, $20. Worth every penny highly recommend for trips. Great vid.
Nintendo: "Why not?"
Guys Nintendo NEEDS that money! They only have 13 BILLION DOLLARS.
can't wait for the "I throw my wallet in a lake" video!
I think you hit the nail on the head with your throwaway comment about someone saying "oh well, that's so expensive I might as well buy another Switch." If the Switch Dock is so expensive that someone is willing to buy a second Switch over just getting a second dock, Nintendo has now increased the total number of units sold for the Switch itself. Shareholders don't care as much about accessories sold as they do the sales of the actual console itself.
I bought a knock off for $10 (just the dock item. No cables.) and it works awesome. Bought one for my wife's little brother and he loves it. It still needs the nintendo power cable for it to work.
Not saying it’s going to happen but supposedly those cheap 3rd party docks can brick your system. I’m sure it’s fine but fair warning
@zemotika It's true, some cheap docks are giving way to much energy and the microchip that is responsible for charging is overheating until it burns
@@TimurSokolthat's nintendo's fault for not following the USB C standard.
@@chavaspada True, but maybe there is a reason why outside of selling their own branded cables. I didn't look into it that deep
@@TimurSokol It was just that they have their own proprietary standard that is a little bit different to the USB C Standard... So likely they wanted third parties to be unable to sell docks which IMO is an anticonsumer practice
Everyone who played Smash online complained about no Ethernet port. And how they said. Please use a Nintendo Brand USB to Ethernet..... It was pretty silly the switch didn't have it to begin with.
be nice to the small indie company scott they need all the money they can get 🥺
So, the Switch's charger by itself is overly expensive, and the tiny board that is housed inside the dock is also expensive, but for terrible reasons...
Even though the Switch connects via USB-C, it doesn't exactly follow USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) standards... Through the Switch Dock and Power Supply, atypical voltages can be provided, and that is what the Switch uses when in Docked mode to push out a bit more power to display everything onto a larger and higher-resolution screen, and NOT drop half it's frames.
It is this reason why when other companies were trying to make their own switch docks, they assumed it would just use normal USB-PD standards and set them up like that, but the moment the Switch got the signal saying "Hey! I'm a Dock, we're operating in combination DisplayPort + Data + Power Mode; What voltage level are you asking for?" the switch then asks for an unusual voltage level, the third party Dock provides the closes one, and the voltage-mismatch kills the Switch.
Not only does the Switch ask for unusual voltages, but it is constantly fluctuating, so a Switch on a third party dock may look to be okay for a little while if running games or functions that don't require pushing the Tegra chip past what it normally does in Handheld mode, but either leave it on there too long or make it start to really work? ** Dead.
No 3rd party dock manufacturer managed to figure out the exact power-draw requirements to run the Switch in docked mode without killing it, and they were scared off by how many of their customer's Switch units were killed by their products, so they noped out of the Switch Dock industry REAL fast, leaving it barren.
TL:DR; Switch Dock (and power supply) is expensive because Nintendo didn't conform to USB Power Delivery standards, preventing 3rd party docks from appearing on the market without killing the user's Switch. Custom Hardware, Custom Voltages, and a monopoly on accessories to hook a Switch up to a TV; That's why it's so expensive.
Are those hot cheeto fingers or fake blood from a Scott the Woz episode?
I pick up a extra Switch Dock years ago on a discount. Now each TV in my house has a dock. My office has mine, the bedroom has my wife's and living room has the extra dock.
Gotta feed those indie devs 😔 Maybe they'll thank us and port Mother 3
sorry reggie ate all the copies. he's like a digimon you know.
Worth noting: if you have a monitor with a usbc input port, you use a usbc to usbc cord and connect your switch to that monitor. Admittedly, you won't be able to charge your switch while you play. But it does work.
Least the Pro Controller is cheaper. cough, cough.
I got mine used from Gamestop and it was still like $75. Worth it though honestly. The functionality of having it on both TVs is great.
Best part is when Switch 2 launches, you'll have a NEW dock and it won't be backwards compat and will also prolly cost $100
To be fair, Nintendo and retailers have done sales; I've bought them new for as cheap as $40
I see so many unofficial docks being sold online for a fraction of the cost with all the same functionality. It's essentially just a glorified USB hub. They definitely have a steep markup on it relative to what it actually costs them.
