Nintendo Switch OLED 2023. Is it worth it?
It was the year 2017… A much more simple time. I was waiting outside of my nearest GameStop. It was the release of a new console… The Nintendo Switch. There were only going to be 10 Switches available that day for that store and I was determined to get one. Luckily, I made it before the line was too long. This roughly a 3 hour wait but no one cared, myself included. The Switch was going to be a game changer. Literally. A console or a handheld, you have the choice of how you want to play it.
Now here we are. Six years later… So let’s talk about the Switch and its progression through the years. We saw a slight model upgrade in 2019 which seemed to just be an upgrade in battery life. The only way you could tell when buying a Switch if you were getting a newer model or a later model was by the boxes they were sold in. Then we saw the Switch Lite which also came out in 2019. The Lite is essentially a Switch but specifically in handheld form (being notorious for joy con drift I don’t recommend getting the lite as it does not have replaceable joy cons as it’s other versions). In 2021 we saw a little more from Nintendo with there OLED model. This included a 7-inch OLED screen vs. 6.2 LCD screen. A wider stand on the back allowing for flexibility with tabletop gaming instead of the original stand which felt and looked flimsy. It has a built-in wired LAN port for the dock. The OLED also increased the originals 32GB internal storage to 64GB of internal storage.
Each of these Switch Consoles also stand at a different price point, so at the end of the day you have to determine if that OLED at $349.99 MSRP is worth it to you. The Lite is priced at $199.99 MSRP whereas the 2017 model and 2019 model are priced at $299.99 MSRP. So if we are comparing the older models of Switch vs. the newer OLED model, is that extra $50 worth it to you?
So the underlying question. Is the Switch OLED model worth it? Well yes and no. If you are someone who owns the 2019 model switch already I would argue that it may not be worth it to upgrade to the OLED version. The upgrades are nice but they are almost not enough to justify it. The OLED is just a minor upgrade, it is not a brand new switch console with greatly updated hardware.
So what group would this be worth getting? Well I would say if you are still rocking that 2017 Switch then this might be the time for you as it has been six years since the release. You would get the better battery life, better screen, more internal storage as I discussed above. But if your Switch still runs fine and does exactly what you need it to do… There is no need to get the OLED. If you are a Switch Lite user though, you might be interested in upgrading to the OLED model as your Lite is very limited compared to the other Switch models.
If you are someone who is holding out hope and waiting to upgrade for that new Switch console that no one really knows if or if not it is happening anytime soon, I just have a couple of words for you. Goodluck and let’s hope that Nintendo has some surprises for the remainder of 2023.
- Jay
