The value proposition of the Xbox Series S

If you own an Xbox One, I think you should just get an Xbox Series S. Plain and simple. It just such a low financial barrier.

I was skeptical going into this console generation – I have just built a PC, I'm trying to budget, and honestly there isn’t a compelling case for either the Xbox Series S/X or the PS5. But then the Xbox Series S price got announced at $300 USD/$380 CAD (actually ~$20 less than the direct USD conversion)...

In Canada that adds up to $430 CAD after taxes. I was able to sell my console for $225, and all of my discs for $150 pretty easily. Despite having a big game collection, roughly half of my games are now on Game Pass, a quarter I know I’ll never play, and the remaining quarter I can repurchase during a sale for like $50. So, at $375 return I was looking at $60 for the new console. What an unreal deal! For someone with a 1080p TV I don’t really feel that the Series S was a compromise in any way aside from making my disks obsolete, and for a next generation console… Why wouldn’t I buy it for like 50% of the cost of a new AAA game.

Something I keep hearing is that the Xbox doesn’t offer a lot to someone with a gaming PC, but for my use case I don’t agree. There are some games I just would rather play in front of my TV, Game Pass for Xbox is still an incredible service, and I often use my Xbox to watch media including videos on a USB. Perhaps it wouldn’t make sense to upgrade my console from the Xbox One for $630 CAD, but the $380 cost really makes the unexciting new generation and redundancies of having a PC and Xbox less relevant. And for such a low barrier to entry it’s increasingly easy to convince friends who are on the fence to pick on up and play on Xbox. I understand I’ll end up with a PS5 eventually for the exclusives, but for the single player stuff that Sony tends to offer I am more than happy to wait for a few years.

Any issues with the Xbox Series S that you foresee, or reasons why you'll choose the X over the S?

I feel like (outside of OLED) 4K TVs are so cheap now. I don't even know if my local Best Buy even sells HDTVs anymore. If you buy an S you're really locking yourself into that 1080p ecosystem for at least a few years.

I'll admit I've banged the "If you have a good PC you're all set" drum in comparison to the Xbox quite a bit but I've done so without actually considering how other people play games. I play games at a desk, console and PC alike. So yeah I actually completely get the idea of having another box hooked up to your tv. Plus Microsoft's whole cross-buy thing plays in favor of that pretty solidly.

My only concern with the Series S is a possible "other shoe" that will drop... Like once it gets into people's homes it becomes clear that framerates are way, way less than acceptable or something like that. If it truly performs on par with it's big brother but at a lower max resolution then I think it'll be a-ok... At least until we get into the lame position we're now in where some games just do NOT run well on the base PS4 compared to the Pro, for example.

I am curious to see how it all shakes out, particularly when it comes to multi platform ports. Considering that the PS5 seems to be power-wise sandwiched in between the Boxes of X I want to see if there's a noticeable gulf between them all. The digital foundry videos in November ought to be very interesting.

@morningcoffee: “Locking in” is a bit extreme. 1080p content looks great on my 4K QLED. 4K looks better, but $200 better? I can’t unequivocally say that’s true for everyone. And I say that leaning Series X myself.

@navster15: Everyone has there own reasons for upgrading but for me, 90% of the reason I want to upgrade is so that I can play 4K with HDR at reasonable framerates. Faster load times are cool and all but that's not what's really selling me on the next generation. 1080p content still looks fine but you don't get HDR which is where the bulk of the benefit with 4K comes from.

I can only speak for myself but if I still had a 1080p TV I would probably just hold off and save up for a 4K TV and then get a Series X or PS5 later. Black Friday is coming up and there are going to be some good deals on 4K TVs.

@morningcoffee: The base PS4 and X1S both have HDR without 4K. I would bet the Series S has it as well. HDR at 1080p on my launch PS4 looks fantastic on my 4K TV.

But sure, I get for your situation a Series X may be preferable. I’m just saying getting a Series S isn’t going to necessarily lock someone out for a decent 4K TV experience.

the Series S will be the Microsoft box i end up buying, if i do end up getting one- no doubt. seems like a really great value.

but i don't play the games i DO own (i have ridiculous switch, steam, and ps4 backlogs)- so the notion of another sub and box just doesn't make sense to me right now.

but should Microsoft deliver a real system seller (which in my case would be a deep and compelling single player narrative experience), the price is certainly right.

