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Hardware Switch OLED - how did you feel if you upgraded?

Chie

Chie

Satonaka Style
Title says it all. If you owned the launch Switch or the 2019/redbox system with the better batterylife and upgraded to the OLED did you feel it was worth it? Does the better screen/speakers/build quality feel worthwhile?

I upgraded to the animal crossing system when that came out from my launch unit. That Splatoon OLED looks real nice and has been restocked and that Zelda one is coming soon....

I'm thinking about getting an OLED but wanted to hear opinions on people who made the jump. I do play a lot in handheld mode, maybe about 50/50 with docked.
 
build is super nice, just feels sturdier. screen is bigger and more vibrant, almost too vibrant at first then you get used to it. would never go back to playing my old OG switch but I don't think I'd upgrade if given the chance to make that decision again. def a luxury rather than a need for me.
 
I got the OG on launch day, and the OLED on launch day. The difference was night and day, and the OLED feels like what the original model should've been at launch. I find it really hard to go back to the smaller screen now, so my OG sits in the living room haha
 
The only problem with my Oled Switch now is that theres no turning back now.

I dont know what I'll do if Nintendo decides to not include this screen in their next hardware.
 
recently upgraded from a 2017 model. the jump in battery life is amazing, specially since my old model's battery capacity had decreased a lot, and the screen is so so good.
 
I upgraded my launch Switch to an OLED on its launch day and it felt like a great step up over the original. The extra screen size/quality and battery life is worth the upgrade.
 
I actually have my launch system still. I don't see myself ever selling the animal crossing system for how nice it is/looks and want to keep a backup system for the future. I could sell the launch one to subsidize the cost.
 
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The Switch OLED was a fantastic upgrade for me, personally.

The overall build feels premium in your hands. The Surface Pro-like kickstand is a godsend - and more built-in memory out the gate is always nice.

The OLED screen, however, is the real game changer.

I play more handheld now than I ever have before, simply for the fact that the screen just looks that good.

There’s times where I’ll be playing on my TV for a bit, undock it and immediately notice the difference - it’s like a carnival of colors just bursting - and the black is like, solid black - not a grey tint. This genuinely makes some games not only look far better, but feel more immersive. I love it.

My only fear is that the Switch successor (if it is another Switch-like console), will do away with the OLED. Hopefully OLED will be here to stay, but we shall see!
 
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I upgraded when the OLED launched. The LAN port and screen are excellent. After selling my old Switch it cost me about £110, money well spent!
 
Went from Day 1 OG to Day 1 Oled

And it was just a superb upgrade, yeah it didnt have more horsepower - but it felt like it did and I cant really explain it.
Games just look better :p Screen is that great.

Tried to use my OG switch the other week, it felt like a massive downgrade. Happy I upgraded.
 
build quality alone is leaps and bounds ahead of the original. just holding the thing feels so much better

shame that the joycons are still joycons but i wouldn't look back
 
It's an insanely valuable upgrade and I couldn't go back. It makes the OG Switch feel like a prototype.
 
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i haven’t upgraded, but i really want to

i actually think it’s the GBA games that are gonna push me over the edge

is that weird?
 
I had a launch Switch and upgraded as soon as the OLED came out. The better battery life is so useful, nearly double the time at points. But if you have a V2 Switch then that's not really a reason to buy the OLED.

That being said, I also love the improved kickstand and the brighter, larger screen makes the launch model hard to go back to. Like, I had no issues with the original screen, but every time I see my partner's Switch screen, it feels so small now.
 
It's the biggest improvement for me since going from a regular Advance to an SP. A lot of games really pop in portable mode now, and it makes me hesitant to ever dock the thing.

Also, the stand is awesome. I once got stuck in a cutscene when it was time to get ready for work, and I was able to just angle that thing wherever I went in the house as I got ready.
 
OLED is an easy decision. Tetris Effect Connected, Metroid Dread and Prime Remastered, NSO, everything looks almost divine with the screen alone. The new dock and stand help, too.
 
I had no desire to get one. I was pissed that it wasn’t a true tech upgrade. I ended up securing one at launch and was pleasantly surprised. The screen size difference, colors, and kickstand were major upgrades along with a true LAN port.
 
The feel of the buttons, stand, the colorful screen and how big it looks, the battery life (if you are coming from a V1) makes the upgrade a 100% worth it.

It's a damn good console! Would recommend it a thousand times.
 