Just ignore the bricked switches
@bt3743 if I remember correctly, the bricked switches wasn't really due to the docks themselves being poor quality (for the most part), it was Nintendo that did some funny stuff with their "usb-pd" protocols
Sure, 6 revolutions this horrible planet ago
Okay lets math. 300 dollars minus $90 for the dock, $30 charger, $10 HDMI, $10 Grip, about $15 bumpers, $80 Joycons... So it's roughly (NOT EXCAT I KNOW) 65 for the tablet...
Because…….SOCIETY
I can complain on joycons, heck yeah i only bought a used switch and NEVER ever bought a new joycon because of how much they fricking cost, even if my right joycon miss fricking R button, im not spending that much... i'll just wait for the new console at this point
Now that's a Nintendo certified experience right there.
before the switch lite im pretty sure they sold the switch dockless in japan because there was a market for just the handheld console, so it's $90 to prevent someone from just buying the switch and the dock separately at a discount -- which would explain why they sent you a japanese one instead of a us one.
That wouldn't be preventing people from getting it at a discount, it'd be preventing people from realising that the full Switch set is horribly overpriced. If ~$210 is a reasonable, profitable price for the Switch, _with_ a charger, then clearly they could reasonably sell the full set for only around $250, especially if they got rid of all of the useless plastic shit by making the dock closer to the size of its PCB, and not including the stupid Joy-Con Grip.
But no, Nintendo decided that they wanted more money, so $300 it is. I can't even imagine how much profit they make from Switch consoles now that they must be ridiculously cheap to produce. They have to be pocketing between 50-75% of the retail cost. Absolute rip-off merchants.
@@alfo2804 Not running defense for Nintendo because they mark the shit up out of their products but the switch joycons charger and dock are estimated to cost about $250 to manufacture so the logic is probably sell you the switch and when you eventually want the dock the profit is there
Just an FYI: the nintendont switch light literally doesn't have the hardware to output audio or video. Those parts are just not baked into it😅
My friends mom was such a caring and uninformed mother that she bought two switches, two switch docks, two pairs of joycons, and two usb c charging cables for two of her sons. She of course returned everything else when she realized it was included in the box.
You can actually use any ordinary usb-c to HDMI adapter. But there's a catch, it needs to be able to send power to the switch as well. So any usb-c dongle that has both HDMI and a usb-c port works.
Source: I have a $3 one of those adapters that works like a charm
Him touching the white box with his orange-stained fingers stressed me out way more than it should.
Classic Nintendo making their USB-C power delivery non-standard so that people fry their Switch with 3rd party docks and are forced to buy Nintendo's $90 mound of plastic. No way that wasn't intentional.
So due to some very specific circumstances I didn’t have access to my Switch dock for over a year. I bought a third party one that worked fine, but when I finally got my actual dock back it felt SO nice. I loved how my switch just slid into it so snug. That being said, yeah, when you pick the thing up it’s essentially just hollow plastic with a few charging ports sticking out. For 90 bones that’s wild. I think $50-60 is when I’d be willing to buy a separate one
Ok but on the upside we got an extra scott the woz video i can hear while i sleep!
There are alternatives available and work better. I've got one for under £10 ann its great and small to take to hotels. I do use the original charger that plugged into the dock but it works great with a usb c with an adapter. Been using for 15+ months, no issues.
Source bro
I bought a refurbished Switch in late 2018. About a year/year and a half after I got it, the dock just stopped connecting to my Switch. It wouldn't at all recognize when the Switch was in it. I went online to get a replacement, and just absolutely balked at the price. I went with a much cheaper third-party dock instead, which not only still works today, but takes up much less space, feels a lot more secure in its connection to the Switch, and doesn't need you to open a door to access the power and hdmi ports. It is insane how much the official dock costs, when it's just a plastic box with some standard connection hub hardware in it, and it's definitely not premium quality in terms of materials or design. Reminder that the standard dock doesn't even have an ethernet port, despite that being a point of criticism on the Wii-U.
Why is the Nintendo Switch Dock?!
The Standard Switch is 300 dollars. The Switch Lite is 200 dollars. What does one have that the other doesn't and might cost 100 bucks? 🤔🤔🤔
I know it's advertised as "bring your switch to other rooms without unplugging the dock" but for 2 cables I've never had an issue with just moving the whole damn thing
Console accessory prices are usually frozen in time from the point of release. USB-C docks used to be really expensive and decent quality units are still quite expensive (don’t count the drop shipped Amazon random name garbage). Additional storage for the Xbox is like this, the 512gb Seagate expansion card is like $110 but today you can get fast 512gb SSD storage for half that price.
