Xbox Series S - worth getting?
Discussion
I'm sorry, I'm sure there's a thread dedicated to discussing the relative merits of the X v S, but I just can't find it at the moment.
I'm not a serious gamer, I go through phases but mostly a couple of hours when the Wife is out with her friends or other rare occasions the 'family TV' is free.
I would have bought an 'S' by now, but I've got a small pile of Xbox One discs and the lack of optical drive would make them useless, so I've been trying to buy an X without much luck, partly because I'm not fussed enough to stay up to the small hours waiting for stock and partly because I want to buy it via All Access because it seems slightly cheaper to do it that way than buying it cash and keeping my Subscription going. That said, I've realised the only game disc I really use is RDR2.
If anyone could help me with a few specifics, that would be great:
Safe to assume that there's no way to transfer physical licenses to digital licenses?
Safe to assume MS will never sell an external optical drive for the Series S?
If I buy RDR2 from the Xbox store for £55 (a game you can buy in any supermarket for half that), it will automatically update to the enhanced version when it arrives?
If I buy a digital version of RDR2 from CD Keys for £24, it will automatically update to the enhanced version when it arrives?
Are consumers really happy to pay full RRP for digital versions of games for years after their release, when physical versions are half the price, or am I missing something?
I'm not a serious gamer, I go through phases but mostly a couple of hours when the Wife is out with her friends or other rare occasions the 'family TV' is free.
I would have bought an 'S' by now, but I've got a small pile of Xbox One discs and the lack of optical drive would make them useless, so I've been trying to buy an X without much luck, partly because I'm not fussed enough to stay up to the small hours waiting for stock and partly because I want to buy it via All Access because it seems slightly cheaper to do it that way than buying it cash and keeping my Subscription going. That said, I've realised the only game disc I really use is RDR2.
If anyone could help me with a few specifics, that would be great:
Safe to assume that there's no way to transfer physical licenses to digital licenses?
Safe to assume MS will never sell an external optical drive for the Series S?
If I buy RDR2 from the Xbox store for £55 (a game you can buy in any supermarket for half that), it will automatically update to the enhanced version when it arrives?
If I buy a digital version of RDR2 from CD Keys for £24, it will automatically update to the enhanced version when it arrives?
Are consumers really happy to pay full RRP for digital versions of games for years after their release, when physical versions are half the price, or am I missing something?
I managed to snag both an Xbox Series X and PS5 this morning. New tyres will have to wait until payday! 
I would not buy a Series S. Although I did consider it at one point.
You cannot transfer physical licenses to digital.
I doubt there would be an external optical drive released but who knows.
Yes, whether you are using disc or digital download, providing the most recent patches are installed you will be getting the enhanced version of that game.
Be aware, the Series S is not as powerful as the Series X. There is actually some fairly big differences between them, it's not simply the same console but without a disc drive.
It won't output native 4k, it just upscales. Virtually all components are cheaper and slower. I don't personally think it is worth the asking price for this reason unless you're still using a 1080p TV and don't plan to upgrade in the next 7 or so years. It also has a smaller hard drive, despite being digital-only. Though it is expandable, like the Series X.
Digital media offers convenience and that's about it. Personally, I do like physical media and enjoy having it on the shelf, though I do buy digital games when they're on sale.
If you really aren't fussed about performance and just want to future proof yourself to play the next generation of games then the Series S isn't bad value for money, but if you want to play the next generation of games, surely you want it to perform as well as it was designed to? That's why I wouldn't (and didn't) buy the Series S.
EDIT:
It's worth noting that the PS5 digital edition has the same internals as a standard PS5, so is much more viable if you want to go digital only.
I would not buy a Series S. Although I did consider it at one point.
You cannot transfer physical licenses to digital.
I doubt there would be an external optical drive released but who knows.
Yes, whether you are using disc or digital download, providing the most recent patches are installed you will be getting the enhanced version of that game.
