The Nintendo Switch 2 makes some big improvements over the first console, especially when comparing it to the first iteration that came out in 2017. A lot of that has to do with the significantly more powerful APU, but the larger, crisper screen is certainly the upgrade you'll notice first. It could also be the area where you might notice where the Switch 2 falls short of its predecessor.
Shortly after release, some discussions regarding how blurry the on-board display seemed to be started surfacing, prompting some hardware publications to take a closer look. Hardware Unboxed, known for detailed reviews of PC hardware and monitors, conducted a few tests on the Nintendo Switch 2 display, taking a closer look at the screen's response time. Running the display through 20 gray-to-gray transitions to measure response times, Hardware Unboxed determined that the Switch 2's LCD was one of the slowest it's ever tested, coming in at 33.3ms.
To put that into context, Hardware Unboxed compared this to an average LCD panel you'll find in entry-level displays today. These were tested in the same manner and averaged out to a response time of 6.3ms. Perhaps the most damning was the comparison to the original Switch's LCD, a display that is more than eight years old, that presented a response time nearly twice as fast a 21.3ms. Digital Foundry noted the same issues with the display in its extensive Nintendo Switch 2 review earlier this week, noting that, "The Switch 2 LCD has blurring characteristics that are easily worse than the 2017 Switch's display"
Why does a fast response time matter? With slower response times, it takes longer for the image on-screen to transition between new frames, which can lead to noticeable blurring with objects in motion. This is particularly bad when the Switch 2 is running games at 60fps, which thus far is the preferred frame rate of most first-party titles. To put it into perspective, it takes 16.67ms for a new frame to be rendered when running at 60Hz, but it takes the display twice as long to transition from one frame to the next, causing a significant bottleneck that reduces the impact of improved motion clarity that higher refresh rates provide. This would be just as bad, if not worse, in games making use of the full 120Hz the new display has to offer.
It's unclear why this is happening, but Hardware Unboxed offers a suggestion that Nintendo has decided to reduce an overdrive support for the display (which uses higher voltages to drive faster transitions) in the pursuit of better battery life. With a display that is brighter and larger, Nintendo might have potentially reduced its ability to transition faster as a tradeoff. Given that the Nintendo Switch 2 ships with a 19Wh battery, less than half of that found in Valve's Steam Deck, it's understandable why this concession might have been made. But considering how noticeable it can be once you've seen it, it could make portable play significantly less desirable until addressed, if it ever is.
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Shortly after release, some discussions regarding how blurry the on-board display seemed to be started surfacing, prompting some hardware publications to take a closer look. Hardware Unboxed, known for detailed reviews of PC hardware and monitors, conducted a few tests on the Nintendo Switch 2 display, taking a closer look at the screen's response time. Running the display through 20 gray-to-gray transitions to measure response times, Hardware Unboxed determined that the Switch 2's LCD was one of the slowest it's ever tested, coming in at 33.3ms.
To put that into context, Hardware Unboxed compared this to an average LCD panel you'll find in entry-level displays today. These were tested in the same manner and averaged out to a response time of 6.3ms. Perhaps the most damning was the comparison to the original Switch's LCD, a display that is more than eight years old, that presented a response time nearly twice as fast a 21.3ms. Digital Foundry noted the same issues with the display in its extensive Nintendo Switch 2 review earlier this week, noting that, "The Switch 2 LCD has blurring characteristics that are easily worse than the 2017 Switch's display"
Why does a fast response time matter? With slower response times, it takes longer for the image on-screen to transition between new frames, which can lead to noticeable blurring with objects in motion. This is particularly bad when the Switch 2 is running games at 60fps, which thus far is the preferred frame rate of most first-party titles. To put it into perspective, it takes 16.67ms for a new frame to be rendered when running at 60Hz, but it takes the display twice as long to transition from one frame to the next, causing a significant bottleneck that reduces the impact of improved motion clarity that higher refresh rates provide. This would be just as bad, if not worse, in games making use of the full 120Hz the new display has to offer.
It's unclear why this is happening, but Hardware Unboxed offers a suggestion that Nintendo has decided to reduce an overdrive support for the display (which uses higher voltages to drive faster transitions) in the pursuit of better battery life. With a display that is brighter and larger, Nintendo might have potentially reduced its ability to transition faster as a tradeoff. Given that the Nintendo Switch 2 ships with a 19Wh battery, less than half of that found in Valve's Steam Deck, it's understandable why this concession might have been made. But considering how noticeable it can be once you've seen it, it could make portable play significantly less desirable until addressed, if it ever is.
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