I can't argue against the value proposition, it's very compelling. I may end up replacing my One X just so I can have a smaller form factor for what will essentially be a Rock Band machine because I primarily play on PC. However if I was a console only player I would only go Series X because of longevity outside of playing at 4K.

The longevity question has become way more of an issue for me now with the S after more information about the system specs have come to light. I thought the only differences between the machines was SSD storage size and strength of the GPU. The S will end up having slower 10 gigs of RAM vs the faster 16gigs in the X. That's....problematic that gives me a lot of doubt about how they can cover the performance gap with just a lower resolution target. The variable rate shading tech that's being paraded may also help further close the gap but I don't know. Devs from id and Remedy both have publicly issued worries about these hardware differences.

The only saving grace is that I would be surprised to see the S vastly outsell the X AND the two PS5 models which would mean that devs would not feel as obligated to favor the S when developing games from scratch, as in they wouldn't restrict their visions if most of the player base has the strongest hardware. This does bring me back to my concern on the longevity of the S, their claims of 1440p/60-120fps will very short lived.

Can’t believe so many ppl think Series S is a great value. PS5/XSX are the base consoles. Series S is a half step console but half step backwards, already below the base. When MS introduces a halfstep forward system a la XB1X/PS4Pro, the Series S will be way below the baseline, even more than it already is. I’d only recommend Series S to ppl that don’t mind buying another box in 2-3 years but you’re not coming out ahead by any means.

@navster15: Oh wow, I legit didn't even know that lol. I primarily use my TV for 4K movies where HDR is tied to the UHD format, so I guess I just assumed that's how games were too. What you're saying makes more sense now. I suppose it really comes down to how well the S performs. The storage is also a bit of a concern.

I agree myself. They are going to release new versions of these consoles at some point later anyways, for those concerned with performance. And I think 4K is not something a lot of people need. Game Pass is a nice service and the first party games will get there more when Fable and the Black Tusk game come out for example.

Long term the performance could be an issue, but in the meantime it'll run well and then you can get an upgrade later. Making big investments how they release these consoles is not a great move at all to me so making the lower investment with good performance still is smart that way.

I do think the HD size is a concern for sure but hopefully sizes get in control how some have predicted.

If you have a gaming PC with similar hardware you get most/all of the upcoming Xbox exclusives as well as access to Game Pass. That's why people say it's redundant. And I game almost exclusively with a controller.

As for the Series S, I would personally go for the X because of better hardware (3x the GPU performance) and because I plan on keeping it for the entire console generation. Also unlike PC which has multiple online retailers competing for digital key sales, you're essentially relying on PSN/XBL when it comes to consoles. So a disc drive for me is a must.

My current PC is on par with a PS5 performance-wise (ignoring the super fast SSD) and my previous one had similar graphics power to the Series S, so I have an idea what I'm going to get with regards to framerate and resolution. The CPUs in all of the next-gen consoles will be the biggest improvement to current-gen owners at first since it'll allow nearly consistent 60fps gaming (without ray tracing), at least until next-gen AAA games start to up the graphical ante... which will probably take years.

To me it is in no way a Steam machine but it is also the true Steam Machine(Minus Valve(For now?). I have a Win10 PC and unless 4K monitors really crash in price without loss in quality then I'm over here in 1080p quite happily. The premise of the PS4 Pro as a 4K console also makes me feel the idea that the S will move up-to-date games at 4k for even 2years after intro feels dubious(I know the One X is the first "proper" 4K console, I'm talking about how long it will take for software to move more toward the X that it makes the grill on the S glow).

