I love this thing, but it won't be for everyone. I'm mainly a PC and Playstation gamer. I had an Xbox One but the exclusive titles didn't really appeal so I got rid. When I saw Microsoft were releasing 2 versions of their next gen machine though I figured this was a good time to jump back in at the cheaper end.
First, the good. This thing is TINY! Check the measurements, out of the box I was surprised at just how small it is. Tiny is good for me because I don't have a lot of space. And considering its size, it's powerful. Sure, not as powerful as its big X brother, or the PS5, or even my PC, but this thing lets me play my old, digitally owned, Xbox games. It also has Game Pass, giving me access to hundreds of Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games. This is an extra cost, but we'll worth it. I found a deal that gave me a year of Game Pass Ultimate AND EA Play for £50. It's quiet and cool. No fan noise, barely any heat coming from that big black speaker-like vent. It has a 1440p display option, which is great because my PC monitor is 1440p so I have had it on there and things look great, BUT I've also hooked it up to my 4K TV and tried both 4K and 1080p output and both are great. I'm not really bothered about resolution or even FPS to any great degree, as once in game I doubt I'd notice. Everything I've played looks and plays great, I've experienced no problems or issues whatsoever. It's also very quick to boot up and load games thanks to the SSD and I love being able to just go right back to where I left a game rather than having to sit through logos and intros every time.
Now the bad. The big one for me at the moment also applies to the X and it is that there are NO exclusive games. Nothing you can play on these two new consoles at present isn't also available on the Xbox One, and if you buy the S you won't even be getting a graphical upgrade. I'm not a Halo fan, so even knowing that's coming next year doesn't excited me. If you have an Xbox One at the moment, there's really no reason for you to buy one of these. Two is the storage. The S has under 400GB of useable storage and even though I'm playing old games I'm nearly full. Also, this S version has no disc drive so you'll HAVE to either buy digital games - still too expensive in my opinion, on all systems - or invest in Game Pass. There's no optical out so if your TV speakers suck I'd suggest getting some decent headphones. The controller STILL isn't rechargeable. I've bought some rechargeable batteries, but you do get a LOT of play time from one pair.
All in all I reckon the S is a great option for diving into Game Pass and playing older games, maybe as a second console if you mainly game on another platform. It's a tidy, tiny, sleek, bargain box of tricks, but it won't give you a full on next gen experience. Time will tell how it stands up - will future, more demanding games perform like garbage on this? Hopefully not, but at this price you'll have had more than your money's worth by then anyway!
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From the manufacturer
Next-gen performance in the smallest Xbox ever
Go all digital with Xbox Series S and enjoy next-gen gaming at a great value.
Play more, wait less
Make the most of every gaming minute with Quick Resume, lightning-fast load times, and gameplay up to 120 FPS powered by Xbox Velocity Architecture.
Great for entertainment
Stream 4K video on Disney+, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Microsoft Movies & TV, and more.
Thousands of games to play
Enjoy digital games from four generations of Xbox, with hundreds of optimised titles that look and play better than ever.
Xbox Family Settings app
Set screen time, update content restrictions, manage spending, and stay on top of incoming friend requests.
Discover your next favourite game
When you add Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (membership sold separately), you get online multiplayer to play with friends and an instant library of 100+ high-quality games, including day one releases from Xbox Game Studios like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Minecraft Dungeons.
Meet the new Xbox Wireless Controller
Experience the modernised Xbox Wireless Controller, designed for enhanced comfort during gameplay. Stay on target with textured grip and seamlessly capture and share content.
Accessories
Use most of your Xbox One accessories-including controllers, headsets, and more on Xbox Series S.
