- So I've already talked about
how the Switch OLED compares to the sort of regular, baseline Switch 'cause I think that's the comparison a lot of people are looking for. After all, it is more
or less a direct upgrade in a lot of different ways, while offering the same kind of features. But honestly, for me, what I think is a much
more compelling comparison is the Switch OLED versus the Switch Lite. (upbeat music) Now, the reason for this is because when you look at the OLED versus the regular Switch, again, it's a lot of the same kinda stuff and in one key area where there's not really
a whole lot of differences is docked gameplay. Meanwhile, when you
look at the Switch Lite versus the Switch OLED, it's much more a focus on the concept of which one really gives you the best on-the-go handheld experience because they both offer very different strengths in this regard compared to the regular Switch model. And this is especially interesting to me because I really am a
predominantly handheld player. I'll use my Switch in dock
mode from time to time, especially for those games
that make a lot more sense, like, say, "Smash Bros.," but, really, the vast
majority of the time, I am playing on the go in handheld. And, in fact, the Switch Lite has been my primary way
of playing Switch games the last two years since it was released. And so with that mind, I wanted to take kind of
an extra specialized look at what both of these
systems have to offer and, if your real goal is just to have a new focused handheld, where each one excels. If you guys didn't see
my other comparison video or haven't seen any of the
other videos I've been doing, I do actually have a playlist of all the coverage I've
been giving the Switch OLED, so make sure to check
that out after this video. And as always, if you've
been enjoying this content, please make sure to like the videos and subscribe as well if you haven't yet. I do have more stuff on the way. First off, I think something that has to be addressed
right away, price. There is a very noticeable
price difference between these two systems. In the case of the regular
Switch versus the OLED, it's $50, which, yes, $50 is $50, but when you're talking about stuff that's already in the $300 price range, it's a little more understandable. In the case of Switch
Lite versus OLED, though, we're talking 200 bucks versus 350, almost half the price to
grab a Switch Lite instead. This has been one of the biggest strengths of the Switch Lite compared
to the regular Switch, is that, you know, being a
full hundred bucks cheaper, 150 bucks cheaper than an OLED, just makes it a much
more accessible system, not only making it appealing for something like, say,
getting a system for a kid, but also if you know you're really only gonna play in handheld, saving that money is really nice. With the additional enhancements the OLED has brought, however, including its better
build, better speakers, and, of course, an OLED display, the debate, I think, becomes
a lot more interesting. With that all in mind, though, I think there are still some
things about the Switch Lite that does end up making it
stand out a little bit still against the competition. Most notably, the body design. As far as just pure aesthetics go, the Switch Lite is actually
still my favorite looking out of all the systems. It does still have the more
noticeable bezel going on compared to the Switch OLED, but in terms of having
a single, unified body, the color options that
it comes available in, and just the white aesthetic
of the buttons and everything, I just think it looks
like a much better system and it feels a lot more to me like what I expect to find
with a traditional handheld. Not only this, but being a unibody design honestly just kinda feels better when you're using it on the go. This is something that I
talked about a little bit with my Switch OLED versus
regular Switch comparison in that one of the things
about the regular Switch that's actually kind of annoying and you don't notice it until
you use something better, like with the Switch Lite, the rail designs on the regular Switch just allow for a little bit
of jiggle in the joy-cons that is kind of annoying, honestly, once you get used to an
option that doesn't have that. Now, like I mentioned in my Switch OLED versus regular Switch comparison, the Switch OLED does seem to have just a little more tension. Something about the rail design does keep them a little locked in. But that looseness on the
joy-cons is still present. Better, but still there. Whereas, you know, something
that's all one body, gone entirely. There's also the fact that the Switch Lite is still the only official
option from Nintendo that offers a traditional D-pad instead of using the four-button design that is present on regular Switch options. There are third-party
options out there you can get that offer a D-pad. For instance, grabbing
Hori's D-pad Joy-Con. The Split Pad Pro has a D-pad. There are different D-pad cases that just kind of lightly
modify the regular joy-con. There's ways to get it, but none of them are just
having an innate D-pad that is really nice to have on the Lite. And then, of course, there's one of the obvious
benefits to the Lite, it's smaller. Being a portable system, small size can be something
that is very appreciated, and while the Switch Lite
is not necessarily minuscule compared to a regular Switch, I would say that it is small
enough in an appreciable way that does make it something that can more easily fit in bags, even in certain pockets. And really, even if you bought
a dedicated carrying case for a Switch Lite, it just occupies a lot less space, especially if you get the