Be aware, the Series S is not as powerful as the Series X. There is actually some fairly big differences between them, it's not simply the same console but without a disc drive.
It won't output native 4k, it just upscales. Virtually all components are cheaper and slower. I don't personally think it is worth the asking price for this reason unless you're still using a 1080p TV and don't plan to upgrade in the next 7 or so years. It also has a smaller hard drive, despite being digital-only. Though it is expandable, like the Series X.
Digital media offers convenience and that's about it. Personally, I do like physical media and enjoy having it on the shelf, though I do buy digital games when they're on sale.
If you really aren't fussed about performance and just want to future proof yourself to play the next generation of games then the Series S isn't bad value for money, but if you want to play the next generation of games, surely you want it to perform as well as it was designed to? That's why I wouldn't (and didn't) buy the Series S.
EDIT:
It's worth noting that the PS5 digital edition has the same internals as a standard PS5, so is much more viable if you want to go digital only.
Edited by TREMAiNE on Tuesday 24th August 15:11
TREMAiNE said:
I managed to snag both an Xbox Series X and PS5 this morning. New tyres will have to wait until payday!
I would not buy a Series S. Although I did consider it at one point.
You cannot transfer physical licenses to digital.
I doubt there would be an external optical drive released but who knows.
Yes, whether you are using disc or digital download, providing the most recent patches are installed you will be getting the enhanced version of that game.
Be aware, the Series S is not as powerful as the Series X. There is actually some fairly big differences between them, it's not simply the same console but without a disc drive.
It won't output native 4k, it just upscales. Virtually all components are cheaper and slower. I don't personally think it is worth the asking price for this reason unless you're still using a 1080p TV and don't plan to upgrade in the next 7 or so years. It also has a smaller hard drive, despite being digital-only. Though it is expandable, like the Series X.
Digital media offers convenience and that's about it. Personally, I do like physical media and enjoy having it on the shelf, though I do buy digital games when they're on sale.
If you really aren't fussed about performance and just want to future proof yourself to play the next generation of games then the Series S isn't bad value for money, but if you want to play the next generation of games, surely you want it to perform as well as it was designed to? That's why I wouldn't (and didn't) buy the Series S.
EDIT:
It's worth noting that the PS5 digital edition has the same internals as a standard PS5, so is much more viable if you want to go digital only.
So you don't think the Series X will be compatible / able to run enhanced games in the future?I would not buy a Series S. Although I did consider it at one point.
You cannot transfer physical licenses to digital.
I doubt there would be an external optical drive released but who knows.
Yes, whether you are using disc or digital download, providing the most recent patches are installed you will be getting the enhanced version of that game.
Be aware, the Series S is not as powerful as the Series X. There is actually some fairly big differences between them, it's not simply the same console but without a disc drive.
It won't output native 4k, it just upscales. Virtually all components are cheaper and slower. I don't personally think it is worth the asking price for this reason unless you're still using a 1080p TV and don't plan to upgrade in the next 7 or so years. It also has a smaller hard drive, despite being digital-only. Though it is expandable, like the Series X.
Digital media offers convenience and that's about it. Personally, I do like physical media and enjoy having it on the shelf, though I do buy digital games when they're on sale.
If you really aren't fussed about performance and just want to future proof yourself to play the next generation of games then the Series S isn't bad value for money, but if you want to play the next generation of games, surely you want it to perform as well as it was designed to? That's why I wouldn't (and didn't) buy the Series S.
EDIT:
It's worth noting that the PS5 digital edition has the same internals as a standard PS5, so is much more viable if you want to go digital only.
Edited by TREMAiNE on Tuesday 24th August 15:11
The rest is hard to argue with, the 500gb onboard storage isn't really enough, I think we've got about 1tb of data on our Xbox One S at the moment.
I guess I'll have to wait until stock levels are a bit better.
