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Anyone struggling with Switch dock placement?

Iced

Member
I'll be getting a Switch as soon as there's more stock. While I'm waiting, I've been trying to figure out where the dock is going to live, but I can't figure it out. My tv sits on an entertainment unit that has plenty of room for normal electronics below it, but I wouldn't have enough clearance to plop the Switch into the dock. My router resides in said entertainment unit, so I want to keep the Switch away from it if I can.

My tv is sandwiched between two 7-foot tall book shelves. I'd have to make a hole into the backing of one of them to feed cables through if I wanted to put it on one of them, as they are too tall to put the Switch on top (I could reach fine I suppose, but my fiancée would struggle). Really don't want to go that route.

Basically I'd probably have to reconfigure my living room to connect this thing to my tv. Is anyone else in this boat? Curious to read ideas, even if they won't necessarily work with my setup. (I don't want to post pics since there are private items on my bookshelves.)

Thanks!
 

iMax

Member
Mine's literally just on the floor. There's no logical place to actually put it to safely account for the insertion.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
My gf's sewing table is actually right next to our TV, so I have it placed on one of the side-shelves. This works fine if I'm not using the Joycons, as I get connectivity issues otherwise from the coffee table blocking the line of sight if I lean back too much.
 
Nope, I just put it where I put the Wii U Controller dock which was on a shelf to the side of my main setup. Works really well.
 

Stopdoor

Member
My gaming setup's a bit of a mess but that's just because I'm in a cramped room with too many consoles, and I'm constantly unplugging stuff to take to gaming meetups. So a bit of a unique situation.

My dock is right now perched beside a nearby CRT, sideways from the LCD viewing angle which is kind of awkward for docking the thing. A bad setup all around but not much I can do without more furniture.

And I constantly have the dock compartment open to unplug things, extra ugly haha.
 

JMY86

Member
I had no issues mine is sitting on the sub woofer next to my TV. The dock is pretty small I don't think it will be much of an issue.
 

Toki767

Member
I need a horizontal dock.

This thing seems like it's designed to go on a coffee table but most people probably don't have one.
 

iMax

Member
I need a horizontal dock.

This thing seems like it's designed to go on a coffee table but most people probably don't have one.

Actually, this is not a bad idea. I might buy a long HDMI cable (>5m), tack it down around the room edge, and just have the Switch dock on a table somewhere else in the room that's more convenient for 'switching'.
 
I need a horizontal dock.

This thing seems like it's designed to go on a coffee table but most people probably don't have one.

What? I would think coffee tables are pretty common but besides that, I don't think that's an ideal location because they tend to be in the middle of the room and you'd have to route cables to go there. Going to my coffee table would never be in consideration.
 
It's just in front of my TV on an IKEA TV stand. The top of the Switch is just slightly below the bottom of my screen, so it's not visually distracting at all.

Dunno why people are having so many issues with it, the dock is tiny and reasonably discreet. It should fit easily within your existing media center, and if you don't have that type of setup you can just get a small shelf to put it on. Not to shill too hard but there's a myriad of awesome IKEA pieces that make for perfect albeit mildly ostentatious Switch pedestals.

I need a horizontal dock.

This thing seems like it's designed to go on a coffee table but most people probably don't have one.

Where would the cables go in this scenario? Just across the room? I understand that a lot of people saying "I wish the dock was _______" do so purely because they have a very specific setup, but realistically what Nintendo did is the most ideal. Even removing the front plate to mitigate scratching issues doesn't change the inherently vertical design, which works with most setups.
 
Dunno why people are having so many issues with it, the dock is tiny and reasonably discreet. It should fit easily within your existing media center, and if you don't have that type of setup you can just get a small shelf to put it on. Not to shill too hard but there's a myriad of awesome IKEA pieces that make for perfect albeit mildly ostentatious Switch pedestals.

There's definitely no real way to put it in my main setup well. Most things are inside the TV stand which have doors to them. There wouldn't be enough clearance to pull it out vertically making it not very easy to switch to portable mode. This is pretty common for a lot of TV stands. Then putting it on top where my TV actually sits just wouldn't look good at all.
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
Dunno why people are having so many issues with it, the dock is tiny and reasonably discreet. It should fit easily within your existing media center, and if you don't have that type of setup you can just get a small shelf to put it on. Not to shill too hard but there's a myriad of awesome IKEA pieces that make for perfect albeit mildly ostentatious Switch pedestals.

I don't have space for another table and my media cabinet has too small of shelves for the dock (I wouldn't be able to put the Switch into the dock). It is just a tricky situation to place the dock somewhere out of the way at the moment.
 

Hedgey

Member
Maybe you could have the dock propped forwards on its frontside inside your entertainment unit, so the system could slide in, but also use enough gravity to keep connected. Then it would likely be sticking out of the front though.
 

shiyrley

Banned
I just bought a long HDMI cable and placed the dock on a table I have near my desk, but not the desk itself, and I play on my monitor, in my room.
It seems perfectly fine to lay it on its back.
Are you aware of the weight you are forcing onto the USB-C port in the dock?
 

