You can't trick Nintendo Switch Lite into connecting to a TV
A YouTuber took the console apart and found that it lacks the hardware needed for a workaround, while iFixit couldn't determine if the drifting issue had been fixed.
There's apparently no way to connect a Nintendo Switch Lite to a television.
When Nintendo Switch Lite hit stores Friday, we already knew it couldn't be docked out of the box to any TV or monitor. However, a teardown revealed that there aren't any workarounds either. YouTuber Spawn Wave pulled the portable game console apart and found that it lacks the hardware needed to connect to any bigger screen, while iFixit gave us a closer look at its parts.
"It appears that the hardware that is needed does not exist on the board," he noted in his comparison of the motherboards of the regular Switch and the new Switch Lite.
Basically, video doesn't "flow" through the Switch Lite's bottom USB-C port (where you connect controllers and chargers) like it does in the Switch, according to the video.
The teardown also revealed that the Switch Lite's analog sticks, or the miniature joysticks at the top left and bottom right of the controllers, are the same as those found in the original model's Joy-Con controllers. This could mean that Switch Lite will suffer from the same "drifting" issue that has plagued some Switch devices. "Drifting" is basically when the object you're controlling on the screen will continue to move after you've stopped manipulating the analog sticks.
A separate teardown by iFixit revealed that this model appears to have the same black contact pads under the the analog sticks' metal sliders. The site noted that the drifting problem might be caused by these pads wearing down. If the pads are made of a tougher material on the Switch Lite, it might solve the problem. However, its test couldn't confirm that.
Nintendo didn't respond to a request for comment.
First published Sept. 24.
Update, Sept. 25: Notes iFixit teardown.