P-Jay said:
So you don't think the Series X will be compatible / able to run enhanced games in the future?
The rest is hard to argue with, the 500gb onboard storage isn't really enough, I think we've got about 1tb of data on our Xbox One S at the moment.
I guess I'll have to wait until stock levels are a bit better.
Both the S and X will be compatible and run enhanced versions for the entire generation, until the next console is released, however, the enhanced version on the S won't be quite as enhanced as the X, and S/X specific games will always be superior in terms of performance on the X. The rest is hard to argue with, the 500gb onboard storage isn't really enough, I think we've got about 1tb of data on our Xbox One S at the moment.
I guess I'll have to wait until stock levels are a bit better.
I'd 100% ignore the S and hold out for stock on the X.
Supposedly, Argo will be re-stocking the X on Friday.
Yeah, I nearly got a Series S on release (had a pre-order accepted by Amazon) but had second thoughts once I realised that it wasn't going to be the '1080p version of Series X' that MS were implying it would be (I only have a 1080p TV) so I cancelled it.
It does lose some nice features in hardware and games compared to the Series X ... tiny built in SSD and no phyiscal media drive. Back-compat games are often just the One-S version of the game (often 900p) whereas the Series X gets the One-X version (can typically go right up to 4k), and intensive graphical features are often scaled back or even dropped, despite the target only being 1080p instead of 4k..
Kind of glad I did - I put my next-gen game console money/efforts into improving my PC and am now doing most of my gaming on TV via Gamestream to my Shield TV and the rest on my PC with G9 monitor ...
It does lose some nice features in hardware and games compared to the Series X ... tiny built in SSD and no phyiscal media drive. Back-compat games are often just the One-S version of the game (often 900p) whereas the Series X gets the One-X version (can typically go right up to 4k), and intensive graphical features are often scaled back or even dropped, despite the target only being 1080p instead of 4k..
Kind of glad I did - I put my next-gen game console money/efforts into improving my PC and am now doing most of my gaming on TV via Gamestream to my Shield TV and the rest on my PC with G9 monitor ...
My mate got his wife an S for more casual gaming, it was fine but the did end up getting rid.
You might be fine for more casual gaming but i think as time goes on it will become less and less performant and i think that will be noticeable.
Both have the same CPU and similar Clock speed.
S is inferior in GPU, Storage and memory.
it will be like the One VS ONE X, when i played games like PUBG on my One buldings would still not have rendered in a minute or so after dropping into the map where it was instant with the X.
You might be fine for more casual gaming but i think as time goes on it will become less and less performant and i think that will be noticeable.
Both have the same CPU and similar Clock speed.
S is inferior in GPU, Storage and memory.
it will be like the One VS ONE X, when i played games like PUBG on my One buldings would still not have rendered in a minute or so after dropping into the map where it was instant with the X.
If cost is not issue just get the X.
As a casual gamer for a couple of hours while the wife is out, the S is perfectly fine for you.
All the arguments for the X so far have been by people that need the best.
If you need the best just get the X, if not get the S.
Bottom line the S is still an upgrade, nice and faster.
Oh and never buy your games from the MS store, you are buying the same game at half the price form CDkeys.
Remember its MS themsleves that give the game codes to CD Keys and you are downloading the same game files from their servers. 60 quid for RDR2 is a joke and literally bending you over the barrel while you tell them how hard you want them to shaft you.
As a casual gamer for a couple of hours while the wife is out, the S is perfectly fine for you.
All the arguments for the X so far have been by people that need the best.
If you need the best just get the X, if not get the S.
Bottom line the S is still an upgrade, nice and faster.
Oh and never buy your games from the MS store, you are buying the same game at half the price form CDkeys.
Remember its MS themsleves that give the game codes to CD Keys and you are downloading the same game files from their servers. 60 quid for RDR2 is a joke and literally bending you over the barrel while you tell them how hard you want them to shaft you.
The_Jackal said:
If cost is not issue just get the X.
