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  • - Hey guys, this is Austin.

  • Is the Nintendo Switch Lite worth it?

  • This is an all-new Switch

  • which cuts the price down to $200,

  • which is a fairly significant cut

  • over the $300 current Switch.

  • However, to get to that $200 price,

  • they've had to make some sacrifices.

  • Now in a lot of ways, the Switch Lite

  • is actually more of a successor to the 3DS

  • as well as the 2DS XL.

  • Around the same price, there are a lot of similarities,

  • however, the Switch of course

  • is a much, much more powerful console.

  • However, it's also portable only, just like the 3DS is.

  • For context, the Switch Lite is about the same price

  • as the new 3DS line, which is interesting

  • because of course this is their standard portable console.

  • Now when you put the Switch Lite side by side

  • with the standard Switch,

  • one of the major advantages is really that price.

  • At $300, the Switch pretty much

  • doesn't really get sales or price cuts,

  • so by saving a full $100,

  • I think it is going to be a very compelling deal

  • for a lot of people,

  • as long as you can put up with some of the compromises.

  • This is a Lite version in pretty much

  • every sense of the word.

  • Not only do you have the smaller 5.5 inch screen

  • compared to the 6.2 inch display on the main Switch,

  • but you also lose the backwards compatibility

  • with JoyCons.

  • Is it backwards compatibility?

  • The compatibility in the first place.

  • So of course one of the major advantages with the Switch

  • is you can slide up to do JoyCons,

  • you can swap them out with different colors,

  • however when it comes to the Switch Lite,

  • this is a fixed single unit

  • which is nice for (mumbles)

  • but it is not nice for being able to, I don't know,

  • play in tabletop mode,

  • because this doesn't have a kickstand, either.

  • - [Ken] Or play with your friends.

  • - Friends? Who has friends?

  • Along with this, you are losing a couple of the functions

  • of the JoyCons, including HD Rumble

  • as well as the IR support.

  • Although to give the Switch Lite a little bit of credit,

  • it now does have a full D pad as opposed to the

  • weird four buttons that never really made sense

  • unless you split the JoyCons apart.

  • But you know what, I actually give this some real credit.

  • Because it is now a single unit body design

  • as opposed to having the JoyCons,

  • it actually feels a lot more sturdy.

  • Now that certainly wasn't a huge issue

  • with the original Switch,

  • but because the JoyCons were on rails,

  • especially as the Switch got older,

  • it did have a little bit of flex in it,

  • whereas this actually does feel like a very solid unit.

  • An absolute unit, as the kids would say.

  • - [Ken] S-as the kids would say?

  • - As the kids would say.

  • Look, I'm trying to say an absolute unit

  • as I'm holding a turquoise, like, baby Switch right now.

  • It's really hard to do this with a straight face.

  • (laughter)

  • It's an absolute unit, guys. Oh, boy.

  • The Switch Lite does still use a USBC port,

  • however looks can be deceiving

  • as this is only purely for power.

  • So the Switch Lite doesn't come with a dock,

  • of course it doesn't come with the JoyCons,

  • and because of that, you have no way of connecting this

  • to a TV even if you were able to hook up something

  • like a third party dock.

  • And that's kind of a bit of a shame,

  • I mean I get that this is a portable console.

  • I mean, if you think about it like that it's not so bad.

  • But compared to the standard Switch,

  • you're losing a lot of functionality.

  • And you just literally have to use this

  • as, like, the pocket Switch.

  • Now even thought the Switch Lite doesn't come with JoyCons,

  • you actually can still pair JoyCons

  • that are of course sold separately.

  • Now because there's no kickstand, you kind of have to

  • find something to prop it up on,

  • but normal JoyCons do work just fine.

  • However what doesn't work just fine are, say,

  • the SNES controllers that you can buy from Nintendo online,

  • which are cool, except that you have to use it like this,

  • or Nintendo Labo doesn't also work.

  • Basically you should just use it as a Switch Lite

  • in portable mode, not in JoyCon mode.

  • Or alternatively, I'm sure there's going to be

  • a wonderful range of accessories that will

  • give you a kickstand, and all kinds of other

  • great, fun things for your Switch Lite.

  • But that's actually something I kind of miss,

  • because the kickstand on the Switch is not very good,

  • but it actually is properly usable.

  • Whereas this, like, I like the form factor in handheld mode

  • but when I actually want to set it down,

  • I mean, it's annoying to try to have to find something

  • to prop it up on.

  • It doesn't really feel like quite that same kind of

  • portable experience, even when you do have a couple of

  • JoyCons, or something like a pro controller paired.

  • Now at this point, you might just be thinking that

  • this is a worse Switch.

  • However it's not quite that simple.

  • So first of all, you do have colors.

  • Yes, colors are a feature.

  • So not only do you have this blue turquoise color,

  • but you also have a little bit of a yellow color,

  • and by a little bit I mean a lot bit.

  • And there's also this special edition gray Pokemon version.

  • However beyond just the pure colors,

  • what I like about this hardware is that it feels

  • not only nice and small,

  • I feel like this is a little bit of a better form factor

  • for portable play, but more importantly,

  • it feels more durable.

  • I know I was kind of talking about the JoyCon stuff,

  • but even beyond that, you have to consider that

  • this is probably the Switch to get for kids,

  • or people who are upgrading their 3DS

  • who maybe aren't the most careful in the world.

