Nintendo Switch vs. Xbox Series S: Which Should You Buy?
Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S side by side on a red and green split background.

You may have noticed that the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S are very similar in price, so which one should you spend your money on if you had to choose?

We’ll look at how these two consoles stack up against each other and help you choose the right machine for your needs.

Design and Portability

The white Switch OLED.

The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid handheld console with removable controllers. You can play it as a pure handheld in the same way you can with a PlayStation Vita or a Nintendo 3DS. However, Switch Consoles (except for the Switch Lite) can connect to a television with a dock. This allows you to dynamically switch (see?) between handheld and docked play.

The white Xbox Series S.

The Series S is a small rectangular console without a disc drive. It’s a cut-down version of the larger Xbox Series X, with a significantly weaker GPU, less storage, and less RAM. While the Series S isn’t mobile the way a Switch is, the console is small enough to make traveling with it fairly easy. It’s also possible to use portable screens with it, which we’ll discuss below under accessories.

Hardware and Performance: Series S Wins by Far

A screenshot from Forza Horizon 5 showing cars on a giant Hot Wheels track.

The Nintendo Switch uses a system-on-a-chip created by NVIDIA. Even at launch, the hardware in the Switch was considered outdated, and as of 2024, most budget Android phones are significantly more powerful than the Nintendo Switch. However, that doesn’t mean the Switch offers a poor experience. The Switch is comparable to the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 in overall processing power, but with support for higher resolution textures, and with more modern features than those systems.

The Series S, on the other hand, is a current-generation console with the most cutting-edge technology currently in video game consoles. It is a cut-down version of the Series X, and the Series S largely targets 1080p up to 1440p, while the Series X targets 4K at most, with most games coming in somewhere between 1440p and 4K, depending on the title.

So while the Series S is the weakest of the current-generation consoles, it is by far the more powerful of the two when compared to the Switch. The Series S will run the latest games at good detail settings and resolutions, so if you don’t care about handheld gaming at all, then the Series S is in a different universe of performance.

Game Library and Availability

Examples of Switch games.

Both the Nintendo Switch and Serie S have extensive video game libraries. The Switch is the only place you can play NIntendo’s latest first-party games from franchises such as Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Kirby, or Pokemon.

Examples of Xbox games.

The Series S, on the other hand, doesn’t really have proper exclusive games, since all current-generation Xbox games and most Xbox One games are also on PC. Some Xbox games are even on the Switch! Examples include Ori and the Blind Forest and Cuphead.

That being said, third-party multi-platform games on the Nintendo Switch are more than two generations behind that of the Series S, so if you want to play all of the latest games, the Series S is the way to go.

Both consoles offer a massive online store, but only the Nintendo Switch offers physical games, in this case on the cartridge. This means that you’re completely beholden to the Xbox store, and won’t have access to second-hand games or retail discounts. It’s also worth noting that the Series S is rather light on Japanese games, particularly JRPGs.

The Nintendo Switch is not backward compatible with any previous Nintendo console, but there are some older games that have been re-released on the Switch, though you’ll have to buy them again.

That said, since the Series S does not have a disc drive, all of its backward-compatible games also have to be bought again, even if you own a physical copy. The Series S has a large number of original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games in its library. So if you haven’t been an Xbox player before, it’s a wonderful way to experience most of the best games from the Xbox back catalog.

Online Services and Ecosystem

Both the Nintendo Switch and Series S require a paid subscription to play online multiplayer games. Both of these subscriptions also offer free games.

The Switch Online Expansion offering.

The Nintendo Switch Online subscription comes with access to a library of Game Boy, NES, SNES, and Game Boy Color games. If you pay for the “expansion pack” you’ll also get some N64 and Genesis/Mega Drive games as well as Game Boy Advance. There’s also DLC for Mario Kart 8, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon tied to the more expensive subscription.

Nintendo offers a family plan subscription, which is nice because it means everyone on the plan also has access to cloud saves. Being a member also gives you access to exclusive game discounts.

A sample of Game Pass games.

The minimum subscription tier required for online play on the Xbox is Game Pass Core. This includes a library of 25 games as well as deals and discounts. However, if you upgrade to the slightly more expensive standard Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate plans, you’ll have access to hundreds of current and past games in a rotating library, and permanent access to the Microsoft 1st-party catalog. This is all as long as you remain subscribed.