As a casual gamer for a couple of hours while the wife is out, the S is perfectly fine for you.
All the arguments for the X so far have been by people that need the best.
If you need the best just get the X, if not get the S.
Bottom line the S is still an upgrade, nice and faster.
Oh and never buy your games from the MS store, you are buying the same game at half the price form CDkeys.
Remember its MS themsleves that give the game codes to CD Keys and you are downloading the same game files from their servers. 60 quid for RDR2 is a joke and literally bending you over the barrel while you tell them how hard you want them to shaft you.
Thanks for letting me know about CDKeys, I wasn't aware you could buy Xbox games from 'unofficial' sources. As a casual gamer for a couple of hours while the wife is out, the S is perfectly fine for you.
All the arguments for the X so far have been by people that need the best.
If you need the best just get the X, if not get the S.
Bottom line the S is still an upgrade, nice and faster.
Oh and never buy your games from the MS store, you are buying the same game at half the price form CDkeys.
Remember its MS themsleves that give the game codes to CD Keys and you are downloading the same game files from their servers. 60 quid for RDR2 is a joke and literally bending you over the barrel while you tell them how hard you want them to shaft you.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give your opinions.
Cost really isn't an issue as such, that's not to say £200 is an insignificant amount, but it's not really for something I'll use for years. Availability is, I could pop out now and be back home with a new Series S and playing this evening.
I think I'll pick myself up a Series S, I can always stick it on eBay if/when Series X stocks return.
I bought a Series S a few months ago but I don't have a 4k TV yet, and my old controllers for the day one Xbox One were having issues after years of use. Controllers are £50+, but I got the Series S with two controllers for £280. It's much quicker to load everything, all the peripherals carry over, and it can run Project Cars 2 and ACC without stutters.
When I eventually get a 4k TV I'll buy an Series X and my Series S will go in the spare room. Hopefully by that time it'll be easier to actually find one to buy, and we'll have dedicated games too as most of mine are still the Xbox One versions.
When I eventually get a 4k TV I'll buy an Series X and my Series S will go in the spare room. Hopefully by that time it'll be easier to actually find one to buy, and we'll have dedicated games too as most of mine are still the Xbox One versions.
Douglas Quaid said:
X is a good upgrade from the old one. The S isn’t. If you don’t have anything at all then it is better than that but for me it was a no brainer to get the x.
I'll be honest, I've spent far too long watching YT videos today, whilst I admit I have no direct experience of either S or X, I don't think that's true really. I'll be upgrading from a Xbox One S.If I'm wrong on any of this, I'm happy to be corrected:
Series S is 1440, upscaled to 4k, the X is 40k native. Most reviews agree that the real-world experience difference is negligible. I'd get a better improvement cleaning my glasses. Honestly I've watched side by side comparisons on my 4k laptop screen, the X isn't going to make a bad game good, and the S won't make a good game bad.
The main difference in performance between the two isn't really the resolution, but the frame rate. My 4K TV is 60Hz max, I've no intention of upgrading it or getting a gaming monitor. 120fps is of no use to me.
Both offer raytracing which is cool.
512GB (380 usable) isn't really enough, but 1tb (800gb) isn't either really, I'll need an external drive really, but both offer far better loading times and rendering times than my One S.
MS have very sneakily used a proprietary (or at least rare) sized NMVE SSD, and you can't just drop a Series X 1TB ssd into a Series S for a storage upgrade, but I give it a couple of months before you can buy a compatible NMVE for them, and probably an unofficial expansion card for less than £200.
MS are being very 'cool' at the moment about allowing the same license to be used on One and Series consoles, but that's only because there are very few, if any Series enhanced games, but that will end, pretty soon their will be games exclusive to the Series, starting the road to One becoming obsolete.
Games that aren't enhanced for Series consoles already have some improvements on the newer consoles. My favourite game RDR2 for example, offers higher detail over a longer distance, improved horse animation, and supposedly they even ride a little quicker because they can render the map quicker.