Customer reviews
I put the ninty pad in for scale this thing is compact it will easily fit in a small rucksack for travel to a m8s. This will be a great place to play your gamepass games on rock solid 30fps instead of wavering frame rates and 60fps where an unlocked FPS was used textures look a bit better and where variable Res was used will look sharper as Res will mostly top out with less drops. This gens games even have basic ray tracing reflections and shadows as in watchdog legions looks great. This gen we get a real CPU in the box so the UI is very snappy the s does what the X does but at 1440p or mostly 1080p to 1440p at a variable resolution between the two. Games look great and can run at 120fps a few games can run at 4k 60fps like ori and the touryst 4k is an option for developers. The controller has the most important upgrade you need lower latency when you press the button things on screen happen quicker 👍. You can just plug your usb drives with your games on straight into the s and after set up with the Xbox app on your Android or iPhone they will be recognised and you can play your games from there except for X/s optimised games you can store those there but need to transfer them into internal to play. A 1tb card is available but if you have a usb drive moving games over is pretty fast especially via ssd. The internal nvme is fast!! This is a lovely little console can't understand the negative attitude towards it a 5500 Ryzen 3700 rig for 249.99 well that's a terrible deal duh. Other notable additions are a superior d pad with a clicky 8 way action and auto HDR making colours pop on games without native HDR even 360 and og Xbox one's quick resume lets you keep 3 or 4 games juggling at once you can quickly switch between them🤹 all round winner for the money. Man from the future says this after some time with it is turning into a fantastic deal just playing state of decay 2 it was unplayable on the one X okay it looked a bit better but it still looks great but the performance is the kicker it's smooth as hell. Performance is king I can see this turning into a way to play many of the games I abandoned on the one due to being too badly running at the mo not all games will improve this much I know games with unlocked FPS will be the main beneficiaries but I'm sure the back cat team will step in. Decided I won't bother with ps5 and X 3080 2tb gen4 pcie 1kpsu for me full on real ray tracing this will be my console going forward this puppy is what consoles used to be compact efficient simple with some of pcs best features blended in like magic my favourite console hardware since the GameCube🎮🎮👍omg pay 20 some odd quid and you can get dev mode on this and run emulators see modern vintage gamer on toob for details I think you can develop games with the software in this mode👌
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2020
Edition: Xbox Series SConfiguration: StandardVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2020
Edition: Xbox Series SConfiguration: StandardVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2020
Edition: Xbox Series SConfiguration: StandardVerified Purchase
S s s s expresses!
By marco on 17 November 2020
I put the ninty pad in for scale this thing is compact it will easily fit in a small rucksack for travel to a m8s. This will be a great place to play your gamepass games on rock solid 30fps instead of wavering frame rates and 60fps where an unlocked FPS was used textures look a bit better and where variable Res was used will look sharper as Res will mostly top out with less drops. This gens games even have basic ray tracing reflections and shadows as in watchdog legions looks great. This gen we get a real CPU in the box so the UI is very snappy the s does what the X does but at 1440p or mostly 1080p to 1440p at a variable resolution between the two. Games look great and can run at 120fps a few games can run at 4k 60fps like ori and the touryst 4k is an option for developers. The controller has the most important upgrade you need lower latency when you press the button things on screen happen quicker 👍. You can just plug your usb drives with your games on straight into the s and after set up with the Xbox app on your Android or iPhone they will be recognised and you can play your games from there except for X/s optimised games you can store those there but need to transfer them into internal to play. A 1tb card is available but if you have a usb drive moving games over is pretty fast especially via ssd. The internal nvme is fast!! This is a lovely little console can't understand the negative attitude towards it a 5500 Ryzen 3700 rig for 249.99 well that's a terrible deal duh. Other notable additions are a superior d pad with a clicky 8 way action and auto HDR making colours pop on games without native HDR even 360 and og Xbox one's quick resume lets you keep 3 or 4 games juggling at once you can quickly switch between them🤹 all round winner for the money. Man from the future says this after some time with it is turning into a fantastic deal just playing state of decay 2 it was unplayable on the one X okay it looked a bit better but it still looks great but the performance is the kicker it's smooth as hell. Performance is king I can see this turning into a way to play many of the games I abandoned on the one due to being too badly running at the mo not all games will improve this much I know games with unlocked FPS will be the main beneficiaries but I'm sure the back cat team will step in. Decided I won't bother with ps5 and X 3080 2tb gen4 pcie 1kpsu for me full on real ray tracing this will be my console going forward this puppy is what consoles used to be compact efficient simple with some of pcs best features blended in like magic my favourite console hardware since the GameCube🎮🎮👍omg pay 20 some odd quid and you can get dev mode on this and run emulators see modern vintage gamer on toob for details I think you can develop games with the software in this mode👌
By marco on 17 November 2020
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2020
Edition: Xbox Series SConfiguration: StandardVerified Purchase
