The Switch 2 is a bona fide hardware hit. It's sold out almost everywhere (which is why we're tracking Switch 2 restocks live) and Nintendo recently confirmed it's the company's fastest selling console.
We've been putting the system through its paces (read our Nintendo Switch 2 review if you haven't yet) and while the console is admittedly an excellent update over its predecessor, it's not perfect.
In fact, some gamers are sounding the alarm over the speed of the display. According to recent testing over at Monitors Unboxed (via PC Gamer), the Switch 2's 7.9-inch IPS display returned an average response time of 33ms (milliseconds) at 60Hz.
According to the YouTube channel, that's significantly worse than even the slowest monitor they've previously tested, which came in at 19ms.
Put the Switch 2 up against any kind of high-performance LCD PC gaming monitor and it's fair to say the Switch 2's panel gets blown away in terms of speed. And just to pour salt in the wound, Monitors Unboxed found the original Nintendo Switch panel was actually faster at 21ms.
As you can imagine, the folks over on Reddit are chewing this up with gusto with many claiming the ghosting issues are ruining the experience.
Comment from r/NintendoSwitch
So, what's going on? Well, Jeremy Laid over at PC Gamer speculates Nintendo hasn't enabled any kind of overdrive on the display; whereby extra voltage is sent to the LCD pixels to force them to change more quickly.
This makes sense because, as Jeremy explains, doing it wrong can have a negative impact on battery life. Something the Switch 2 has also been criticised for.
Does it even matter?
As with a lot of things in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Nintendo stepped away from trying to compete on specs years ago. So whether or not the speed of the Switch 2's display compared to a PC monitor bothers you likely comes down to the kind of gamer you are — and how apt you are to notice that kind of thing.
During my own time with the Switch 2, I didn't notice any ghosting issues that caused me to lose enjoyment in the gameplay. My colleague Rory was also enamored with the Switch 2 panel, even if it's not OLED, explaining in his review that, "Nintendo has done a pretty remarkable job not making it feel like a significant step back because the Switch 2’s display is seriously pretty."
But if you're one of the lucky ones that did snare a Switch 2 when the restocks came up and feel differently, let us know. Drop your thoughts on how the Switch 2's display holds up compared to other devices you've used in the comments section below.
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