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Consoles and handhelds

Nintendo Switch Lite

7owners with an opinion
40%of verdicts positive
1/2positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for value and performance; criticized for reliability and software.

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What people wrote

Doesn’t like it
Not a great article, but a very real phenomenon. I recently picked up a banned Nintendo Switch Lite for cheap -- meaning it can't download games or updates off Nintendo's servers, but it can still play cartridge games. And while most games function, there are more often than not critical fixes or significant content updates missing. The console exists in a strange sort of limbo where everything is playable but not in its best form. The problem with Sony killing physical games (and the wider culture of digital purchases) is, unfortunately, a long-term one. Nobody will be seriously affected right now, as long as Sony's update servers are up and both digital and physical are supported. But 10, 20 years from now, both from a game preservation standpoint and from a consumer protection standpoint, this will be disastrous, when many games will still be charging outrageous prices or even no longer exist.
Likes it
How is the Switch overpriced and underpowered? I picked up a switch lite with a game as a bundle for my wife for £180 brand new. If you want detachable controllers and the ability to dock the Switch to a TV, you can spend more. But those features and the built-in screen are ones that literally no other games console had at the time and is only just starting to gain popularity in the handheld PC market recently. It may be underpowered now, but the Switch has been out for 7 years. And it still has enough power to play games like TOTK, The Witcher 3, Xenoblade Chronicles, etc. As for releasing games on PC, I don't see any reason why they would? Developing for PC is much more difficult than a single console, when it comes to handling the variety of hardware, anti-cheat, etc. TOTK and their Mario games are system sellers, with the former even releasing alongside a special edition console and pro controller. Delaying the release of these games to add dev time for a PC port is never going to be worth it.
Likes it
I've been playing Skyrim and Portal 2 on the Switch Lite and it keeps amazing me that games that my PS3 struggled with are now perfectly playable on a handheld device that has pretty good battery life and doesn't burn my hand. A device like this would have blown my mind 10 or 15 years ago (even more than the original PSP did the first time I saw one).
Doesn’t like it
I'm pretty sure all the manufacturers have this problem pretty much equally, at least on their "normal" controllers. Nintendo worse probably just due to the very constrained available size. You see users of all the consoles anecdotally reporting drift problems. I haven't experienced personally any drift on my PS4 or PS5 controllers, nor an Xbox controller used for a PC. I did have it happen pretty significantly on a Switch Lite. I also think there's probably an aspect of personal usage patterns: maybe if you're just going through sticks constantly, you apply more pressure, or just use them more, or have something like a dusty environment wearing them out faster.
Neutral
Any tips for where to start regarding Switch homebrew? I have a switch lite that goes mostly unused, but would love to put linux (or you know, have access to a terminal) on it in some form. I mostly exist inside a hackernews bubble -- and a personal recommendation would be more satisfying than me throwing keywords at google and hoping for the best.
Recommends itDoesn’t say they own it
The PS3 is a relic from an era where consoles being connected to the internet was still a relatively new concept, and security was a lot more lax. Newer consoles like the Switch are far more locked down, everything is signed/encrypted/verified/etc so any tinkering of that sort is impossible without a kernel code execution exploit. The only option for a banned Switch Lite is installing a modchip (there are people who will do it for you for a fee, well worth it imo).
Likes itDoesn’t say they own it
YouTube. Pick any piece of consumer electronics and you'll find videos of people diagnosing and repairing it, at both hobbyist and pro-repair-shop level. The Nintendo Switch Lite is a fun piece of hardware because they're cheap to buy used/broken and there are many opportunities for component-level repair. Some great written info (specific to the switch) here: https://www.retrosix.wiki/first-stage-boot-short-checks https://repair.wiki/w/Nintendo_Switch