The Nintendo Switch is the hottest new game console on the market. Supply is low, but demand is high, and everyone is talking about it. Nintendo hasn’t been doing great with consoles lately, but the Switch, so far, is definitely a change for the better. It’s got a lot going for it, and even has some PC-related uses that make it even more valuable.
There’s a lot of reasons to buy the Nintendo Switch, but for those among the tech crowd, there’s still some neat things that you might not know about the Switch. Here’s just a few of them:
USB Type-C is on-board
With the Nintendo Switch, there aren’t any proprietary connectors happening — Nintendo decided to go solely with USB Type-C. That said, all of the Type-C cables that you have lying around for your PC or smartphones will all work with the Switch.
Nintendo in the past has used proprietary connectors, so this is a welcome change. When you pick one up, it actually doesn’t have the Type-C cable with it (but does have an adapter with a non-removable USB-C cable with it), but since they’re standard USB-C cables, finding one lying around won’t be a big deal. And if you don’t have one, since they’re a standard USB connector, they’re fairly cheap on Amazon, too.
Nintendo Switch’s Joy Con controllers work with Windows
The Joy Con controllers for the Nintendo Switch connect to the console over Bluetooth. So, you’d think that they would connect up to Windows rather easily — and they do! In fact, Windows recognizes the controllers as Joy-Con (R) and Joy-Con (L), and even recognizes them individually. That said, you could, in theory, play a two player co-op game on Windows with the two controllers rather easily.
The problem is that PC games just won’t recognize the Joy-Cons as proper controllers, so you’ll need to download a custom program called JoyToKey to make it compatible with PC games. Once you do download that and set it up, the Joy-Cons can easily double as fully functional controllers for your Windows PC.
You can use it to watch YouTube and Plex
The Nintendo Switch doesn’t support things like YouTube, but it does have a browser in a roundabout way. It’s not a browser that users can access, though. It’s essentially a hidden browser used to access some Wi-Fi endpoints, something many devices need to be able to do. However, people have been tinkering with the Nintendo Switch quite a bit, and if you don’t mind setting up a proxy server, you can watch videos on YouTube or Plex with your new portable console.
There’s a couple different methods that you can use, but you can find a full tutorial on setting it all up over on GBATemp, thanks to forum goer driverdis.
The Switch is affordable
At first, the Nintendo Switch might look like its priced like any other game console out there — and it is — but in a way, it’s much more affordable. Yes, a Nintendo Switch will set you back $300 or under $400 with a game. But, with the Switch, a TV isn’t required. So, if you don’t already have a TV, you don’t have to look at footing the bill to buy one alongside your console.
Either way, you still have the potential to get a lot more value out of it than an Xbox One or PlayStation 4, simply because of it’s mobile-first and portable design. You can take the Switch with you anywhere and even play it anywhere, something you can’t do with the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One without lugging around a ton of equipment.
Closing
It goes without saying, the Nintendo Switch has a lot going for it. In world that has gone mobile, it’s one of the first true mobile gaming systems that has actually been able to break through and make a name for itself. We’ve seen plenty of mobile Android gaming consoles, but none that have taken off. Nintendo has truly created something that appeals to the masses with a mobile-first approach here.
Are you buying a Nintendo Switch?