official clamshell one, which is a little pricey but does make it very portable. Also, and it's something that
I think is a little minor but worth pointing out, the Switch Lite's buttons are also different than official joy-cons. The official joy-cons that come with the Switch and Switch OLED have that very kinda light clickiness. Not exactly a mechanical button, but gives you that clicky feedback. Whereas the Switch Lite uses a more traditional
kind of soft press. Now, by comparison, the Switch OLED gives you a lot
compared to the Switch Lite. Some of this is obvious. You can dock it, of course, just like a regular Switch, but when we're talking
about just being used as a dedicated handheld, there's a lot going on here. Yes, it is larger, and
yes, it is more expensive, but with a lot of upgrades that, honestly, I really like to have. First off, of course, the display. Like I already mentioned in
the past comparison video, the OLED display really
does make a difference with making colors really pop out, the blacks get a lot deeper, and it just, in general, results
in a better looking screen. One thing I didn't mention in my past comparison video, though, that I did wanna touch on really quick, as part of the OLED display, the Switch OLED now has
an option to turn on which is called vivid mode, which is on by default, and basically, the idea is, is that it just pushes a lot of the colors on
the system a lot more. And this is part of the reason why when you look at
comparisons of the Switch OLED versus a Switch Lite or regular Switch, the colors just really stand out. And for the most part,
I really like this mode. The fact that it is on by default, I think, is the right move. However, I have noticed
in a handful of games that it just pushes things
maybe just a bit too much. Some games that are just
already extremely colorful and vibrant on their own, especially when they
focus on bright colors, can end up looking
almost too oversaturated with vivid mode on. Now, you can turn the setting off when that situation occurs, which I'm very thankful for. I just think it's important to point out because I think sometimes you're
going to see some gameplay of games on the OLED
that are in vivid mode that are just oversaturated and actually feel like a bit much, and that doesn't have to be the case. That is something you can switch off. I do think, though, that the majority of
games, in my experience, have benefited from this mode being on. Now, aside from being OLED, another big change from the
display on the Switch OLED is that the display is also larger. The regular Switch already
had a bigger screen than the Switch Lite, but it was kind of a smaller amount that I don't think really mattered. But with the Switch OLED, the screen size comparison does end up being a bit more noticeable. Now, you could argue that
with the Switch Lite, the smaller screen actually
does result in a sharper image because they are both showing
at the same resolution, which is true. But honestly, I do think
the larger screen size is just flat-out preferable. Yes, there's a little bit
more sharpness on the Lite, but with the kind of differences we're talking about at this range, I think just the larger, greater
clarity of a bigger screen is something that I can
appreciate a lot more. And again, one thing that I
think is worth being wary of, with OLED, there is, of
course, that fear of burn-in. Like I mentioned in the last video, I think that some of those fears are maybe a little over the top, but it is absolutely a thing that can occur with OLED displays. And if you're the kind of person who really focuses on one specific game, like if you just do nothing
but play "Animal Crossing" or you do nothing but
play certain retro games that have borders, when those games have things that are consistently
on the screen very often and you're just playing that
one title 10 hours a day, back to back to back, yeah, that is something to be
a little more concerned about. If, however, you're the kinda person that's constantly jumping
between different games and you're always trying and looking out for new experiences, I really don't think it's something you need to be as worried about, especially keeping in mind things like, again, loading
screens, menus, cut scenes, just turning the Switch off on occasion if you're taking breaks. There's lots of things that help reduce the chance
of burn-in occurring. Being more akin to a regular Switch as well as having its redesigned kickstand also means that the Switch OLED gives you a more kind of ready
way to do tabletop mode. The Switch Lite technically does support tabletop mode if you want. It's just it doesn't have
a built-in kickstand. So you have to buy a stand for it, you have to bring around
extra wireless controllers, and the small screen on it is going to make some multiplayer
games much more difficult and harder to play. Whereas the OLED, built-in kickstand, you're gonna have two joy-cons on the go that you can remove from it and bring additional ones along as well, and the larger screen is gonna make those on-to-go multiplayer
situations more convenient. Again, like I said in my
other comparison video, tabletop mode is definitely
the least used of the three, but if that is something
you see yourself using and you think it's a cool
option to have on occasion, the OLED is absolutely gonna
handle that situation better without additional accessories than the Lite would. And lastly, one very large benefit that it shares with the regular Switch versus the Switch Lite, battery life. This was really the one aspect where I did feel like