  • Now, yes, you still have the exposed screen,

  • you're probably still going to scratch it up and what not,

  • but because this has all this matte plastic

  • and it feels relatively sturdy,

  • I do think this will hold up better

  • than the current Switch has.

  • Now when you put the Switch Lite side by side

  • with it's bigger brother,

  • the first thing I notice is that

  • even though this is a smaller screen,

  • it is the exact same 720p resolution,

  • which means that technically, this is actually

  • a little bit sharper with a 267 ppi versus 236.

  • Now the sharpness isn't a massive difference,

  • although it does look a little bit crisper,

  • but something else I noticed here is that this seems to be,

  • to my eye, slightly more color accurate.

  • Whereas my original launch Switch

  • is a little bit on the cooler side,

  • the Switch Lite seems to be a little bit warmer,

  • and they are fairly close on brightness.

  • So if you're worried about sort of making sacrifices

  • by going with the Switch Lite on the screen,

  • I honestly think this is actually a better experience.

  • I find that the bezels look a little bit smaller

  • on the Switch Lite,

  • mostly because, well, they are smaller,

  • but they're also body-colored.

  • However something that I thought was going to be

  • a bigger downgrade but actually isn't are the speakers.

  • So on the standard Switch,

  • you have two front-firing speakers

  • which are facing directly toward you,

  • whereas with the Switch Lite, they're kind of on the bottom,

  • however they actually seem to be sort of oriented

  • toward you.

  • And it is actually very hard to cover these,

  • honestly it actually doesn't really sound

  • all that much worse than the bigger brother.

  • For $100 less, at this point, the Switch Lite

  • is looking fairly straight forward, right?

  • I mean you've got pretty much

  • everything from the main Switch

  • except for the JoyCons as well as the TV mode,

  • but in exchange, $100.

  • Not a bad discount.

  • And something I think is really easy to overlook

  • is that for $200, you are getting a fairly powerful console.

  • There are so many excellent games that of course

  • not only have been moved over from the Wii U,

  • but are straight up, like, exclusives on the Switch

  • such as Astral Chain.

  • You've got tons and tons of multi-platform games

  • such as like Fortnite and Minecraft.

  • I mean this is a properly powerful little console.

  • And when you put it side by side with something like the 3DS

  • it is not even a comparison.

  • This is so much better, the screen is a world better, man.

  • I just played the 3DS for the first time in like a year

  • and I forgot how terrible it was.

  • I mean, $200, especially when you put it in a vacuum,

  • this seems like a really solid little game console.

  • - [Ken] Terrible now compared to, like, a Switch?

  • - Well, okay, the 3DS never had a good screen.

  • But the Switch is, this is a legitimately good screen.

  • Like it's not quite as sharp as say, like, a new iPhone

  • or Galaxy, or something, but it is a very good screen.

  • When you look at it side by side with a 3DS,

  • yeah, that's a difference.

  • (laughter)

  • Now battery life on the Switch Lite is an advantage

  • over the standard Switch, although only kind of.

  • So if you caught a video we did last month

  • on the brand new secret Redbox Switch,

  • even though it looks the same on the outside,

  • it actually has dramatically better battery life

  • at around six hours.

  • Whereas this guy is right in the middle at four,

  • and the original Switch is only at three hours.

  • - Is that the new PSP?

  • I'll see myself out.

  • - John (mumbles), ladies and gentlemen.

  • (laughter)

  • Both the Switch Lite as well as the Redbox Switch

  • have an upgrade Nvidia Tegra processor,

  • which while they don't run any faster,

  • so you're not going to get better performance,

  • what you do get is a much more efficient processor.

  • So on the Redbox Switch, because it has a larger battery,

  • you're getting those huge, huge battery gains,

  • however because the Switch Lite is a smaller console

  • it does have a slightly smaller battery.

  • Still, though, if you were coming from an original Switch,

  • you are going to get at least somewhat better battery life

  • on the Lite.

  • In a world where the Switch Lite exists

  • and the Redbox doesn't,

  • I mean, you're getting something

  • which is of course fully portable,

  • but importantly, it does have better battery life.

  • But as soon as you realize that for $100 more,

  • the Redbox Switch not only has

  • significantly better battery life,

  • but it does have all the other advantages

  • of a full blown Switch,

  • including the JoyCons and the docking and everything,

  • it makes this a little bit of a harder sell.

  • I mean, when you have a fully portable Switch

  • that doesn't have as good a battery life as a normal Switch

  • it kind of, I don't know,

  • it doesn't make it irrelevant,

  • but it makes it a little bit disappointing, I think.

  • But of course the real question here is

  • is the Switch Lite worth it?

  • Well if you already have a Switch, no, it is definitely not.

  • The Redbox is better in pretty much every way,

  • and the upcoming Switch Pro will likely be

  • a much, much bigger upgrade.

  • Really where the Switch Lite shines is that

  • it is a full-fat experience as long as you're okay

  • with dealing with a portable-only console.

  • I think for a lot of people, that makes sense.

  • Personally, I like playing the Switch

  • in portable mode a lot.

  • And the fact that this is smaller and so much cheaper

  • I think it will mean it will be a huge, huge seller

  • for Nintendo.

  • It's just not quite for everyone.

  • (techno music)

- Hey guys, this is Austin.

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