The Xbox Series S has much less storage than the Xbox Series X even though it is a digital-only device. Additionally, the less powerful system aims for 1440p game resolution rather than 4K. Naturally, it will upscale to 4K when connected to an Ultra HD display, but it’s important to remember that the console is primarily made to function at lesser resolutions.
Xbox Series S review: Design
The overall layout is quite traditional. We admire Microsoft’s use of two colours. All of this makes it possible for the Series S to simply fade into any setting. Additionally, only this new console feels natural in both horizontal and vertical orientation. Despite its small size, the Series S includes numerous air vents, including a sizable circular exhaust that, to put it mildly, is already the talk of the town. We were astonished by how tiny the Xbox Series S was when we initially grabbed it out of the box. The console is substantially smaller than the PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, or Xbox One at 10.8 x 5.9 x 2.6 inches. Except for a round black vent on top that contrasts nicely with the rest of the frame, the console is mostly white. Regardless of how you position it, it has rubber feet on one of the horizontal surfaces and one of the vertical surfaces, and there is plenty of ventilation.
Xbox Series S review: Home Screen
When you turn on the console, the standard Xbox user interface greets you. On the one hand, it’s comfortable and familiar, yet we can’t help but feel that there was a chance lost. Couldn’t Xbox have designed a more captivating and welcoming user interface to impress its audience and launch its next-generation consoles? Both the tile method and horizontal navigation are still in use. All the necessary locations, such games and system settings, are easily accessible with a few button taps. It responds to your orders quickly as well. This might be due to a combination of the new low-latency controller, the extremely fast internal solid-state drive, and more potent CPU processing. What’s even more obvious is how quickly games load. The Series S of Xbox systems is substantially faster than the preceding generation. You can now pick up games right where you left off in a matter of seconds thanks to Quick Resume, which not only helps you move through loading screens with a greater sense of urgency. According to Xbox, you can play three or four games concurrently.
Xbox Series S review: Features and Controllers
The brand-new Wirless Controller for Xbox Series X|S is included with the Xbox Series S. The Xbox Series X comes with the same controller as this one, albeit with a slightly different finish (even more matte than previously) and a modified D-pad. It is considerably better for combos and longer input strings now that the D-pad has been redesigned to allow for smoother and faster inputs. However, other from those modifications and the USB Type-C connection, this Xbox controller is the same as the one you’re used to from playing Xbox games, which is actually not a terrible thing. Particularly appealing to us were the textured bumpers and triggers. The Xbox Series S shares the new Xbox Velocity Architecture with the Xbox One X in terms of features, and as a result, it has the incredibly helpful Quick Resume feature. With Quick Resume, you may launch many games and swiftly switch between them in a matter of seconds. On Series S, these games are only cached and can be picked up where you left off, unlike on Xbox One, when every time you started playing a new game, the old game would be closed and then needed to be completely reloaded through credits and menu screens.
Xbox Series S review: Ports
The Xbox Series S keeps its ports straightforward, just like the Xbox Series X. A USB-A port, a power button, and a pairing button are all located on the front of the device. The rest of the front panel is empty because the Series S lacks a disc drive. There are two additional USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a power port on the back. Since the Ethernet connector is typically the first component to disappear in cheaper device variants, we were somewhat surprised to see it still present. This seems like a huge omission for systems that are supposedly meant to survive the next five to seven years. In addition to new gaming accessories that depend on USB-C dongles, USB-C offers speedier data transfer and charging. While USB-A is still functional for the time being, the absence of USB-C connectors is a significant potential lost.
Xbox Series S review: Performance
The Xbox Series S is a small powerhouse, which makes it a good value offer. It can deliver native 1440p resolution, upscaled 4K gaming, or a 1080p image. While not as strong as the GPU in the Xbox Series X, it can upscale games to 4K (much like the Xbox One S) and still run games at 120 frames per second at 1440p. However, if you want to retain the resolution at 1440p, you’ll need an HDMI 2.1-compliant small TV. Thanks to Microsoft’s Xbox Velocity Architecture, it can also do ray tracing and loads games more quickly than ever. You may create a powerful console by combining Velocity Architecture with the 10GB of GDDR6 memory and integrated SSD. Even better, Microsoft has improved Xbox Series S gaming performance, freeing up hundreds of extra megabytes of memory. Importantly, this ought to aid in enhancing graphics performance.
Xbox Series S review: Game Library
The Xbox Series S’s game library had a rough start, we won’t mince words. Other than games that had already been released on Xbox, there were no first-party exclusives on the Xbox Series S at launch due to Halo Infinite’s delay. More first-party and third-party exclusives, such as The Medium and Microsoft Flight Simulator, have since been released, but Microsoft’s first-party work is finally catching up. As Dusk Falls, Psychonauts 2, Grounded, and Forza Horizon 5 are all currently playable. The Xbox Series S will be appealing if you enjoy having access to the complete library of Xbox games, both past and present, because it supports games from all four Xbox generations, going all the way back to the first Xbox. It’s pleasant to be able to choose between Xbox 360 classics like Viva Piata and Red Dead Redemption and more recent blockbusters.
Xbox Series S review: Hardware and Setup
It’s quite simple to physically set up the Xbox Series S. After deciding on a location for your console, all you need to do is put in the HDMI cable and the power wire, press the power button, and you’re ready to go. The console connects to your phone without a hitch using this setup-via-app, and you can then use a straightforward setup tutorial to choose things like an internet connection, data and privacy settings, an energy profile, automatic game updates, sign-in options, and more. The Xbox Series S’s hardware cannot compare to that of the Xbox Series X, but that is not its strong suit. This approach is intended, at least in my opinion, for more casual players who want a method to play lots of older games in addition to the newest ones but don’t require the highest resolutions. Microsoft has stated that the Xbox Series S’s target performance is 60 frames per second or more at a 1440p resolution, with the console also technically supporting 120 frames per second (although we anticipate that only independent and previous-generation games will be able to achieve this frame rate on this hardware).
Xbox Series S review: Gaming Performance
Herein lies the inconsistency, speaking of games. You can play two general categories of games on the Series S: (or, even the Series X). First party/third party optimised games and backward-compatible games are two different categories. We’re essentially looking at quicker load times and more steady frame rates with the latter working or rather playing as expected, but nothing groundbreaking. The Series S, a 1440p console, starts with the Xbox One S (and not the Xbox One X), or roughly 900p/30 frames per second. If that’s what you’re looking for, the Series X, which is designed to deliver real 4K, will be able to get more gameplay out of older titles. The main issue is that most games, like Forza Horizon 4 from Microsoft, have a 1080p resolution cap. Not because there aren’t any 1440p games. Examples include Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Gears Tactics. However, the Series S’s 1440p capabilities are at the heart of Microsoft’s entire marketing strategy, so most, if not all, next-generation titles ought to have kept their word. That’s in addition to the fact that the console doesn’t have a “exclusive” to show off next-full gen’s capabilities at launch.
Price
The Xbox Series S is an incredibly affordable system, going for just £250 ($300, AU$500). It’s understandable why the media let out a collective gasp when the price was eventually disclosed. This contrasts with the Xbox Series X’s £450 ($500, AU$749) price. A new Series S on a 12-month contract with Xbox All Access, where you may pay for the console in instalments, costs £21 ($25, AU$33) per month, against £29 ($34, AU$46) per month for the Series X.
Conclusion
The Xbox Series S offers features and performance advantages at a price that no other high-tech console has ever managed to achieve at launch. The price of the Series S is undoubtedly the biggest conversation point after resolution. If you want to save some money or haven’t yet made the switch to 4K, the Xbox Series S presents a tempting alternative.