Upgraded from a 2017 model and the difference was pretty big. The screen is glorious and, combined with the battery life boost, it was a huge upgrade for portable play for me and really reinvigorated that side of the Switch for me. I'm also a big fan of the white colour scheme and dock, and the better build quality is great - I actually bothered using the kickstand this time around!

Honestly, I think without OLED, I'd be far more antsy about new hardware from Nintendo.
 
I love everything about the build quality and screen. It’s a fantastic product if you’re a handheld only player.
 
Definitely felt more premium. The screen is the first obvious improvement but the audio is soooo much better than the OG Switch. Same with the kickstand.

Only thing I wanted after the upgrade: while the account tracks your playtime, the software organized by longest playtime wasn’t the same because that measurement is hardware-based, not account based.
 
neil said:
I upgraded when the OLED launched. The LAN port and screen are excellent. After selling my old Switch it cost me about £110, money well spent!
Click to expand...

neil said:
I upgraded when the OLED launched. The LAN port and screen are excellent. After selling my old Switch it cost me about £110, money well spent!
Click to expand...

Tron1 said:
I had no desire to get one. I was pissed that it wasn’t a true tech upgrade. I ended up securing one at launch and was pleasantly surprised. The screen size difference, colors, and kickstand were major upgrades along with a true LAN port.
Click to expand...
The oled doesn't get warm in the dock while turned off with the eternity hooked up? I used an adapter on my v1 system and it would be constantly warm in the dock even in sleep mode so I got rid of the adapter.
 
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Oh absolutely. I mostly avoided any of the demo kiosks with the OLED and when I turned it on for the first time the difference was night and day. Then I checked a bunch of games to see how the colors popped and the darker contrasts.

And of course the build quality. This is really what the Switch hw should've been in 2017.
 
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I play about 75% handheld. I've had all 3 and definitely appreciate the (slightly) bigger screen on the OLED and the quality of the display.

The LCD on the red box one I had was a little quirky. It would flicker/ghost until it warmed up. I was playing GRID Autosport a lot when I upgraded and the fast motion was always blurry for the first few minutes. I hope the OLED displays they're using are more consistent/uniform. I'm very happy with mine.
 
I upgraded from my launch Switch to the OLED when it launched - the difference in build quality is pretty crazy, OLED feels far more premium and looks/sounds a lot better.

That said, I wouldn't if I went back in time. I upgraded at a time when I played ~75% handheld but pretty much right after it flipped and I now play like 95% on the TV so it makes no difference to me. I wish I'd kept my hackable Switch too, I liked being able to play GB/GBA/PSX games on it
 
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Launch switch to OLED. Speakers and Kickstand are the best improvements barring the amazing screen. Only complaint is related to joy-cons sucking in general, but Hori sorted that out for me.
 
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It's the switch I take on business trips and visiting family. I hardly dock it anymore lol. My V2 switch was docked probably 80% of the time. OLED probably 20% of the time
 
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It's beyond worth it.

I'd probably be skipping games at this point if the OLED model didn't exist, as it makes using the console more tolerable. Playing most Switch games docked is insufferable for me, even with an mClassic, and the OG's display was pretty bad. The OLED is a pleasure to look at.

This should have been the base console in 2017, and we should have had a Pro model in its place.
 
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I have the Splatoon oled, it's my third Switch and I am very happy with it, love the design and only just recently discovered I can use the joycons while streaming my PC games for ultimate comfiness (but that doesn't really have anything to do with the oled)

Oled Switch introduced me to the domain of oled and now I have a oled tablet and phone as well.
 
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I love almost everything about it, and hope the next Switch has the white joycons as a color option because it gives me DS Lite vibes.

Only downside are the analogue sticks. I wish they were more like the ones on other systems.
 
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I wish I had an OLED, but I can't really justify the price for upgrading. Really hope the next system Nintendo puts out has an OLED screen too as I don't wanna miss out.
 
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I never upgraded, but I use ps5 and xbsx on a oled c9 and c1 both with hdr. And whenever I play an older ps4 game that doesn't support hdr, it sticks out.

Does switch oled support hdr?
 
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It's fine even if I was expecting a better screen. If you are used to most current phone screens, you won't be particulary amazed. In fact, at lower brightness I prefer the LCD screen from the original model, OLED one may have tint problems with green coloration and even graining on grayish areas. Also, the vivid mode justs messes with the colors badly and completely overblows the greens and the reds. It's a better screen that the original LCD but it's not all that great imo.

