Rick Dangerous Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 I noticed this on my switch recently. The plastic cracked up and is flaking off around the cooling vent up top. Makes sense that it would happen here it guess, they put a thin ring of plastic around the hottest part of the unit; it was bound to happen. I did see it's been made more sturdy on the new OLED model from looking at photos of it. Nintendo makes pretty solid hardware so i'm not too worried about it. Anyone else have this going on? I do play a lot of AAA graphically intensive games, so maybe i'm cranking more heat than most... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 I've heard it happening to other folks, but it hasn't happened to either one of my Switches I've owned in the last four years. Bummer yours cracked! My v1 unceremoniously bit the dust last winter because of static discharge and my v2 is still going strong. My Switch Lite is as well but it seems to be designed differently than the Switch for the fan bit. (I put LOTS of hours on my Switches) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 3 hours ago, Rick Dangerous said: I noticed this on my switch recently. The plastic cracked up and is flaking off around the cooling vent up top. Makes sense that it would happen here it guess, they put a thin ring of plastic around the hottest part of the unit; it was bound to happen. I did see it's been made more sturdy on the new OLED model from looking at photos of it. Nintendo makes pretty solid hardware so i'm not too worried about it. Anyone else have this going on? I do play a lot of AAA graphically intensive games, so maybe i'm cranking more heat than most... Yes, it is actually fairly common and mine had it even worse. Enough of mine cracked and was hanging there I just cleared away all the fins on the top as it was mostly gone when I had it. You'll also find you'll end up having cracks near the USBC port in the bottom in the thinner spaces, also the corners of the tablet get it as well as it's warm and thinner there too. It's a design flaw Nintendo oddly let Nvidia get away with and didn't catch, and how I have no idea because it was not new. The Shield Tablet from them has all the same flaws including a nastier heat related issue around battery bloat and potential explosion so bad it got recalled on both counts. I had the tablet, it happened, badly on both regards and the same fail points are the same fail points on the Switch. They used cheap shit thin poor heat tolerance plastics that brittle and crack with basic heat expansion. The OLED model uses a different quality of plastic, but is also cut much thicker compared in all the weak points, all of it really, as even the hinge and total plate (kickstand) in the back are both heavier and thicker, all the plastics are a lot heavier and thicker obviously so when you hold the two models side by side as it's very noticeable. The more you leave the handheld in the dock of the original model, the more likely it is to crack since it generates higher levels of heat there being enclosed in that dock which puts up its own heat too and it just can't vent it away well at all. For all the bitchin about the joycons it surprises me they never got taken to task on the originals bad design on plastics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 No problems with my kickstand yet (probably because i've used it maybe twice) and the USB-C also shows no cracks. Probably will continue to lose plastic around the top vent but i can't see it causing a malfunction... Got this Switch launch day and it's still going strong so no complaints! Just interesting to see how these machines wear. I'll probably skip the OLED but look forward to the Switch Pro someday, or Switch 2 whatever it winds up being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 I never had a kickstand issue but also rarely used it. I saw plenty of complaints for those who used it more often than not as it was too flimsy(thin and small width.) The plastic issue tends to mount over the years with the accumulated heat especially if you go a lot between handheld and docking it. Mine was a launch one too, by the time I was worried it was going to become a problem the plastic in the rear started to arc just slightly, the top vent was so bad I cut the whole thing away fairly smoothly, and both bottom corners had hairline cracks like my Shield did when I owned it. Great internal hardware, utterly shit plastic carriage for it. I was going to skip the OLED but as bad as it got I traded up, kept my new-ish joycons, and a buyer was happy to take the tablet bit alone for $100 defraying the cost plenty enough to my satisfaction so it was a win win. The upgrades the OLED allows for are largely more amazing if you handheld play more than dock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 7 hours ago, Tanooki said: The Shield Tablet from them has all the same flaws including a nastier heat related issue around battery bloat and potential explosion so bad it got recalled on both counts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 19 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: All Nintendos base are belong to Nvidia given those problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 I've had a few more pieces crack off since starting this thread. The way i look at it is i'm improving cooling and thus performance! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 I haven't noticed it on ours. I have a v2 and the wife plays Dr Mario pretty religiously. So nothing too intense is getting played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoGamer Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Funny you should mention this issue. My Launch Day Switch has cracking plastic, but it’s where the SDcard is located. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoGamer Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 On 1/17/2022 at 4:14 PM, Rick Dangerous said: No problems with my kickstand yet (probably because i've used it maybe twice) and the USB-C also shows no cracks. Probably will continue to lose plastic around the top vent but i can't see it causing a malfunction... Got this Switch launch day and it's still going strong so no complaints! Just interesting to see how these machines wear. I'll probably skip the OLED but look forward to the Switch Pro someday, or Switch 2 whatever it winds up being. My kickstand was the first piece of plastic to break on my Switch, even though I never used it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 You can get a replacement housing for the front and back of the switch console on Amazon for like 15 bucks. Really good quality too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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