The new Nintendo Switch has finally hit the shelves. Though a lot of people aren't aware what the benefits of the updated console are, data pointed to better battery life. As for overall improvements, not much has changed, but there's definitely an improvement. Luckily for us, there are people who conduct testing of new gadgets. Let's find out what to expect from the updated Switch.
The good folks at Digital Foundry took the new Nintendo Switch for a spin and found that the company did live up to its promise, at least when battery life is concerned. Power consumption for the console has been cut 40 percent, and overall system longevity has greatly improved. If you're playing Breath of the Wild, it will now consume 7W against the 13.3W of the old Switch.
Getting the new Switch to full-brightness is 1.78 times better, while battery life at half brightness is now 1.64 times better. If you've been using full brightness and lower the setting down to 50 percent, your battery life will improve by 1.17 times. As for the temperature of the device, not much is changed, but the heat of the internal SoC is reduced to 50C instead of 54C.
According to Digital Foundry, the Nintendo Switch is quieter now, which means the company may have reduced the fan RPM, which limited the noise of the device instead of maintaining equal cooling.
Some reports claim that the improvement in battery life is due to IGZO panel that Sharp provided, which had been confirmed for the Switch Lite, but it's not clear if the updated Switch has this too. But you'll notice a change in the display if you compare the new Switch with the old one. It has now an off-white background with a magenta tint.
Performance-wise the old and the new Switch are almost the same. Almost because the average frame rates are pretty much the same, though there are some specific areas where performance is enhanced.
As long as we're talking nitpicks, the new Switch also seems to have improved performance in some extremely specific examples, like entering the Korok Forest in Breath of the Wild or playing replays in Mortal Kombat 11. However, the improvements are far too inconsistent and infrequent to consider them revisions in hardware. Frankly, an improvement in battery life is already a big deal, so the experience with the new Nintendo Switch should be way better.