Gotta get those profit margins
"I don't understand why it's $90" enough people like you are willing to buy it at that price.
My speculation is that the dock is priced so high to incentivize you to buy another Switch. Maybe even upgrade to the OLED model. If you're spending 1/3 of the console's price on the dock, what's another $200~ for the whole console?
The main reason I don't get pricing the dock so high is that it's extremely easy for third parties to make an alternative for so much less. Sure, there's some value in it being official, but not 4-5 times more. And third party docks often come with extras like the ability to charge up extra joycons or hold your games.
I have three docks, the dock it came with in the bedroom, a second in the living room and a third that I originally bought for the RV (which was always parked in the driveway during the summer) back when I was still living with my parents, but since I moved into my own place, it doesn’t get much use except as a travel dock. It’s worth noting, that I bought one of them directly from Nintendo over the phone before they were available in stores or even on Nintendo’s website. They must not have had the price worked out just yet, because they only charged me $60 for it. Though to be fair that was for the dock only, no power adapter or HDMI cable, but I already had about a half dozen extra HDMI cables lying around, so the latter was a big deal.
"I'll just waste money." And, there you go, in one sentence, the reason why Nintendo can charge such princely sums: fanboys will still bitch, but all while opening up their wallets and dropping their pants.
Good question
All of these pricings and yet, system developers wonder why people like me like gambling on 3rd party stuff just because they are half the price
The Switch isn’t a hybrid console anymore than your phone or tablet are hybrid consoles when you connect them to your tv. If the Switch was a true hybrid, there would be a GPU in the dock is direct memory access instead of USB C connecting it. That would also theoretically allow a “pro” version to be released years ago with a 4K dock with a beefier GPU to support the visuals. Instead you have to pay for such a thing but instead of a dedicated GPU that would justify the price, you get a USB-C to DP to HDMI adapter surround by 3 cents of plastic.
I think the hybrid part doesn't come from it having different power levels, but more from it being compatible in different screens.
Not sure why hybrid would mean more power from the dock. I think they just mean you can play it handheld and docked. Seems pretty hybrid to me
@@demiano8605 OK, but then EVERYTHING is a hybrid so long as there is any form of connecting it to a TV. Is your phone a hybrid? Is your tablet a hybrid? Is your laptop a hybrid? Is your gamecube with the mini screen plugged into a battery backup and then plugged into your TV a hybrid? Those are all "pretty hybrid" by your rationale. What you just argued means the term hybrid means nothing because that is so ubiquitous it covers pretty much every modern gaming platform and most older ones as well.
because "capitalism breeds innovation", duh
All I can think of when reading this comment is Hobie Brown saying "It's a metaphor for capitalism."
What does capitalism have to do with this? No need to bring politics into this video.
Its a metaphor for capitalism morty
@@TurtleChad1capitalism is economics
Capitalism does not automatically equate to greed.
Switch works in docked mode with any powered usb-c to hdmi dongle + original power brick. The proprietary part is the Swtch’s power brick. It won’t work with any other usb-c power brick, even with those supporting quick charge with high power output or with macbook power brick
because we'll buy it!
cant even be mad at them
I assumed the $90 price tag is due to them they’re using proprietary hardware that doesn’t brick the system like third-party docks would.
the OLED ethernet port seems useless, but it’s lowkey huge. as a college student, my university would only let us connect consoles to their internet through ethernet. if i wanted to run my switch online, i NEEDED ethernet. i’ve also lived in apartments where the switch simply could not access the page to sign in to the complex’s wifi, or some other issue prevented connectivity. i am far more likely to have difficulty connecting to wireless with the switch than any other console, so i feel it needs an ethernet port more than any other system.
Had the same issue back in the day. Was before the oled though so got an ethernet to usb converter for like 9$
@@Scypio18 i did too, but it didn’t work, and i didn’t wanna take my chances buying another
you could fudge the sign in usually by checking out the address code of the switch, using that on a laptop to sign(you can just change the mac to whatever on a pc) in and then changing the laptop back to normal and then connecting the switch again.
My guess has always been that, after the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo really wanted to ensure high sales so they sell the $300 Switch at a loss or maybe very small gain to get a larger install base.
No idea if that's true, but could explain why they overcharge the Dock and Joycons - to help offset the loss a bit.
They sell the switch at a profit tho
Lmao no, the Switch was very (not just a little, _very_ ) outdated from day 1. It was cheap to make back then, even cheaper now.
Yeah, that's a real shame... Now excuse me while I boot up dolphin.