Nintendo Switch OLED review
Our Verdict
The Nintendo Switch OLED sports a gorgeous screen, an improved kickstand and lots of storage space. It's an easy recommendation for commencement-time Switch buyers — and an extravagance for electric current Switch owners.
For
- Cute OLED screen
- Handful of small, useful upgrades
- Handsome black-and-white colour scheme
- Retains excellent Switch features and library
Against
- No 4K capabilities
- Display all the same 720p
- Shows its age compared to PS5 and Xbox Serial X/S
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Nintendo Switch OLED sports a gorgeous screen, an improved kickstand and lots of storage space. It's an easy recommendation for first-fourth dimension Switch buyers — and an extravagance for current Switch owners.
Pros
- +
Beautiful OLED screen
- +
Handful of pocket-size, useful upgrades
- +
Handsome blackness-and-white colour scheme
- +
Retains excellent Switch features and library
Cons
- -
No 4K capabilities
- -
Brandish withal 720p
- -
Shows its historic period compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
Nintendo Switch OLED: Specs
Release Appointment: October eight, 2021
Price: $350
Chipset: Custom Nvidia Tegra X1
Storage: 64 GB (expandable)
Brandish: 7-inch OLED
Max Resolution: 720p handheld/1080p docked
Max Framerate: threescore fps
Ports: USB-C, iii.v mm audio, microSD, HDMI (docked), LAN (docked)
Size: ix.v x 4.0 10 0.6 inches
Weight: 14.9 ounces (handheld)
Battery Life: four.five – 9 hours
If you are a newcomer to the Switch, so the Nintendo Switch OLED is the model to get. It'south a mere $l more than the original Switch, yet for $350 you become a notably improved display, equally well as a few other quality-of-life tweaks, which promise to make for the all-time Switch gaming experience around.
The Switch OLED has the neat advantage of making the best Switch games look fifty-fifty improve, thanks to its brighter and more vibrant display; if you accept a modern Android smartphone or iPhone, take a glance at that, as information technology'll have an OLED brandish and you can get a taste of what to await from the Switch OLED.
There caveat hither it that if you already own a standard Switch the upgrades on offer are probably not plenty to buy the panel again. It might be best to hold out for a a full 4K variant, which may or may non exist in the works.
Withal, taken on its ain merits, the Switch OLED is a strong machine. It even so has a killer hybrid design, a terrific library of games and an admirable focus on gaming, first and foremost. If you've been on the fence well-nigh a Switch, the OLED is the model to become. Read on for our full Nintendo Switch OLED review — and in one case you've bought 1, check out our Nintendo Switch OLED starter guide for tips on how to get the near from it and our most anticipated Nintendo Switch games for 2022 list.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Design
First things first: The Nintendo Switch OLED is, for the well-nigh part, exactly like the panel'due south base model. If you lot want to know how the system functions overall, I recommend you check out our Nintendo Switch review, which covers the organization's general size and shape, portable functionality, idiosyncratic controllers, uneven online features and all-encompassing game library.
The outset thing I noticed about the Switch OLED was that it'due south the same size as the base Switch: nine.5 x 4.0 x 0.6 inches. This is a fleck bigger than the handheld-only Nintendo Switch Calorie-free, but information technology'southward a comfortable size for most teens and adults to hold for long periods of time. (It's probably a flake likewise big for small children.) This may seem like a modest bespeak, but considering the Switch OLED retains its counterpart'southward physical design, all of your existing accessories should still work. Stashing the Switch OLED in my regular Switch's conveying example saved me a large headache right off the bat.
To be fair, the Switch OLED is a tiny scrap heavier than the base model: 14.ix ounces, every bit opposed to fourteen.1 ounces. I didn't observe the OLED less comfortable to agree for long periods of time, but when it comes to handhelds, lighter is better.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: OLED screen
From a physical standpoint, the Switch OLED makes ii big deviations from the base model, and ane small-but-significant divergence. The about noticeable change, of form, is the seven-inch OLED screen, compared to the half-dozen-inch LCD screen on the base Switch.