the Switch Lite lost out to a regular Switch as a dedicated handheld. The Switch Lite just
has a worse battery life than its full-sized models, not counting the launch edition. And with the OLED offering
all the additional benefits that it does for handheld gameplay and offering that larger
battery life on top of it is a very appealing thing. As someone who is a big
fan of dedicated handhelds, this is actually a tougher choice for me than it was for the regular
Switch versus the Switch OLED because, again, there are a
lot of things about the Lite that just makes it, I
think, a bit more convenient as something that you're using on the go. That being said, though, the list of upgrades
the Switch OLED offers to gameplay in general, it's just really hard to ignore. Yes, the Switch Lite is more portable and the unibody design is nice to have, I like the look of it, but at the end of the day, the OLED is giving me more battery life, a better display, a larger display, better speakers, and while it's not unibody, the better build materials that the Switch OLED has been made out of, which I still don't understand why Nintendo hasn't made
a big deal out of this, the OLED just feels like
a better built machine than the past other Switch models. And so it might still have
that little bit of looseness that comes from joy-cons
being railed onto the system. The rest of the body just
feels really nice in comparison and it just feels like
a more premium device. Again, though, this is also where that concept of price comes up, right? Switch Lite, $200. Switch OLED, 350. And I think the conclusion
that I've really come to is, especially if you're
trying to get something for a younger gamer and you don't care about
docked gameplay at all, the Switch Lite is still
a preferable option for the situation. And if you don't care about
docked gameplay at all and you just want the most affordable way to get into playing
Switch games in any form, the Switch Lite is still going to meet that need of being cheaper while still offering
access to the full library, albeit, some games
won't work quite as well since you can't dock them. The other thing that's interesting about this comparison to me is that, like I mentioned
in my other video, upgrading from a red box
Switch to a Switch OLED feels like a very
difficult choice to make. The things you're gaining
by spending 350 bucks to get a whole new system all over again just doesn't feel that worth it. But on the other hand, if you bought a Switch
Lite when they came out, either because it was a cheaper option or because you felt like
you were only interested in portable gameplay alone at the time, going from that to a Switch OLED is a little more compelling. If you're a Switch Lite
owner who, at any point, has ever kinda been
like, "Oh, you know what? Maybe I do wanna do docked gameplay just to have it as an option on occasion," well, now, with all the other benefits the Switch OLED is offering, including the benefits
to handheld gameplay, like that OLED display, I think there's a little
more reason to consider it. And so if you were
before kinda considering, "Hey, I have a Switch Lite and I kinda regret not
getting a regular Switch. Maybe I should end up buying
a regular one for $300," well, now that there's this
OLED option that's 50 bucks more and offers a whole lot more
as part of the total package, I think that is something
worth considering much more heavily. You know, one of my big final thoughts for my regular comparison video is that if I wasn't
doing what I do for work and I had a red box Switch
and saw the Switch OLED and knowing everything that I do know from comparing the two, I would probably have held off because I'm usually pretty
stingy with upgrades. But knowing what I know right now and I owned a Switch Lite and started looking at the OLED, I would actually be
pretty tempted to upgrade. The Switch OLED has become
my new primary Switch, at least for right now. The Switch Lite, again,
does have certain things that very much tempt me. I like a lot of things
about the smaller size of it and, to be honest, if there were some kind
of Switch Lite OLED model, that would be the thing that
I would really fall for. If I got the smaller body
but with a bigger screen that took up the rest of the body as opposed to having the bezel, offered that OLED displayed, offered me a D-pad, that, to me, is actually sort of like the dream Switch system
that I would like to use. But in this situation right now where we just have a regular
style Switch with OLED and the Switch Lite for the
portability and affordability, the OLED ends up winning out for me.
Kevin still milking the hell out of this I see.
Ok I want it
Very tempting from a Lite owner.
I still think the size, form factor, and build quality of the lite trumps for Oled model, plus the lite has a d-pad. But the display and battery size of the Oled is a much improvement over it.
It’s tough. I’m leaning towards not essential, but if I were to eventually upgrade the new model is a no brainier.
Never had a switch before. Bought a lite and preordered the Oled, we’ll see
same design?? am a little disappointed with how this turned out. A minor face left would be more than welcome at this stage.
Not very portable. I’ll pass
As someone with a Lite and OG Switch the OLED is a no brainer for myself and people with the means to get one. The bigger screen is substantial in it's own way, especially when it comes to text and putting less stress on the eyes to see everything clearly. The screen itself also looks much better in comparison when you see the systems next to each other.
The only con for me is having to buy a new grip when people make them for the OLED.