I'm looking at this as something that between Gamepass and the potential crossbuy between Win10 store and Xbox store I can put this in the TV room and spend less on both hardware and software to get there. So, a Steam Machine(With less money for knives). Kinda feels like if this was even last year this would be a good pricepoint but 2020 has been bad so I feel like withholding until it learns a lesson. We'll see. Headspace running order No>S>PS5>X

@morningcoffee: the Series S does 1440p so that’s something but it seems like it’s main purpose is to continue the current generation with much quicker load times and some upscaling when possible. I would say it’s a perfect console for the casual family that doesn’t know or even notice resolution differences but they want to play some games from time to time. The combination of Game Pass, low price and small form factor is the perfect combo for budget family use.

Losing the disc drive is a bigger deal than not having 4k to me since I have a bunch of games on disc dating back to the OGXB, so the discless alternative is not for me. I think for that reason alone the Series S & The PS5 digital arent great value, especially considering that 'AAA' games are now going to cost £70, you're going to lose whatever you think you're saving real fast.

@boozak: I don’t understand, aren’t physical games also going up in price? The price hike sucks, but I assumed it affected digital and physical equally.

I still think the disc-less PS5 is a fantastic value for me. At least in Ontario, Canada, PSN doesn’t charge sales tax for digital purchases, which is a 13% savings as a baseline. Perhaps I can come out ahead by hawkishly watching deals sites for physical sales, but I’m happy with digital pricing in my region for the most part.

@navster15: Yes they are (sadly) but going by this past generation it's been pretty easy to save £10-15 buying physical games from online retailers in the UK. (as they come out) It wont be like that at the start of next generation much like it wasnt this generation but if patterns repeat themselves as they tend to do it will be like that in the future. Not to mention you can lend/borrow/sell discs.

Also, I dont get people saying games havent gone up in price over the years, in the UK at least it was £40(PS2)£50-60(PS4)£60-70(PS5) I know some countries have it worse and I sympathise but i'm making an arguement for discs not UK prices being shit. (and yes I know some N64 games cost £70, that was lunacy)

@boozak: While the physical sales are for sure better (got AC: Odyssey for like half price 2 months after launch), digital sales on Xbox are pretty good now. Still like 10% more than physical, but meh, doesn't actually seem that much more expensive at the end of the day.

In the UK AAA games at launch are typically £60 digital, and £45-50 physical.

So physical is a decent saving, and as BoOzak said, presuming this disparity repeats this generation it wouldn't take long for that to eat through and eclipse your £100 / £200 saving on the console hardware.

I realise the US doesn't necessarily have this same difference in AAA game launch prices.

I watched a Digital Foundry interview where they mentioned RAM is still very expensive today, and as a result, the Series S may struggle with ray tracing 2-3 years from now when developers have "maxed out" these systems. The other side of the coin is that Moore's law is in a downturn, doubling the transistors on microchips hasn't halved the cost of new, better iPhones, for example. Hence, the whole reason the Series S exists, the implication is that we won't see a cheaper mid-gen console this time around that is just as good as the Series X (besides maybe a higher capacity SSD).

All this taken into account, you get what you pay for with the Series S. Maybe in 2-3 years we'll start to see games without ray tracing on the Series S. This has made me think twice about owning one.

Some reasons I can think of getting a Series X over the S.

1. If you want to play Xbox games in the best possible resolution and framerate. Also as a corollary point, if you play competitive multiplayer games, you will get an FPS advantage over Series S players.

2. Used games. As great as GamePass is, not all games will be on GamePass and you could possibly save a significant amount of money buying and selling used games.

3. Resale value. The Xbox Series X will have a better sell/trade-in value than the Series S when the next Xbox console comes around.

3. Internet bandwidth. People who have ISPs with slow download rates and/or bandwidth caps. However you can argue that this becomes a moot point especially when there are ridiculously large patches to download.

4. The extra 512 GB NVMe hard drive space. It doesn't sound that significant until you run out of hard drive space on the Series S after installing the next COD and Battlefield games.

5. 4K Blu-ray. It's a nice bullet point but I don't know anyone who buys and watches blu-rays anymore.

