Nintendo Switch Lite in 2023 - worth it? (Review)

the Nintendo switch came out back in early 2017 and immediately took the World by storm and for good reason it allowed for Home console games to be played not just at home but on the go making for an amazing gameplay experience wherever you are but what about a console that's only portable well in 2019 we would see just that with the switch light a portable only version that did everything the switch could do except well switch as it can't be connected to the TV only played as a handheld while this loss of Versatility is significant there's also a lot of good with the switch light the size is more comfortable and compact to use and the controllers being in one piece attached to the console itself gives everything a much more stable streamlined feeling experience and in the fact that the switch light is cheaper currently costing an MSRP of 200 US dollars and you've got a pretty tempting little machine hey how's it going I'm Josh from 91 Tech and while I've always quite liked the switch lights there is no denying that the switch as a whole has aged rapidly since the 2017 mobile Hardware was introduced and was with the switch light being about four years old the question definitely arises is it still worth buying asking this question implies that it was at least originally worth buying so we'll go with that but the switch light has never been the ideal console for most people while playing full-fledged Home console games on the go is absolutely awesome and the switch light can play them just as well as any other more expensive switch not being able to connect to your TV is a massive downside and extremely limiting for what the switch can be if you ever ever would even remotely consider wanting to hook up to the big screen do not buy the switch lights because for not much more money in the grand scheme of things you can get a system that brings The Best of Both Worlds the switch light might offer the best portable experience being so focused on that aspect but it's not a worthwhile sacrifice to make and things have even changed on this front with the newer edition of the switch OLED model this version has a slightly larger display with thinner bezels making it feel more modern and a decent bit larger along with of course the screen being much more vibrant and colorful really Lending into the portable experience the colors and games just pop on here I'd rather play the OLED switch portably than I would the switch light but then again you're also looking at 350 dollars for the OLED versus 200 for the light and then in between you have 300 for the base model switch as I've said in my other Switch reviews the OLED model is the one I recommend for most people moving forward but if you're looking at a switch light right now and the very least I'd strongly urge you to move up to a version that can be docked that being said where the switch light excels is as a secondary switch maybe your family already has a switch or you've owned the original one for years now and the battery life's gotten rough you could also have that one be the dedicated docked console and then play the switch light on the go and with Nintendo online you can transfer saves via the cloud making it nice and easy to play on either system and if that fits your use case or you're absolutely 1 000 sure that you will never ever need the TV functionality then I can only recommend the switch light as it truly is a fantastic machine even now in 2023 it plays so many great titles and while I switched to May may be on the horizon for maybe 2024 I do believe the switch light has a strong life ahead of it it's the perfect console for the right person like maybe somebody who would have bought a 3DS a few years back so with that there's your answer right out of the way the switch light is worth buying but only for the specific kind of person who doesn't benefit from the switching ability of the higher priced options saving a few bucks is not worth losing that big feature so moving forward here we're going to be comparing the switch light to its siblings a bit more and showing those key differences off as well as talk about the overall performance and experience using one of these in 2023 possibly actually strike that probably the most attractive quality of the switch light is not the price but instead the form factor and design the colors are bright and fun the switch light feels like a more refined Compact and focused handheld portable because as said it is without any actual switching to speak of there's no kickstand here no removable controllers but it feels fantastic to actually hold and play and if it's your thing you can add an ergonomic case and just bring the switch light up to that next level the display is this smallest of the three models at 5.5 inches diagonally versus 6.2 and 7 inches for the original and OLED one huge benefit here though is that while the screen is smaller on the light it's still the same resolution at 720p basically this means pixels are a bit more crammed together making the image what I would say is noticeably sharper than on my switch OLED and slightly sharper than the original model it's a small but meaningful benefit especially if you're purely playing portable I think I'd prefer a larger screen but it does definitely look more crispy on the switch light the switch light is also noticeably lighter than other switch models the OLED is 0.93 pounds the original 0.88 then the light lives up to its name with 0.61 pounds while the smaller size makes it easier to hold and play especially for long sessions the size isn't doing the battery life any favors smaller battery means less battery life and there's a pretty stark contrast between this and the pricier switches the OLED and 2019 revision of the original switch claim 4.5 to 9 hours of battery life at least according to Nintendo while the light gets three to seven hours life also varies greatly depending on what game you're playing so Nintendo says 5.5 hours the breath of the Wild for the main two switches and then four for the switch light which sounds about right from my experience basically if you want better battery life for your handheld it's definitely a good idea to look at a better switch particularly the OLED with its larger vibrant display that OLED also brings 64 gigabytes of internal storage whereas the 300 model and the switch light both only have 32 gigs luckily all three consoles do have Micro SD card slots making for a cheap and easy expandable storage so there's no need to be concerned best of all when it comes to Shared similarities is the fact that all three consoles play the exact same games with the exact same hardware and thus the exact same performance there's no gatekeeping from newer games like we saw with the new 3DS versus the old 3DS the switch light can play many game that's made for switch in the case of a game that's not meant to be played by a single person handheld like say split screen local multiplayer you can still kind of do it