No, not that kind of stress test.

Edit: Part 2 is now up and can be found here! Despite it being “Part 2,” it’s actually better to read it first if you’re new.

So how much charger do I need to charge the Switch?

Short answer: Probably~8.75 watts. For assured minimum viable charging performance, you’ll want at least a USB Type C (“USB-C”) charger (battery pack, AC adapter, car charger), or even better, a USB-C charger with USB-Power Delivery (“USB-PD”).

Long Answer: Probably ~8.75 watts under the most demanding of conditions currently available at launch. This means that the majority of the best available USB Type A (“USB-A”) chargers rated at 10+ watts (5V 2.1-2.4A) still end up falling beneath this point, as part of the USB-A limitation is that the Switch will almost always only request 7.5 watts (1.5A) using USB-A (more on this in the upcoming part two of this article). In other words, a USB-A charger sits right at the point where the Switch may (1) lose charge with maxed-out settings, (2) hold its charge with dialed-back brightness, and also (3) slowly charge with yet more conservative settings. Only USB-C and USB-PD chargers offer a more certain guarantee for charging the Switch under intense gaming.

Why so many different possibilities? And why does this run contrary to much of the charging advice already out there on the Switch?

Well, this is actually a more complicated question than you’d expect, because the Switch’s power consumption when portable depends on a lot of factors — some that you’d expect like brightness, and others that complicate an otherwise straightforward answer.