The new Nintendo Switch with better battery life is now in stores

And you can get one at GameStop for $75 after trade-in.

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John P. Falcone is the senior director of commerce content at CNET, where he coordinates coverage of the site's buying recommendations alongside the CNET Advice team (where he previously headed the consumer electronics reviews section). He's been a CNET editor since 2003.

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Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)

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John Falcone

Aug. 16, 2019 6:23 a.m. PT

The $200 Switch Lite doesn't arrive in stores until Sept. 20. But the updated version of the larger, more versatile $300 Nintendo Switch is now available in some stores in the US. The new Switch adds a higher-capacity battery for longer playtimes, but is otherwise identical to its predecessor.

CNET and GameSpot staffers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York were able to buy the new Switch at GameStop/ThinkGeek and Target stores over the past 48 hours, and we'd expect it to be widely available at nearly every store that stocks Nintendo gear in the near future. For now, you're better off looking for it at brick and mortar stores, where you can identify the new model by its red box, as seen above, and a distinguishing serial number. The older model has a white box.

I took the $225 trade-in offer at GameStop and upgraded my Switch to V2. Massive thanks to the manager at my local store for letting me data transfer without a fuss! pic.twitter.com/V0Ga5c1nr3
— ✨ ashley ✨ (@AshleyEsqueda) August 14, 2019

If you're an existing Switch owner interested in trading up to the new model, GameStop looks to be your best bet: You can walk away with a new Switch for just $75 plus tax, after a $225 credit for your old model. Just be sure to budget some time (and patience) for doing an in-store data transfer. Nintendo has hinted that process could be improved by the time the Switch Lite hits next month.

We'll have hands-on impressions of the new Switch's battery life and the data transfer process in the near future.