The quarantine has made a console like the Nintendo Switch become a bestseller all over the world. The launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also to blame, and it is that the arrival of the Nintendo game has triggered sales of the console. The problem is that the stock of the console has been exhausted in many distributors, so someone has decided to go heroic in order to get away with it.
The black market for Switches
Such is the situation of the existing demand for Nintendo Switch, that the second-hand market has experienced significant growth with its corresponding inflated prices. This is what is happening in the United States, exactly in Seattle, where the creator of this feat only found used models for 450 and 600 dollars.
Outraged by the situation, he decided to take the more complicated, but at the same time more comforting path: making his own Nintendo Switch. Almost nothing. For this he used no less than 22 different components, all of them purchased through eBay and whose total sum did not exceed 200 dollars, staying at some more than interesting U.S. dollar 199.
Is it possible to build a Switch that cheap?
In reality, it no longer compensates so much, since things get complicated. The creator of this craft clarifies the doubts about it, and it is that in January the prices for all the components did not exceed 200 dollars, being able to even buy all of them for 175 dollars. Now, in the current situation and with a more pronounced demand, the components have risen in price, and in total they add up to between 300 and 400 dollars for the entire pack. Something that obviously does not compensate.
There is no doubt that this homemade Nintendo Switch will not help lower prices, since many will be interested in doing the same in order to get a Nintendo Switch at the best price. In any case, if you are interested in knowing what components make up a Switch in pieces, we leave you with the list that its creator has shared so that you can take note (most are on eBay, but as we say, at slightly inflated prices today from today).
- Game Cartridge Card Slot Socket Board w/Headphones Port – $15
- NS Console Micro SD TF Memory Card Slot Port Socket Reader – $5
- Nintendo Switch HAC-001 CPU Cooling Heatsink – $7
- Game Cartridge Card Plastic Cover – $1
- Console Speaker Replacement Parts For Nintendo Switch Built in speaker – $8
- Wifi Antenna Connecting Cable (Short) $2
- Wifi Antenna Connecting Cable (Long) $2
- Internal Cooling Fan – $3
- Power & Volume Button control flex cable (w/ buttons and rubber conductor) – $4
- Side Slider Sliding Rail Flex Cable (Left) – $3
- Side Slider Sliding Rail Flex Cable (Right) – $3
- Replacement Top Housing Shell Case Face plate -$6
- Nintendo Switch Console Replacement Battery (New) – $15
- Replacement Bottom Housing Shell Transparent Case Face plate -$5
- Touch Screen Digitizer Adhesive – $0.50
- Touch Screen Digitizer – $9
- LCD Display Screen Replacement – $12
- Shield Plate – $2
- Iron Middle Frame – $6
- WORKING OEM NINTENDO SWITCH REPLACEMENT LOGIC BOARD MOTHERBOARD – $95
- Full Screw Replacement Set – $2
It may not be a job within everyone's reach, but it certainly shows us that it may not be too difficult to assemble our own Switch in a couple of afternoons. Of course, seen what has been seen, it seems that the most difficult thing will be to find all the pieces at a reasonable price.