Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by xd1936 26 days ago
Except for an up-to-16% reduction in capacity, and slightly increased weight, depending on the product.
4 comments

You mean an up-to-5% increase in capacity, and slightly decreased weight, depending on the product?

The truth is that the product with the 16% reduced capacity (Switch 2 Pro controller) is 7g lighter and the one with the 5% increased capacity (Gamecube controller) is 5g heavier.

Besides those two, the general idea is that the capacity is the same with 2-3% extra weight.

Some of these are no change because the existing versions already have pretty user replacement friendly batteries. The JoyCons for example already use the hard sided cells with plugs so I'm not sure what the change will actually amount to. If I had to guess it's maybe to change the glue or method of holding the battery in place to satisfy the ease of replacement requirements.
The 16% is for the Pro Controller though, to be fair.

The Switch 2 itself loses 1% of battery capacity, most other products none at all.

Your framing seems a bit selective to the point of being misleading.

16% less battery life in a controller is pretty significant!
I wonder if it will feel significant. I can't remember being limited by the controller battery. The runtime on a single charge is probably still going to be measured in weeks, and at that scale I feel like it doesn't really matter.
Yes but it's limited to only the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

The basic Joy-cons have no change to their battery capacity.

It's because they're basically already using user replaceable batteries, to the point I'm not sure what the SKU revision will actually do. My best guess is they won't be gluing the battery down any more? Otherwise there's not anything I can see they would need to change.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Joy-Con+Battery+Replacement/113...

At least if you're a heavy gamer like that you can pop a new battery in quickly when the old dies, instead of getting tethered with a cumbersome cable.
Glad to hear, because that's how much a battery will degrade by itself in 1 to 2 years if you're average lucky.
Agreed, that one's not great. But it seems to be the only product that has serious trade-offs.
does it matter for coach gaming if I can have spare batteries and just swap them. That's honestly sounds better then increased life with only cable recharge
How do those stats look 5 years later, when one is stuck with a degraded battery, and the other has had an easy battery swap?
seeing as the product itself already advertises that it's best to not charge it to 100% feel like nothing's being lost here no matter how one tries to spin it
You still lose capacity with a smaller battery, even if you don't charge it to 100%.