New Nintendo 3DS vs New 3DS XL – Which one is better, which one do I buy?
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It is a question that has plagued mankind for months, which new model of the Nintendo 3DS do I buy?
Do I pick up the larger, but still small New 3DS. It has SNES coloured buttons, beautiful cover plates and isn’t a hulking and bulky as the the XL.
Instead do I go for the XL, it’s more luxurious than the smaller model, the battery life if better and it has a great big huge screen.
It’s these little things that set each model apart. Both of them have a great new 3D effect, a C-Stick and improved ergonomics and even build quality.
The below video might just help you choose, we weight up the pros and cons and compare to answer that question once and for all. Maybe.
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the thing I want to know is hand comfort. I’ve found both the originals not nice. I’m wondering if the new 3DS is maybe better than the XL now as its a stretch to use the first version.
Gotta say I am really disappointed the XL cant swap covers.. I know its a “premium” device but couldn’t they have made premium covers for it??
I will be buying the XL for the larger screens but its sad to see I cant personalize it as much. Any word on the speakers being louder? Like the original DS XL? 3DS XL was quite low at max..
Vook – if you didn’t run the site and get them sent to you which would you buy if you had to throw down your own cold hard cash?
The biggest disappointment was that it now doesn’t ship with an AC adapter and none of the local stores had any in stock. Considering the dog chewed the last one and there isn’t an alternative it is very frustrating. Just a really cheap move by Nintendo.
The smaller 3DS has the same kind of “white macbook” feel that the original DSi had.
I actually find that it feels more like a professional PDA like device, as opposed to the glossy feel, and bubbly contours of the XL – making it look more like a toy. Not to mention the higher pixel density due to the screen being smaller.
I went with the “premium” wood face plate. Hopefully they have a Zelda edition wood plate come out soon! I’ll be on that like a pack of wolves!
Just get a USB to 3DS cable on eBay and charge it with a USB charger (like an iPhone). I have 7 iPad/iPod/iPad chargers in the house already so I bought two charge cables for the 3DS.
I’m actually glad to see companies dropping the charger – less waste. They should all move to universal chargers. Nintendo should have made the port micro USB though, not proprietary.
The box for the XL variant is tiny without having to include the power adaptor!
The damn thing is a finger print magnet however and I hope the Big N sees fit to issue something as a retro fit face plate a la its smaller *new* sibling. I can live in hope.
It’s a bit of a pain to take off the back plate get at the micro SD card using the back of the stylus as a crowbar to avoid injury if I used a fingernail (that’s what it says in the instructions!).
The new improved 3D works well, at least on the set up screen it was picking up my face as I moved around a little.