Should I Update My Switch Firmware Reddit

The Nintendo Switch OLED has excited and perplexed fans in equal measure, always since Nintendo announced it back in July. A new Switch model with a prettier OLED screen and a sturdier kickstand sounded useful. At the same time, a new Switch model without 4K output or improved performance seemed similar a missed opportunity.

Now that the device is finally here, I think information technology’southward fair to say that both arguments have merit. It’s just that the “missed opportunity” argument has more merit for electric current Switch owners.

Commencement and foremost, if you haven’t read our
Nintendo Switch OLED review, information technology’due south definitely worth a wait. In it, I break down the Switch OLED’s strengths and weaknesses in great detail, from its superlative screen to its bourgeois components.

• Play the
  best Nintendo Switch games
• Learn
  where to buy the Nintendo Switch online
• Plus:
  Sorry Nintendo fans, the Switch OLED hasn’t killed Joy-Con drift

If you don’t have time to read the whole thing correct at present, though, the bottom line is this: If y’all’re a offset-time Switch buyer, you lot should buy the $350 Switch OLED instead of the $300 base Switch. If you already ain a base of operations Switch model, nonetheless, there’s no real reason to upgrade. I want to reiterate that point, because information technology could potentially salvage you, the reader, a practiced deal of money.

Nintendo Switch OLED upgrades

To review briefly, there are four main differences betwixt the base Switch and the Switch OLED:

• The base of operations Switch has a six-inch LCD screen; the Switch OLED has a 7-inch OLED screen
• The base Switch has a small, flimsy kickstand; the Switch OLED has a big, sturdy kickstand
• The base of operations Switch has pocket-size, workmanlike speakers; the Switch OLED has larger, more than robust speakers
• The base Switch relies exclusively on Wi-Fi; the Switch OLED’s dock has an Ethernet port

I like all of these upgrades, and remember that each one adds a tangible level of utility to the Switch. The screen makes games expect amend; the kickstand helps the console stand freely; the speakers provide better sound; and the Ethernet port helps download games faster.

At the same time, none of these made a night-and-day difference betwixt the Switch OLED and the base Switch that I’ve been using for four years. A half dozen-inch LCD screen at 720p is non that unlike from a 7-inch OLED screen at 720p. The kickstand is only situationally useful, and the speakers are moot with a good pair of headphones. Plus, the Switch runs perfectly well on Wi-Fi.

When Nintendo outset appear the Switch OLED, I saw a contingent of early adopters falling over themselves to be get-go in line for a pre-order. What’s unusual was that many of them already owned Switches.

If you’ve already pre-ordered the Switch OLED and information technology’s on its way to your house as we speak, there’south not much yous can do. Go alee and enjoy it, and I hope you can give your old Switch to a friend or family member in need.

If, on the other hand, the Switch OLED piqued your involvement, only yous weren’t sure whether you really needed another Switch in your life, I’yard here to tell you that you don’t. The upgrades are marginal in handheld fashion — and most totally superfluous in docked mode. Once yous hook the Switch OLED upwards to a TV, then the panel’s screen, speakers and kickstand don’t gene into the equation anymore.

The perils of early adoption

At this point, I should take a moment and remind readers that your money is your own, and what you do with information technology is none of my business. If $350 won’t break the bank and yous think a Switch OLED volition bring you joy, then y’all should go ahead and purchase one with my approval. You’ll almost certainly savour the bigger, brighter, more than colorful screen and the other pocket-sized improvements.

Still, for any Switch owner who’s mulling over an OLED upgrade, I think it’s worth taking a step dorsum and request yourself why you want it. Is information technology considering of the screen? That’s fair, but the new screen is however a 720p, sixty Hz display, which can’t help only feel limiting in a globe of 4K consoles and QHD smartphones. That, and as I’chiliad always keen to point out,
your optics will adjust to a pretty new screen
faster than you might call up.

As for the other three improvements, y’all can retrofit your existing Switch for relatively little money. The base Switch now supports Bluetooth speakers, so the OLED’s sound quality isn’t impossible to mimic. Plenty of third-party cases and kickstands assist the base Switch stay upright. And yous tin can get an Ethernet adapter for $30.

Psychologically speaking, getting a shiny new panel is satisfying in a way that upgrading your sometime panel just isn’t. But, psychologically speaking, the happiness you get from buying expensive new things tends to diminish pretty rapidly. There’s a term in economics that’s alike to this phenomenon: “marginal utility.” The more than y’all use something, the more commonplace it becomes, and the less satisfaction you derive from it.

In other words: that Switch OLED may brand you ecstatic for a calendar week or then. After that, information technology’ll just be the machine you use to play Zelda, aforementioned as your last Switch.

Time for an upgrade?

There is admittedly one circumstance in which I might recommend a base-Switch-to-Switch-OLED upgrade — but I emphasize “might.” If yous have a base Switch from 2017 or 2018, then your console has a weaker battery than the Switch OLED. (If you have a base of operations Switch from November 2019 or later, and then you lot have the same battery as the OLED.) As well, that 3- or four-year-one-time Switch may take a weakened bombardment from continuous charging and recharging.

As such, if you tin sell or merchandise in your current Switch at a decent margin, so the Switch OLED upgrade may exist worthwhile for the battery life alone.

But, over again, this really depends on how you use your Switch, and whether a bombardment upgrade is worth $150 or more. In our testing, a well-used launch model Switch got iii hours and 29 minutes of battery life; a Switch OLED got 5 hours on the dot. An hour and a one-half of extra battery may not be that much of a difference, particularly if you don’t often venture far from power outlets. Similarly, you lot can go a pretty skillful portable charger for much less than $150.

In brusk, there are a few marginal cases where it might brand sense for electric current Switch owners to upgrade to a Switch OLED. However, I think the Switch OLED, in general, makes a lot more than sense for newcomers to the Switch family. This way, you tin relieve your money for a more robust
Switch Pro
upgrade, which we’ll hopefully get
sooner rather than afterwards.