However, the kickstand is much better and this time trully usable. Also, the battery life it's a nice improvement. I really didn't care for the speakers since anything you will connct to the jack port will sound better.

I will update if you can make the change for under 100$. Otherwise, I would wait for the Switch successor.
 
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Replaced my launch Switch on release. I was bummed that it wasn't a Pro, but Digital Foundry's review won me over. Got a good price for my launch Switch and ultimately only paid €50 for the upgrade.

It's fantastic, and makes technically competent games look out of this world. Like others have mentioned, with the improved build quality, material and screen size/quality it's a nigh-perfect iteration of the original Switch concept.
 
No regret.
My joy cons were completely unusable.
I think that's the part of the right joy con that connects physically to the switch that's fucked up, they were both constantly disconnecting. No issue to play when detached, but handheld mode (which I use 95% of the time), was impossible.
It was impossible to buy New joy con, as they are sold out everywhere.
So when the Zelda Oled leaked and it became clear New hardware wasn't before at least a year in my opinion, I decided to go with Oled.
It helped that I had the money to spend on it.
 
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I once tried the OLED at a kiosk demo
In all honesty, the screen is not that much different to me than a OG Switch, which I was able to directly compare due to the kiosk demo having all 3 Switch models.

Saved 350 bucks I guess
 
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Tried is on an kiosn next to an OG and my reaction was:
"Wow thats poppin...oh wait, where are the details?" after messing in the menu found the color profiles. The standard is oversaturated. The normal is not as impressive. The screensize brings a similar problem as the ds/3ds XL: increased size for more pronounced pixels/stepping.

If the decision is old switch or oled, then its easy, oled. If youre playing a lot in tabletop mode then the screensize and the usable stand are a huge benefit.

But on that day i realized it would not be worth upgrading for me, its not as big of a jump as it was from DS to DS lite.

Its the money for 6 full price games. My switch is not in the situation to be worth much (base bends (heat), 1 screw stripped and lost (had to open it up to change the fan), joycons are used, dont know how some here managed to get almost retail prices for theirs...even if its in pristine conditions (and then im unsure if they need an oled if they did not use their old one).

Again: as a new system (and hopefully for the sucessor) an easy ask, the OLEDs screen/case.
As an replacement for the OG? Not worth it.
 
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I upgraded mostly because my launch day Switch was really dying (I could not connect the right joy con in handheld mode, which makes it impossible to play that way) and the fan was getting quite loud.
Having said that I was surprised how much the OLED felt like an upgrade when playing in handheld, which I have been doing more thanks to the OLED.

If Nintendo somehow chose to use a tiered system for Switch 2 (think: cheaper base model with regular screen, more expensive version with OLED) I would go for OLED right away. But I can't imagine that they would go back to "regular" screens als OLED is fast becoming the norm everywhere (?).
 
I kind of miss having a Switch to plug into the TV (my boy has basically taken ownership of my OG), but I don't feel like now is the time to be putting out on a new system. Feel like next year is going to be Switchy-2 vibes, so want to have my cash on that really.
 
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I got it at launch and it was 100% worth it. Sold my previous Switch so the upgrade wasn't even that expensive for me.
 
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I like mine a lot. Upgraded from the red box model so the battery life wasn't any higher, but everything else felt like an upgrade. Nicer dock, an actually usable kickstand that I get far more use out of, and that glorious screen. Plus the sound output is much better, comparing it to my Lite is night and day.
 
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The OLED is a game changer for me. Double the storage and nicer screen is nice, but as a handheld only player, that hinge boys. That hinge. OG Switch should never have shipped with the OG monstrosity.

'All day' battery too pretty much, but that's not limited to the OLED.

You can't see me but I'm hugging my Splatoon 3 OLED ;)
 
I bought the original Switch on launch day and got a "red-box" system in 2020 after my launch system started having problems. I upgraded to OLED shortly after it launched and I love it. It's worth the upgrade for two reasons:

1. Better Screen: the OLED display is a million times better than the LCD on the original. I don't think I could ever go back. The color vibrancy is off the charts.

2. Better Kickstand: Tabletop mode is actually a viable option now. The kickstand is so much better than the original and it's not even close.

On top of those, the build quality just feels more pristine. It's more in line with how I'd expect a flagship game console to be.
 
OP keep in mind that the Animal Crossing Switch isn't OLED AFAIK, just extended battery I think? I agree it looks nice, but keep in mind the screen, storage, and lan port difference.
 
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