The OLED screen is the centerpiece of the Switch OLED, and where most of Nintendo'southward praise is due. The larger screen renders well-baked images with vibrant colors and deep blacks. When you play a game with dark, detailed levels — such as the alien caverns of Metroid Dread or the foreboding castles of The Fable of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — the feel feels even more than immersive than earlier. While the image quality isn't vastly different between a vii-inch OLED and a half-dozen-inch LCD, the colour richness is.
When you play a game with nighttime, detailed levels — such as the alien caverns of Metroid Dread — the experience feels even more immersive than earlier.
At the aforementioned time, it's worth pointing out that your eyes get acclimated to just nearly anything later on a while. When I kickoff jumped from the base of operations Switch to the OLED model, I plant the bigger screen and more than lifelike colors stunning. After half an hour, I'd tuned them out to focus exclusively on gameplay. Likewise, going back to the base Switch felt like a big pace down at showtime, and a nonissue presently thereafter.
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For this reason, amid others, I'd caution existing Switch owners against running out to purchase the OLED model. It looks skilful, simply information technology's non a night-and-day difference from what y'all already take. The screen even so maxes out at 720p resolution; the console still chugs during demanding gameplay sections sometimes.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Kickstand and speakers
The Switch OLED'due south other upgrades are more than subtle, but nevertheless useful. The kickstand now runs the length of the device, rather than beingness a elementary, flimsy piece of plastic. This makes it easier to stand the Switch OLED up on a variety of surfaces, without worrying about it taking a sudden dive.
Furthermore, the Switch OLED's dock possesses a born Ethernet port, so you no longer take to buy a dissever adapter.
And then at that place are the speakers, which don't wait much dissimilar, but sound considerably better. On the Switch OLED, the speakers are slightly bigger and have more of a rectangular shape.
The more important change, though, is that they sound much amend than before, with a clearer, more nuanced soundscape, even at lower volumes. The ambience sound in Metroid Dread felt sufficiently ominous; the potent melody of the Hyrule Castle theme in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild felt sufficiently heroic.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Interface
The Nintendo Switch OLED's interface is exactly the same 1 you lot'll find on the base Switch and Switch Lite with the same Bone. That ways that y'all'll still get the easy-to-navigate game carte du jour on the dwelling screen, with divide sections for Nintendo Switch Online, news, the Nintendo eShop, saved photos and videos, controller options, effulgence and other system settings.
The Switch OLED'due south navigation is arguably non as robust as the PS5 or the Xbox Series Ten/S, but it's besides arguably much simpler and more straightforward. All Switch systems — including the OLED — now back up Bluetooth audio, thanks to a recent firmware update, which is a overnice bear on.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Operation
If in that location's 1 area where the Switch OLED falls a scrap brusque, it'due south in performance. That's not because the Switch OLED is any worse than the base model; in fact, it's almost exactly the same. But the fact is that the Switch is a four-year-old console, and the industry has made some pretty significant strides in hardware since 2017. To put it frankly, after playing the PS5 and Xbox Serial X, it's hard to get dorsum to a Switch, OLED or otherwise.
To put information technology bluntly, afterwards playing the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it's difficult to get dorsum to a Switch, OLED or otherwise.
Like the base Switch, the Switch OLED features a custom Nvidia Tegra X1 chipset. This is similar to what'south inside a loftier-cease streaming device; the Nvidia Shield uses one as well. The Switch OLED has 4 GB RAM and 64 GB flash storage. (The base model has 32 GB flash storage, so that'southward improved, at least.) The effect is a handheld hybrid that can brandish 720p at upwards to 60 frames per second in handheld mode, and 1080p at up to 60 fps in docked style. 4K resolution and 120 fps frame rates are a pipe dream — not to mention the near-instantaneous loading times that SSDs can facilitate.
While Nintendo didn't design the Switch to incorporate cutting-edge components, the device felt a little underpowered in 2017, and downright outmoded at present. In handheld manner, you'll notice long load times and low resolutions; in docked mode, you lot'll notice dated graphics and inconsistent frame rates.
It's also worth noting that if you lot ain a base Switch and play primarily in docked mode, the Switch OLED has almost nothing to offer you. Once you plug the console into a dock, the OLED screen, larger kickstand and better speakers are meaningless. And if you need an Ethernet port, you tin get a perfectly adept adapter for $30.