Unless you’re into old Nintendo console games or need to play online, we don’t think Nintendo’s online service is good. Microsoft’s, on the other hand, is one of the best in the business, and you’ll save so much money by playing or trying games through the subscription, that the monthly fee pays for itself. If you do choose to buy a Game Pass game, you’ll also get a guaranteed discount percentage that’s usually more than the cost of the Game Pass itself, depending on the cost of the game, that is.

User Experience and Interface

The Switch system interface.

The Nintendo Switch has one of the most bare-bones interfaces we’ve seen on a console. There’s zero customization, no fluff, and a laser focus on the games in your library. We think it’s excellent and doesn’t distract from what you’re here to do—play video games.

You can group your games into collections, easily find and manage your settings, and organize your library.

The Xbox system interface.

The Series S, on the other hand, has a cluttered and frankly disastrous interface. Trying to find anything or working out what’s going on is a constant nightmare, and the placement and location of items isn’t consistent. Finding settings is a nightmare, and every corner of the console’s interface seems to be cluttered with advertising and irrelevant distractions. This is by far one of the worst aspects of using a Series S, and of course, it applies equally to the Series X, since they run the same operating system.

Use Case and Target Audience

The Nintendo Switch and Series S are aimed at very different audiences and have different use cases.

The Switch is primarily a handheld device. While you can use it with a TV, the results are often less than optimal, especially with third-party games or those that have been ported from the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. It’s better to see the TV connectivity as a convenience rather than a core feature. You absolutely can use the Switch as your only console both on a TV and in handheld mode, but you’ll have to accept major compromises for the former.

The Series S is aimed squarely at the mainstream console gaming market, so it’s competing with the PlayStation 5 and its bigger brother the Series X. It’s perfect for 1080p televisions and looks pretty good upscaled on a 4K TV as well. While the Series S has compromises compared to other current-generation consoles, they are negligible compared to those of the Switch.

Accessories and Expandability

A Pro Controller box.

A Nintendo Switch comes with between 32 and 64GB of internal storage, depending on the model. This makes a microSD card virtually a necessity and you’ll have to consider that in your purchase price. We use a 1TB Teamgroup SD card in ours, which works brilliantly

As a handheld device, you won’t be surprised to know that there are a ton of first-party and third-party accessories for the Switch. Third-party Joy-Con controllers, the full-sized Pro controller for TV play, and cases galore. It’s endless.

The Series S comes in a 512Gb and 1TB variety, although we can’t recommend the 1TB version since it’s priced too close to the 1TB Series X. You can expand this storage with a rather expensive expansion card. Which, once again, makes no sense since then you’ll end up spending the same money as you would have on a Series X.

You can however expand the Series S storage with virtually any USB SSD or hard drive, although you can only play Xbox One or older games from those drives. Xbox Series games need to run from the internal drive or from the aforementioned expansion card.

An xScreen attached to an Xbox Series S.

The Series S has an interesting third-party accessory known as the xScreen. It might cost nearly as much as the Series S itself, but it does turn it into a unique current-gen console that’s great for anyone who travels from hotel to hotel, or for service personnel who move often.

Price and Value

There are three Switch products you can currently buy: Switch Lite, Switch, and OLED Switch.

The Switch Lite cannot dock and is purely a handheld. It’s substantially cheaper than a Series S, but it will only appeal to a specific niche of players.

The standard Switch with an LCD screen currently on the market is an updated version of the original console, with better battery life, a slightly better screen, and other small refinements. This costs roughly the same as a Series S.

Finally, we have the OLED Switch, which offers a nice redesign, sturdier construction, smaller bezels, all of the upgrades in the new standard model, and of course that gorgeous OLED screen. This is about $50 more expensive than the Series S and standard Switch, but if you’re going to spend any appreciable amount of time playing handheld, the OLED Switch is more than worth it.

If handheld gaming isn’t something that interests you, then the Series S represents amazing value, especially when combined with Xbox Game Pass, especially since three months of Game Pass is often bundled with new Series S sales.

Which Should You Buy?

To be honest, as we write this in early 2024, it’s hard to recommend that anyone buy either of these consoles. In the case of the Switch, a successor console (which will hopefully be backward compatible) is just around the corner. In the case of the Series S, its price is too close to that of the Series X, which is a much better system in almost every way. So if you’re in the market for either, you should probably wait.

That being said, these consoles cater to such different audiences, that based on our comparisons above, it should be clear which one, if any, is the right one for you.

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