you just need wireless controllers as well as the eyes of an eagle because that display is too dang small for multiple people and there's no convenient kickstand if you are wanting to play local co-op games it goes without saying but I'll say it anyways don't get the switch light local multiplayer gaming is one thing Nintendo is definitively doing the best out of any console out there and they have so many iconic titles like Smash Brothers Mario Party Mario Karts they can be an absolute blast with friends and family and with the switch lights you're losing out on that aspect though technically you could run those games on the tiny display if you really wanted to aside from that though the switch light plays the vast majority of games flawlessly nor rather flawlessly compared to the better models as they're all the same the unfortunate results of all three models having the same Hardware is that they've been using the same Hardware since about 2017 and this isn't just 2017 specs it's 2017 mobile tablet specs games these days are getting more and more difficult to run and the switch is really starting to struggle depending on the title Games published by Nintendo are generally quite solid but when it comes to some of their franchises along with other third-party developers the gameplay experience can become very hit and miss and then there's a bit of a how much leg poor graphics and frame rates can you take before it's too much to bear for example Pokemon Violet and Scarlet had an absolutely disastrous launch with so many performance issues but many fans were and are still willing to buy and play what is being called by some one of the best Pokemon games ever made even if it runs like crap newer games like this or sonic Frontiers or any title you need to make sure you check reviews of the game prior to purchasing it just to see what people say regarding performance there are some games that are just absolutely brutal take Outer Worlds at launch and then there's also games you probably just don't want to play on switch they faster paced especially first person shooter titles like Apex Legends or OverWatch 2. so like with most things do your research before buying any game for the switch you might and probably will regret it otherwise if graphics and performance is a big issue for you you might want to look at something that's a bit of an upgrade specifically the steam deck the switch since it came out in 2017 for a long time was the only really good portable console but that's not the case anymore thanks to valve's entry which is essentially just a gaming PC in the body of a chunkier switch but with this the graphics can be a much higher quality and you can achieve better frame rates though you may have to fiddle with some settings to get what you want the steam deck is pretty intuitive but if you're not really into that kind of thing the switch is a more streamlined experience with an easy to use interface it's not complicated it doesn't need to be it plays Nintendo games luckily While most games do kind of end up with a mediocre performance some are absolutely near perfect lately Persona 5 Royal is the example I've been using as it's a fun 100 plus hour jrpg that fits really well on a portable handheld so here on the PS5 you have 4K at 60 frames per second and switch is going to be around and Below 720p with only 30 frames per second but a few things to note with all of this for one this is a fun game and eventually those Graphics while there is a difference you get used to it pretty darn quickly don't forget the switch light has a display size at only 5.5 inches and you're never going to be playing on your 65-inch TV so games that don't even hit 720p don't necessarily look bad especially when you do compare it to how games look on the big TV while some games do run really well playing docked like Super Smash Brothers 60 frames per second 1080p most are going to be around 720 and so playing on the smaller display might actually be the ideal way to play some of those games at least it's a little easier on the eyes and that helps that it's sharper than the bigger switches this probably is the best portable switch in terms of just being portable though I would still lean towards my OLED because I like the bigger size and the vibrant colors but if you want a purely portable console the switch light is definitely the way to go you just again gotta keep in mind it's purely portable so a couple little pointers before we finish this video off you do have to pay for a Nintendo online subscription if you want to play games online or have Cloud saves this is 20 a year or there's also a 50 option which adds a couple fairly minor things honestly I would just go for the 20 one with that you get old NES and SNES titles and then the 50 option you get N64 and Genesis games a limited selection mind you but still pretty cool and lastly here as a bit of a warning I guess durability the switch itself is pretty durable I haven't had any issues the problem is specifically the controllers and joy-con drift it's Infamous at this point when the analog stick is essentially making your character move a direction you're not trying to move this is very common and it unfortunately does happen with switch lights which is a problem because those controllers are built into the system so you can't exactly just buy new controllers and swap them even so I really really love the Nintendo switch light the complete package here is premium refined focused I keep using all those words because that's the best way to explain the switch of light it is purely focused on being portable and it absolutely succeeds at that it's just most people probably don't want to get a switch that doesn't switch and so with that I think I'm right about done here thank you so much for watching if you found the video interesting or helpful maybe hit that like button and consider subscribing for more content just like this definitely want to hear from those of you who have the switch light how's it working for you I've had mine a couple years now and I've always really quite liked it and if you're curious on why my switch light is purple I did a mod tip and put on a different case it was actually a ton of work and I don't recommend it link to that video in the description but uh yeah that's it for now thanks again for watching I'm Josh from 91 Tech and I will see you all next time [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: 91Tech

Views: 216,846

Keywords: nintendo, nintendo switch, nintendo switch oled, switch, review, switch review, nintendo switch review, 2023 review, in 2023, oled 2023, switch 2023, 2023, switch lite, vs switch oled, worth, worth buying, worth it, should i buy, steam deck, switch vs steam deck, steam deck vs switch, vs lite, vs switch lite, switch lite review, switch lite 2023, switch lite in 2023, lite review, switch in 2023, switch lite review 2023, switch lite worth, should i buy the switch lite

Id: OlNxERhFzWM

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2023