The practiced news is that there is a fashion to get visuals from your Switch with an external accompaniment. Nosotros've tested the Marseille mClassic upscaler ($79 on Amazon) on games like Metroid Dread, and it does evangelize cleaner, crisper graphics when using a larger 4K TV.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Controller
Much like its interface and components, the Nintendo Switch OLED's controller options are identical to those of the base of operations Switch. The Joy-Cons are withal competent when attached to the console, and a bit off-eye and uncomfortable when plugged into the controller base.
They're also nifty for impromptu multiplayer sessions. I withal recommend the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller if you're going to sit back and play games on the couch for hours on end.
This time effectually, you can get the Joy-Cons in either the traditional bluish-and-red, or a stately blackness-and-white. I adore the Switch OLED's new colour scheme, but I do wonder how easily it will go dirty over time.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Game library
The Nintendo Switch OLED offers a robust and eclectic game library, only like the base of operations Switch and Switch Lite. The game selection is exactly the same amid the iii console variations. Just be aware that you'll be able to play beloved first-political party Nintendo fare, such equally Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, besides as more contempo tertiary-party hits, such as Doom (2016) and Dragon Ball FighterZ. The Switch OLED is also a fantastic identify to play older games, from venerable classics like Mega Man 10, to newer favorites like The Elderberry Scrolls V: Skyrim.
I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention Metroid Dread: the offset original side-scrolling Metroid game in 19 years. Coming out alongside the Switch OLED, Metroid Dread is arguably the console's flagship game. Samus Aran'due south latest risk does indeed look gorgeous on the OLED model, particularly the deep reds and dejection of her power armor, and the stately blacks of the dangerous Planet ZDR. If you lot have any affinity for side-scrollers, Metroid Dread is among the best Nintendo Switch games, and therefore should be your first Switch OLED game buy.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Battery life
Nintendo claims that the Switch OLED can get between 4.5 and 9 hours of gameplay on a single charge, depending on which games you play. The Switch OLED employs the same battery as the base-model Switch, so the battery life may not exist tremendously different. In our testing so far, Metroid Dread ate through a fully charged battery in nearly five hours, which is in line with Nintendo's predictions.
It's difficult to come upwards with a standardized gameplay test for the Nintendo Switch's battery life, every bit different gameplay activities tax the battery to different extents. Instead, we selected a colorful YouTube video with a lot of motion, then ran it on iv different Switch models with the screen effulgence at 100% and the volume at 50%. Here'due south how each Switch variant performed:
| Nintendo Switch OLED | Nintendo Switch (2019 Model) | Nintendo Switch (Launch Model) | Nintendo Switch Lite | |
| Battery Life (Hrs:Min) | 5:00 | 4:40 | 3:28 | three:19 |
The Switch OLED performed just as Nintendo promised, offer a solid 5 hours of bombardment life. A launch model Switch provided three hours and 28 minutes, while a Switch Calorie-free lasted for iii hours and 19 minutes. Nintendo implemented a better battery in the base of operations Switch in 2019; one of those models lasted four hours and 40 minutes on a unmarried charge.
Nintendo Switch OLED review: Verdict
Overall, the Nintendo Switch OLED is a bully system. This is primarily because the base Nintendo Switch is notwithstanding a great arrangement, and the Switch OLED makes a scattering of smart additions. The OLED screen looks every bit impressive as nosotros'd hoped. Smaller improvements to the kickstand, speakers, dock and storage also address shortcomings in the base model.
Even so, there's something decidedly unsatisfying virtually the Switch OLED. After four years, it still has the same components, the same resolution and the same controllers, none of which were perfect to begin with. With a whole new generation of consoles on the marketplace, even an OLED screen can't brand the Switch feel particularly slick or powerful.
If you have it for what information technology is, the Switch OLED is a solid organization, and an piece of cake bet for gamers who haven't taken the plunge on a Switch however. Only if you lot consider what it might have been, the Switch OLED may just be a stopgap earlier Nintendo takes some other big hazard on another inventive thought.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/nintendo-switch-oled
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