Please allow me to gripe about something I’ve seen on some other sites that only partially relates to subject is the storage Issue. I sat through Cerny’s GDC talk about how the storage works and while the series X/S is not quite as fast as the PS5 it’s still much faster than the previous generation. There is a class of power user who are digital only and have either replaced their PS4 hard drive or bought a large external and basically wish to have all of their games installed and ready to go at all times. These new consoles are absolutely not going to be able to cater to these demands. The S having a 512 GB SSD especially. I haven’t looked at the Series S/X tear down that Digital Foundry did but my suspicion is that the SSD is part of the motherboard and non replaceable the price for the proprietary 1 GB SSD expansion card came out at $220 which is too expensive but not as bad as I thought it would be. But no amount of memory will get someone who makes a lot of digital purchases around the fact that they will need to either delete games when they run out of space or transfer them to an external. And while it sounds like you can store things on an external you won’t be able to run next gen games off of one. I got the Impression that both Jason on the west coast and Bakalar on the East Coast are External Hard Drive players and in at least Bakalar’s case I not sure he realizes what the SSD situation is yet from the way he was asking certain questions. On the PS5 there aren’t any expansion options yet and may not be at launch Cerny said they were going to use straight up use standard PCIE 4.0 NVME cards but none exist yet fast enough to be white listed for PS5. At least I think that’s the situation I welcome being corrected if I wrong.

@humanity: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean $299 is dirt cheap no matter which way you slice it. It's a no brainer for parents that are just looking to get something for their kids without breaking the bank. The S and the PS5 discless version were never going to be an option for me though because I need the disc drive so I never even bothered to look at them.

@morningcoffee: Yah I don't think it's a realistic option for anyone serious about gaming as a hobby. People like "us" as in folks that go on gaming forums to discuss resolutions and framerates and the morality of polygonal characters aren't going to get the lowest common denominator console. If I'm getting something next-gen I want to see absolutely all that it can offer and I'm pretty sure most folks that game regularly feel the same way. The folks that buy Madden and Call of Duty for the entire year will probably have no issue with a Series S. For a while I was tempted to upgrade my One X to a Series S until some better games come out, but upon further reflection I don't really think that makes much sense. Might as well just get the full thing from the start. Only thing I'm really worried about is the now existing precedent for half-step boxes down the road. Am I going to be that sucker early adopter that gets a Series X, and then within a year Microsoft releases a Series X2 that fixes all the flaws etc of the launch unit?

So, regarding the 4k discussion. Let’s go back a decade, Xbox 360 and ps3 were technically capable of 1080p. While everything was up scaled to 1080p, most things ran sub 720p internally.

Now, do we have anything saying that games will run internally at 4k on the top end console? I don’t see this happening. I am a developer and there always compromise, if next Halo, Gears can have more cool stuff but run at 1080p and still look good, then that’s what’s going to happen, internally 1080p upscale to 4k. Now you can get pretty fancy on upscaling but at the end of the day it’s upscaling.

So running S on a 4k tv may not look that much worse than X, it’s just instead of upscaling being done by the console your TV will be doing it.

I’ll be very surprised if big budget games run at native 4k. It just doesn’t make sense, you can use that processing power to do much cooler shit.

I know this is strange, but it all comes down to size aesthetics for me. My GF gets me a console for Xmas usually. The biggest reason believe it or not that I am getting the Xbox Series S is because the Xbox Series X just won't fit in the media center under the mounted 4k Television.

Looks like the Xbox X series has to stand upright at all times. Where the Xbox S Series I can lay flat.

According to Microsoft it's fine either way, but keeping it vertical would make me feel better. The cooling is clearly designed for that orientation.

With what I went through with the Xbox 360 hardware. It makes me uncomfortable just to think about having it horizontal. If I can figure out a way to make the Xbox X Series work vertically in my living room area I will get it. Until then I will have to go with the Xbox S Series.

@mastaofminds: Microsoft has been really solid with their hardware since the red ring times. My 360 slim, launch X1, and X1X are all super efficient with cooling and I’m not exactly the most rigorous when it comes to cleaning and maintenance. I’d bet both Series consoles will be built like tanks regardless of orientation in your space.

You are probably right. Any chance we will get an Xbox S Series in Black? Like I said aesthetics is the key factor right now.

@mastaofminds: Probably no color variants on these new consoles until next holiday, I would guess.