Oh boy, where do I even start with this Switch 2 circus going on in China? It’s like, barely two weeks since Nintendo dropped this thing, and bam! Resellers in China are snatching up production-line motherboards like they’re on a grocery run. Seriously, they’re hawking these things for about $120 over on Goofish. And yes, apparently, that’s with info coming from HXL on X, or whatever Twitter’s called now. Honestly, keeping up with these names is exhausting.
So, these resellers got some pics fluttering around that show off these panelized PCB designs. What’s that, you ask? It’s basically a bunch of little PCBs hanging out together on a big PCB before they get cut apart. Cute, right? And after getting all snippy with them, outfits like Foxconn do the assembly magic. However, this ‘marketplace version’ lacks some snazzy metallic shields. So, yep, not the real McCoy, but pretty darn close.
Anyway—wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, prices! So, get this—over in Nintendo Japan land, they’d charge you $175 just for the privilege of fixing or switching out your PCB doodad. Which, if you’re like me and don’t have cash spilling out of your pockets, makes the $120 option kinda tempting. That said, who knows if Nintendo’s tinkering with some secret IDs to match parts to PCBs? Could throw a wrench in repair plans.
And here’s a fun little sidebar I’ll just drop here: someone (adventurous or bonkers, can’t decide) might attempt to cobble together a Switch 2 with these motherboards and, like, aftermarket parts. But with the console being all fresh and sparkly new, good luck finding the rest of the stuff. These PCBs are rocking Nvidia’s custom Tegra T239 SoC, with all sorts of techy mumbo jumbo like 8x Arm Cortex-A78C cores and a GPU with 1,536 CUDA cores. Wow—I pretended to know what that means.
So, Nintendo’s going for durability or something, eh? There’s some word about a Switch 2 surviving 50 plier-smashing attacks. But funnier yet, it’s the seasoned GameStop crew that managed to stab a hole in the thing with a receipt staple. Classic. And iFixit decided the ol’ Switch was fixable enough, but its newer sibling? Nah—it’s a measly 3 out of 10 now. Guess we’re all doomed once the warranty’s up, or if Nintendo decides to say, “Nope, not our problem.”
Anyway, stay tuned to Tom’s Hardware for more chaotic news, where we try to make sense of this very strange gaming universe. Go ahead, click that follow button. We won’t bite.
