Switch OLED Model – Thoughts

As of the time I'm posting this, it's been a week after Nintendo revealed the Switch OLED Model (or Switch OLED for short). Compared to the base model, according to Nintendo's website, the Switch OLED (aka, the not-Switch-Pro) has:

• a built-in wired LAN port in the dock
• a bit more weight
• a 7-inch OLED screen (0.8 inches over the base model's 6.2-inch LCD screen)
• 64 GB storage (double that of the base model)
• "enhanced" audio (howso is unclear)
• a much wider kickstand
• the same amount of battery life as the base model (4.5–9 hours)
• ...and a $350 price tag.

There's also one particular thing about the Switch OLED that stands out: both the Joy-Cons and dock are white. The latter, along with the added LAN port, is redesigned with rounder edges at each side of the top. The dock also comes in black with the other OLED set featuring the blue and red Joy-Cons. 

But back to the color of the other set. Or rather, the complete lack thereof. 

I'm not sure why they'd go with white as opposed to the same gray as the base model. While it doesn't look terrible, it doesn't quite... fit. I think it would've been better off with either a different shade of gray or full-on black Joy-Cons. Not to mention, white's arguably the easiest to noticeably stain. But, that's just my two cents. 

And speaking of cents, it's a whole $50 pricier than the base model. Whether the Switch OLED's improvements are worth that much more is debatable. For me, those who've had a Switch since the first months of its launch year in 2017 or don't have a Switch to begin with, it's probably worth forking over the $350 (particularly for any in the latter category). This is especially considering there's been at least one hardware revision to the Switch already (the Switch "V2"). However, for those who are more recent Switch owners, I'd hold off on grabbing the OLED model. 

Then there's the lack of any improvements to the performance and/or resolution. Particularly, no boost to 1080p for handheld mode and no boost to 4K for docked mode, the former of which is somewhat of a letdown. 

Although, considering the Switch's nature as a hybrid console as opposed to strictly being a home console like the PS5 and XBox Series X/S, this doesn't really disappoint nor surprise me. When you compare the size of the three consoles next to each other, it's not hard to see why the Switch pales in comparison to both of its recently released competitor consoles in terms of performance and resolution. 

At the end of the day, the Switch is a completely different animal. For the sake of portability, hardware compromises have to be made for it to work as a hybrid. The Switch Pro will come in some form or another. As long as the console continues to succeed, Nintendo will have the means to make it so (assuming they play their cards right). However much the Switch OLED might be a disappointment to some, its a step in the right direction.