Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Actually...

... short story is, exiting power and reinserting power is an actual physical hit on the electronics. It's why you don't unplug your tv every time or hit one of those switches on your plug to shut power completely off. The moment you put it back in, it takes a thumper, so to speak.

So if wear and tear through the laws of nature is your thing, normal sleep and standby modes will in almost every case be better for you electronics than to completely shut them off and reinsert power.

@erv I'd need factual evidence before I believe that. It's always been the case that shutting things off saves them from wear and tear.

I was just about to say the same thing as erv above, its definitely does more harm to the battery in the long run. Powering the console off should only really be used for either a reset to try and solve a software issue or if you know it's going to be out of use for a while.

I've accidently ignored a user. I'm not sure where to go to un-ignore them?

@OorWullie Still powering it off as usual, and I've not noticed anything wrong with it. Again, gonna need factual information that it's actually harmful to Switch it off instead of sleep mode.

@OorWullie Your Account > Ignored Users.

Also turn the Switch fully off if you're going to remove the memory card.

I'm laughing. The guy sat here giving anecdotal evidence for past debates wants factual proof for this one.

Oh this site just amazes me.

@BLP_Software Got a bone to pick, mate? I'm merely concerned for the longevity of my console.

You also don't understand the reason I brought that debate up, I did so to be proven wrong in my assumptions, you know, devil's advocate? But I thought we closed that, and yet here you go bringing it back. You can go point a finger at yourself now.

@Zyrac Cheers. Luckily it wasn't you I accidentally ignored

Yep I forgot about that. I don't like removing SD cards all the time either. I've had a few get damaged over the years.

@UmniKnight Do some research instead of asking us, you'll find your answer. That's how I got to know about it.

@UmniKnight Your console will take less strain if you use Sleep Mode. This is why those things exist. It's well known about battery technology and fuses that off/on damages them with surges of power.

Also points finger at myself Happy?

@BLP_Software Just, nevermind. It's a difference of preference, let's keep it at that.

My Grandad (an engineer) always used to tell me that, to improve battery life long-term, it's best to let the battery run down to ≈10% before charging - the charging process apparently has a negative effect on the battery & powering up devices takes a lot of energy too - so it's best to let the battery drain almost completely (but not totally) if you can, before charging, to preserve battery life in the long run...

@NaviAndMii Interesting, but what if you use it docked all the time, aka it's battery never runs dry?

@UmniKnight @NaviAndMii it's the same as with my statement. Physics don't lie, but variables do change.

So physics fried my motherboard on my pc through the power unplug thing I used to do back in the day. Peak power protection circuits change that dynamic somewhat.

Same goes for the battery: he's not wrong, but the batteries changed. li-polymer batteries are best drained and recharged, yet li-ion batteries benefit from mid-section charge cycles. But not indefinitely - completely draining on a rare occasion is still good, but doing it every time increases fatigue again.

I wonder how relevant all of this actually is these days. There certainly is no need and a potential downside in the continuously unplug and replug, super drain and redrain philosophy we used to live by two decades ago.

@erv Nintendo does recommend sleep mode, but I guess it's best to shut it off if you're going to leave it alone for a few days. My mindset is from ye olden days when we used to shut everything off to conserve energy and save on the bill at the end of the month, so I honestly missed the entire transition to "Sleep mode everything"

@erv I see, good info (I meant to mention that he passed away some time ago, so what I said wasn't necessarily up to date!) ..as @UmniKnight mentioned, do you know how the Switch works when docked - ie. once it's fully charged, does the Switch kind of dis-engage the battery and just take all power from the mains? (if that makes sense!)

@UmniKnight Apologies for how my previous comment came across.It came across as snarky which wasn't my intention.

@OorWullie Don't worry about it, I'm just genuinely concerned for the longevity of my console. I may come off as I've been put something sharp to my head in buying this, but I genuinely like the device, and a 330 purchase isn't something you do every month, well, at least not with my budget, so I'm just trying to figure what the best solution is here. If it comes off as irritating of me asking, don't worry, I've sent Nintendo themselves an e-mail, and I expect better than the regular PR answer for something that they should be able to inherently tell me about.

@UmniKnight The Switch uses almost no power in its rest mode. All you're doing is making the system more of a hassle to use for yourself. Also, I think powering it all the way on/off actually puts more strain on the system then just putting it in sleep mode.

I mean, your console, so do what you want, but it's adds virtually nothing to your electricity bill.

@Ralizah I don't mind waiting for it to start up, and I'll wait for Nintendo's reply as to what's best for the system itself. My housemate appreciates the idea of the system being off though, since it at least doesn't add more to said bill