Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Xbox Series X/S Design Impressions!”.
All right, what’s up mkbhd here and along with all the other stuff, that’s happening in tech, timber and tectober 2020 is also a new console release year for both the big ones, so uh all the hype and fanfare and excitement that comes from all that is also Upon us now, i figured since i did do a first look at impressions at the ps5 when we got that announcement and everything. It’S only fair that i also take a look at these guys too, the new xboxes and they are uh very box, like so microsoft, sent over these two new xboxes without the guts in them, and we know all the pricing and availability which is actually more than We knew about the playstation during that video uh, so this, according to microsoft, is final hardware, final materials, final design, all that stuff. Just without the computer stuff inside so xbox series x, will be 4.99 and xbox series. S will be 299 both coming november 10th, and this is a bit of a different strategy from what sony’s doing with the ps5. So we just got the playstation prices as well for them, it’s 3.99 for the digital, only version with no optical drive and 4.99. For the full ps5 and other than the drive there’s no real differences between these two consoles, but with the two different new xboxes here from microsoft.
As you can probably imagine it’s a bit of a different strategy here for them to me a more interesting launch strategy. So here’s a high quality first look at these. I want to show them next to each other, first of all, with some scale, so we can understand how ridiculously small both of them are, which is sweet, but let’s start with the xbox series x.
So this is the flagship: it’s the matte black box, the main console. If i’m being honest, it does look pretty plain, but that’s what a lot of people want under their tvs. That’S why a lot of people don’t want like an alien spaceship, looking thing but yeah matte black everything here and i like it with just the the slightest hint of green up here in the top. I think a lot of people first saw that and thought it was.
A light would have been cool if it was lights, but it’s not it’s just paint, but it is a pretty cool paint pattern inside the holes here. Also side note: no. This doesn’t trigger my trypophobia, but if it does for you, you probably shouldn’t get one, you know. Sometimes the holes in some weird things can be a little weird looking.
I don’t know anyway, okay. So as far as uh the horizontal versus vertical debate, i think the way this console is meant to be oriented is vertical, just because it does have one giant fan here at the top hot air rises, and so that fan spins and exhausts hot air at the Top kind of like the trashcan mac pro from back in the day 2013., but it also can technically be on its side like this. It does have a little nubs at the bottom. So if you want to fit it under a tv or inside a little box, you’ve got your tv sitting on it can do that too, so, horizontal or vertical, it’s up to you.
Also all the labeling for the ports on the back are sideways as well. So it’s totally fine being sideways either way. It’S still just going to look like a plain black box, so optical drive on the front with the eject button, the xbox logo is still the power button and down at the corner at the front, is the usb port for controller charging and the controller sync button For wireless controllers, then, around the back, it’s giving me two usb ports, an ethernet port storage, expansion, port and hdmi and there’s some more ventilation all across the back. Here, like a cheese, grater and even one more slot up here near the top and that’s about what we expected and i’ll we’ll get to what’s inside in a second, so then xbox series s here is a matte white with a black circular ventilation.
Grille and honestly, i really like the look of this one here. This is probably my favorite looking out of all the new consoles and this one’s been a little more polarizing, we’re not sure yet how well this will stay white over time. Will it yellow a bit or get dirty? I don’t know, but i just think this one looks cleaner and more modern. Maybe it’s just me and then again two possible orientations here.
This one is. It appears intended to be sideways like this, because again the ventilation is coming out the top and when we took it apart a little bit, i actually opened the bottom and it looks like the cpu and the air. Cooler are right underneath this, so this is again hot air. Rising ventilation goes out the top like that, but it does have the nubs at the bottom, so it can sit up vertical and look like this little monolith that it is there’s also plenty of other ventilation.
On each side, with this one plenty of holes and then on the back, there’s ethernet two usb ports, hdmi and the storage expansion port again – and i can’t stress how small this console is: it’s the footprint is small. It’S it’s going to fit under a tv easily. Obviously, there’s no disk drives here if it saves a lot of volume there but yeah if it weren’t for the stuff. I’M about to tell you i would want to grab this pretty much instantly over the series x, but, as you may imagine, there is more to it than just the looks there are different computers.
Inside of each of these, microsoft is aiming to deliver the same exact, identical experience, but at two different resolutions and that’s why there’s different computers required to achieve each so xbox series x will deliver 120 frames per second at 4k, while the white xbox series s will Achieve 120 frames per second at 1440p, and that is what they’re hoping to accomplish. That’S the difference here. So the rest of the experience will all be identical. They’Ll both have the same eight core cpu.
They both have ray tracing. They both do variable refresh rate up to 120 fps, but graphically of course, less power is needed to hit 1440p. So the series s has less graphical power, a different gpu and it also only has 10 gigs of ram instead of 16.. So my take is for most people who don’t have a 4k tv at the moment, the 300 xbox series s is gon na be fine, again, 120 fps. I think the frame rate as we can all agree in gaming is more important. Now i love myself a crispy screen, of course, i’m a different customer, but if you can get it plugged into a high refresh rate, monitor it’s going to look amazing, it’s almost as portable as a laptop, so maybe not bringing it everywhere like a laptop. But the idea is fps over resolution and also most people still don’t have a 4k tv. But for people like me who also really love resolution who have a 4k tv already or who think they might get a 4k tv in the next three four five years. When you have these consoles you’re, probably going to want to splurge for the series x and then it will do 4k also and then last but not least, the series x has one terabyte of storage and the series s has half a terabyte of storage again they’re. Both expandable via those ports, i showed you but something to keep in mind if you’re getting the digital, only version so yeah. The strategy of offering a cheaper xbox undercutting all of the currently available playstations, at least at launch anyway, is a really interesting one, but then again, i also, i wonder how many people will actually buy the cheaper one over the more expensive one, because when you divide Out the cost of the console over the three four five years: you’ll probably have it. It’S probably not that big a deal to just go for the 200 extra dollars and have the future proof console uh. So i don’t know i i like the digital only one. I, like the look i like, i think it’s sleek, but let me know what you think in the comment section below which one you would get or if you’re in playstation camp like i have been i’m curious anyway. That’S basically it thanks for watching.
Also, let me know what you think of these shorter impression style videos on stuff like this, in the comments below i’ll, be hanging out down there. Okay, thanks for watching catch, you guys in the next one peace, .