My experience upgrading my Nintendo Switch to the OLED model

I decided to upgrade to the OLED Switch as a Christmas present to myself, allowing me to also give my cousin my old Switch. On eBay there are plenty of listings for just the OLED Switch tablet itself, and I got one with a screen protector already supplied. PROTIP: You can find plenty of parted-out Switch OLED Buy It Now listings on eBay thanks to the compatibility of the accessories of the OLED Switch with the original model.

Turns out I needed to replace the screen protector anyway because it was smaller, crooked, and it had a piece of dirt or something on the lower left corner that was actually big enough to create its own little air bubble... and when I removed the screen protector with the help of this tutorial I discovered that the mark from the dirt wouldn't buff out, all because the idiot couldn't bother to actually turn on the screen after applying the screen protector. But that's okay; I bought a pack of iVoler screen protectors for the OLED Switch a month earlier. They fit perfectly and were 100% idiot-proof. Fantastic brand and great value; the included frame for lining up the screen protector is just genius, and I still have three more full screen protectors left! And what's more, the usual tiny marks and streaks are invisible with the screen protector applied.

The account transferring on the Nintendo side was idiot-proof as well, even when one of my accounts was a Japanese account. All my saves across all accounts transferred survived. I need to especially note three things:

1. There's no getting around redownloading when moving your micro SD card to the new OLED model because your games will be deleted. I had over 300 games and I split the redownloading into two or three days.
2. There's no need to connect your micro SD to your computer at all; while the OLED Switch will make you redownload your games, it won't touch your album. Well, I'm 90% sure of this, anyway. After transferring accounts but before putting my micro SD in the OLED Switch, I copied my album to my computer. Then I put the micro SD card into the OLED Switch so it'll play nice or whatever, and then loaded the micro SD card back in my computer to copy, but the files were already there.
3. I had a hell of a time removing my SanDisk micro SD card from the OLED Switch, but the GameFAQs boards came through. I just needed to get a barbecue stick with a pointy end (I couldn't find any toothpicks) and I dragged the micro SD card out by grabbing hold of the notch, which thankfully that much was exposed at least.

So after playing around with the OLED Switch with Tetris Effect Connected, the game I'm most familiar with, I can say that the incremental upgrade was worth it. On paper, the slightly larger screen real estate didn't seem like much, but it's noticeable. The OLED screen did seem not as bright, though maybe that's because I wasn't used to such deep colors. Be sure to turn off Auto Brightness if you don't care about battery life.

What else did I need to buy in order to give my cousin a complete original model Switch? Just another right Joy-Con and wrist straps. It was my sudden realization that I already bought doubles of most other Switch hardware:

• I wanted a second dock to go in my RLSOCO Carrying Case (more on that later), so a while back I got a parted-out bundle consisting of the OLED Switch dock, HDMI cable, and power adapter. The second dock was neat to have and I figured I might as well get the newest one, and the power adapter was useful when playing the Switch in handheld mode, as my first one was already used in my dock. But I traded my OLED Switch dock with my brother's original since the OLED Switch dock barely fit in my carrying case. Anyway I didn't really need the dock or the charger because I already had the excellent Genki Covert Dock. They've since then made a Covert Dock Mini which I guess you should buy instead.
• I already had a Left Joy-Con from a failed attempt at a Saturn d-pad mod, so I got a second red Right Joy-Con that only cost me about $25 shipped.
• Joy-Con wrist straps were about $8 shipped, though as of this writing I don't believe they've even been shipped yet...

Back to the RLSOCO Carrying Case. It's the best case out there in my opinion, but while the OLED Switch dock was a tight fit in the dock compartment, the OLED Switch did not fit at all in the Switch compartment, so it's little wonder they redesigned the case. And I was just about to purchase the new one, but I actually didn't need to!

• I have no need for the original dock with my Genki Covert Dock, so I moved the OLED Switch to the dock compartment, which fits.
• Filling the rest of the space in the dock compartment, my Hori Split Pad Pro & D-Pad Controller (L) fit there nicely.
• And lastly, the Hori Compact Playstand fits perfectly in the original Switch compartment. (I love that thing; it's cheap, small, and works with Vita and 3DS too!)

I've also solved the problem of Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers turning on accidentally in transit (providing you are also using the RLSOCO Carrying Case) thanks to Nintendo's colossal failure of making every button capable of turning the controllers, and possibly the Switch itself, back on. 

1. Before putting your Switch in a bag, put it in Airplane Mode. You can do this quickly by holding the Home button and selecting it.
2. De-sync your controllers. I forget if you only need to do this once, or with every controller you have, but maybe this doesn't even matter because...
3. ...the real trick is putting something firm, yet squishy, and long but not too long where your controllers would be, specifically between where the the shoulder buttons would be if they were, oh, I don't know, stored upside-down. I like "Silicone Flexible Cable Wire Protector," or what I would just call cable strain relief, though apparently that's a different thing that didn't yield the result I wanted.
4. Lastly, put your Joy-Cons in the comfort grip and put the whole thing in the case upside-down! Put your Pro Controller upside-down too. It'll fit snugly in the RLSOCO Carrying Case with the little pouch. By putting the controllers upside-down, the only buttons that would ever be activated are the shoulder buttons, but the strain relief -- sorry, "silicone flexible cable wire protector" protects it from ever touching the carrying case.

And now that I've written all this, I'm sure the Switch 2 will come out any day now...