Get'sMad

Member
not really but I do really hate the general cheap feeling of the thing and the design/placement of the ports for the cables.
 
There's definitely no real way to put it in my main setup well. Most things are inside the TV stand which have doors to them. There wouldn't be enough clearance to pull it out vertically making it not very easy to switch to portable mode. This is pretty common for a lot of TV stands. Then putting it on top where my TV actually sits just wouldn't look good at all.

Can you slide it in from the side? I know that's not ideal but I've done it a few times just out of mild curiosity.

One of my friends placed his face down inside his TV stand cabinet and just slots it in from the front. Cabling works fine as well, and while it's not as convenient as just plopping it in vertically it's still fairly easy.

I just bought a long HDMI cable and placed the dock on a table I have near my desk, but not the desk itself, and I play on my monitor, in my room.

Are you aware of the weight you are forcing onto the USB-C port in the dock?

In what sense? I'm not next to my dock ATM but don't the cables have two routing options, one out the side and one directly out of the back?
 

KahooTs

Member
It's too small, looks stupid where it belongs in line with the other entertainment boxes. Also because it's small the cords running out its back look disproportionate.
 
Mine sits quite far from my TV, with a long 10ft HDMI cable. On a coffee-type table that I use to put my consoles on, right beneath my PS4 Pro, where my Wii U used to be.
 

Pit

Member
The thing is like 20cm by like 5cm if your lucky. It can literally go in the smallest places. Hell, even on the floor if you need.
 
Can you slide it in from the side? I know that's not ideal but I've done it a few times just out of mild curiosity.

One of my friends placed his face down inside his TV stand cabinet and just slots it in from the front. Cabling works fine as well, and while it's not as convenient as just plopping it in vertically it's still fairly easy.



In what sense? I'm not next to my dock ATM but don't the cables have two routing options, one out the side and one directly out of the back?

Not those ports. The connector inside the dock that connects to the Switch. The Switch really isn't resting on the front or the back of the inside slot. It's kind of free standing so laying the dock horizontal could be putting strain on the port inside since the weight of the system would be pulling it downward.

It's not a problem for me because I routed an HDMI cable away from my main setup where it works well, but I can totally understand if someone was focused simply on a normal TV stand how it couldn't work well. It wouldn't work well in mine so I'm fortunate that I have a viable placement solution.
 

hao chi

Member
My only dilemma is I place it next to my TV in just about the same spot that I normally place my drink when I'm playing my PS4 or Wii U on my monitor, so I need to either push my dock back a bit or move my cup to take the Joy Cons off.
 

Mr. F

Banned
Mines just on the shelf beneath my TV. there isn't enough clearance for docking/undocking but when I have to I just pull the dock out and place it on the TV's shelf since the cable has some slack. Not the most elegant solution but I'm not switching often enough for it to be annoying yet (70/30 portable mode so far).
 
I rarely play it in the living room. When I use it on a big screen it's my 24" computer monitor at my desk, so I just keep the dock under my monitor, sitting on the circular base.

227a.jpg
 

shiyrley

Banned
Can't you put it the other way around?
?
Then you are applying weight in the other direction
Can you slide it in from the side? I know that's not ideal but I've done it a few times just out of mild curiosity.

One of my friends placed his face down inside his TV stand cabinet and just slots it in from the front. Cabling works fine as well, and while it's not as convenient as just plopping it in vertically it's still fairly easy.



In what sense? I'm not next to my dock ATM but don't the cables have two routing options, one out the side and one directly out of the back?
uh
I mean
Connect your phone to its charger
Place it on a table.
Now lift the phone sightly by lifting the cable connector, not the phone itself. Lift it enough that you can feel you are actually sustaining the weight of the phone.
Now imagine the Switch staying like that all the time
Doesn't that worry you a bit?
 

Virdix

Member
Mine is to the right of my keyboard because I use a monitor, have to plug in my headset and sit closer than I usually do.
 
I've got a desk with two tiers on it. The higher tier of it used to be where I kept my second monitor, but ever since that one burnt out after a decade of faithful service it was empty up until the Switch came out. Now I keep the Switch dock and various controllers/handhelds up there.
 
I have it connected to my monitor so I placed it right next to my keyboard. I also re-route the headphone-jack of my monitor back to my PC's Line-In so I hear the Switch over my wireless headset.
 

BraXzy

Member
Mine is sideways next to my PS4 pro.

I had a similar dilemma, slots under my TV cabinet aren't tall enough for a dock + space to do the docking. The PS4 Pro gets too hot in the slots so sits on top alongside the TV. Literally the only place it could go without it blocking the TV.

Not the prettiest display but it functions I guess.
 

jts

...hate me...
Should have been designed to be able to be well mounted.

I managed to place mine satisfactorily but I can see how it can be an issue. Mine couldn't go to the typical shelf with the other consoles.
 

Giolon

Member
Mine currently sits on top of my PS4 Pro. It's not my intended permanent home for it, but since the Switch dock needs to be on the top of my entertainment center so it can be removed, I don't have a lot of other choice at the moment without rearranging everything.
 
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