Nintendo Switch OLED gets burn-in test for 1,800 hours — here's what happened

Nintendo Switch OLED gets burn-in exam for ane,800 hours — here's what happened

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The Nintendo Switch OLED is an splendid handheld gaming console, combining Nintendo's robust game library with an fifty-fifty larger and more vibrant screen. Of course, OLED screens have a few drawbacks, compared to standard LCD models. They're more expensive, for one matter. They're tough to industry. And, of class, their screens are sometimes prone to fire-in. Switch OLED owners tin can rest piece of cake on the last count, however — unless you plan to stay on a unmarried screen for more than 11 weeks at a time.

These findings come courtesy of Bob Wulff, a YouTuber who has a tech channel called Wulff Den. One of his about contempo videos, "I left my OLED Nintendo Switch on for 1,800 hours direct" tells an encouraging story. Wanting to test whether Nintendo's new handheld was susceptible to fire-in, he engineered an experiment to test the device firsthand. To make a long story curt, burn-in is not a concern.

To test the Switch OLED, Wulff took a colorful screenshot from The Fable of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and then rigged his Switch to stay on, at full screen effulgence, indefinitely. He accomplished this with a tertiary-party Hori controller that offered automatic button-pressing functionality, as the Switch will automatically plough off the screen if a user doesn't printing a push button every now so. He also kept the device plugged in, every bit a Switch OLED bombardment will terminal betwixt five and 9 hours on a unmarried charge otherwise.

All told, Wulff left the device hooked upwardly for 1,800 hours — more than ten weeks. Subsequently he picked up the Switch again, he checked the screen for signs of burn down-in, and compared the color accuracy against other Switch consoles. Equally far as he could tell, the Switch OLED suffered no ill furnishings from its prolonged Zelda brandish. This should help OLED skeptics rest like shooting fish in a barrel, he argued.

It's important to recollect that burn-in is fifty-fifty less of a concern if you don't rig up a system to keep your Switch up and running indefinitely. The screen turns off after a few minutes of inactivity, and the bombardment itself volition peter out after a few hours of running the screen on total boom. (Nosotros tested the Switch OLED battery life extensively ourselves, if yous want to meet how that played out.) Furthermore, you don't have to worry nigh potential differences betwixt screen manufacturers, as every Switch OLED display comes from Samsung.

The Switch OLED isn't a perfect console, but it at to the lowest degree doesn't seem to fall prey to a common OLED shortcoming. Still, Wulff plans to run the screen for even longer in his next exam, merely to see how far he can take the organization. In the meantime, feel complimentary to check out the best Nintendo Switch games to play on the Switch OLED and regular Switch.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a scientific discipline writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. Later on hours, yous tin observe him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.