P-Jay said:
Thanks for letting me know about CDKeys, I wasn't aware you could buy Xbox games from 'unofficial' sources.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give your opinions.
Cost really isn't an issue as such, that's not to say £200 is an insignificant amount, but it's not really for something I'll use for years. Availability is, I could pop out now and be back home with a new Series S and playing this evening.
I think I'll pick myself up a Series S, I can always stick it on eBay if/when Series X stocks return.
Another vote for CDKeys.Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give your opinions.
Cost really isn't an issue as such, that's not to say £200 is an insignificant amount, but it's not really for something I'll use for years. Availability is, I could pop out now and be back home with a new Series S and playing this evening.
I think I'll pick myself up a Series S, I can always stick it on eBay if/when Series X stocks return.
My saved about £10 on FIFA 22 by buying PSN vouchers.
P-Jay said:
I'll be honest, I've spent far too long watching YT videos today, whilst I admit I have no direct experience of either S or X, I don't think that's true really. I'll be upgrading from a Xbox One S.
Ge yourself a cheap one X for now. Going from og xbox one to one X what absolute night and day for me. After that i noticed absolutely no difference going from one X to series X, in terms of gameplay/visuals. Obviously that will change when more optimized series x games appear.We are about to buy a Series S, but only because we know someone who has a brand new one that they don't want, and we can buy it for £150. Seems to good a deal to miss out on. When the Series X becomes more available we might grab one, and put one in the living room and one in my sons bedroom.
If it wasn't for the deal we are getting, I would wait for a Series X, but only because I prefer to buy higher spec stuff.
If it wasn't for the deal we are getting, I would wait for a Series X, but only because I prefer to buy higher spec stuff.
Here's an update, I tried, again in vain to get an Series X at the weekend but as the Wife was out Saturday night and is away for the evening to attend a wedding this week, I treated myself to a Series S.
I put about 10 hours into this weekend (a lot for me) a mix of me playing 'seriously' and playing with my daughter (aged 7) she mostly likes minecraft and Star Wars Battlefront 1 (she doesn't like 2).
My Initial thoughts:
Buying RDR2 again when I had the disc right there was irritating, but thanks to the poster above it only cost me £22 from CDKeys, actually as it seemed to be on Gamepass I downloaded it first, only to discover it's only the Online version on GP, but at least when I put the code in, it was smart enough to not need to DL again.
Storage wise... as above, I've downloaded RDR2 which is huge (120gb) plus Battlefront, Minecraft and a few other small games she likes and there's 50% left. My External HDD hasn't been recognised, which is a pain, I'll sort that at some point.
The controller is mostly the same as the last one, with an extra button, but feels slightly lighter and 'cheaper' had to say what exactly, but it's like the difference between an Audi interior and a Skoda one, the buttons are the same, but they somehow don't feel as nice.
The quicker loading 'from cold' thing promised by the upgrade to SSD wasn't as remarkable as I expected, it's good, but it's not a game changer. Quick resume is brilliant though, being able to drop back to precisely where you were without a loading screen is amazing.
Gaming wise, it's a nice leap from the One S, RDR2 looks sensational, even though it's not yet updates for the Series consoles. The sort of grainy/milkiness that it had before (which in fairness gave it an Western Film look) is gone, and the map and smaller icons far easier to read. On simpler games like Battelfront is and obvious leap in resolution and smoothness. I haven't actually downloaded any enhanced games yet.
My conclusion, as a non-serious, casual player:
The only real downside is the lack of disc drive which means I can't run my old games, but it turns out most of the games I 'own' either came from gamepass or I own them digitally. I only rebought 1.
Storage is going to be a pain, it's horses for courses, but I think it'll be less of a pain for me than a more serious one with an X. I just don't play that many games.
The rest of it great, games look great, they load quickly, menus switch quickly, it all looks lovely. I just won't lose any sleep that I could have this or that resolution or frame rate with an X, I've watch hours of side-by-side comparisons on YT and honestly, I just can't see how you could notice that level of difference whilst concentrating on playing.
Mostly though, my over-riding thought is that, as of today, in 99% of games, you're buying a bit of a polish up in performance, it's noticeable, but minor. We're only going to get the real benefit when new games are released. I'm dying to see what Far Cry 6 is like and the upgraded R* games.
I put about 10 hours into this weekend (a lot for me) a mix of me playing 'seriously' and playing with my daughter (aged 7) she mostly likes minecraft and Star Wars Battlefront 1 (she doesn't like 2).
My Initial thoughts:
Buying RDR2 again when I had the disc right there was irritating, but thanks to the poster above it only cost me £22 from CDKeys, actually as it seemed to be on Gamepass I downloaded it first, only to discover it's only the Online version on GP, but at least when I put the code in, it was smart enough to not need to DL again.
Storage wise... as above, I've downloaded RDR2 which is huge (120gb) plus Battlefront, Minecraft and a few other small games she likes and there's 50% left. My External HDD hasn't been recognised, which is a pain, I'll sort that at some point.
The controller is mostly the same as the last one, with an extra button, but feels slightly lighter and 'cheaper' had to say what exactly, but it's like the difference between an Audi interior and a Skoda one, the buttons are the same, but they somehow don't feel as nice.
The quicker loading 'from cold' thing promised by the upgrade to SSD wasn't as remarkable as I expected, it's good, but it's not a game changer. Quick resume is brilliant though, being able to drop back to precisely where you were without a loading screen is amazing.
Gaming wise, it's a nice leap from the One S, RDR2 looks sensational, even though it's not yet updates for the Series consoles. The sort of grainy/milkiness that it had before (which in fairness gave it an Western Film look) is gone, and the map and smaller icons far easier to read. On simpler games like Battelfront is and obvious leap in resolution and smoothness. I haven't actually downloaded any enhanced games yet.
My conclusion, as a non-serious, casual player:
The only real downside is the lack of disc drive which means I can't run my old games, but it turns out most of the games I 'own' either came from gamepass or I own them digitally. I only rebought 1.
Storage is going to be a pain, it's horses for courses, but I think it'll be less of a pain for me than a more serious one with an X. I just don't play that many games.
The rest of it great, games look great, they load quickly, menus switch quickly, it all looks lovely. I just won't lose any sleep that I could have this or that resolution or frame rate with an X, I've watch hours of side-by-side comparisons on YT and honestly, I just can't see how you could notice that level of difference whilst concentrating on playing.
Mostly though, my over-riding thought is that, as of today, in 99% of games, you're buying a bit of a polish up in performance, it's noticeable, but minor. We're only going to get the real benefit when new games are released. I'm dying to see what Far Cry 6 is like and the upgraded R* games.
There does seem to be a shortage of true next gen games for the series S and X but flightsim 2020 is one.
On the S it’s great but even better on the X with less popup etc.
No GTA 6 on the horizon and forza motorsport delayed until next year.
The next forza horizon is out soonish and that looks pretty good.
On the S it’s great but even better on the X with less popup etc.
No GTA 6 on the horizon and forza motorsport delayed until next year.
The next forza horizon is out soonish and that looks pretty good.
El stovey said:
There does seem to be a shortage of true next gen games for the series S and X but flightsim 2020 is one.
On the S it’s great but even better on the X with less popup etc.
No GTA 6 on the horizon
I might give flightsim a go, but it doesn't sound like my kind of thing.On the S it’s great but even better on the X with less popup etc.
No GTA 6 on the horizon
Because I'm a massive Rockstar nerd, I'm going to predict that GTA6 will be announced with a Trailer in the next 6-8 weeks, but won't be released for 2 years.
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