Xbox Series S – Holiday Console

This review is after 3 plus years of owning the Series S console. I have to admit my expectations were low when I originally purchased this Xbox, after all it is the least powerful, lowest resolution and cheapest of this gen. Well I own a PlayStation 5, Series X and a Steam Deck and this is my go to console, mainly because of portability. Yes the X has more power and better visuals but I’m amazed that this little console can keep up with the big boys. I have a 8tb Seagate hdd connected and a 1tb expansion card so the available 360 gb of storage aren’t an issue, which is my only gripe. But this console can play any game you throw at it with good frame rates and decent resolution, you have to have a really high end 4k display to notice much of a difference from 1440p to 4k in my opinion. I don’t regret purchasing this at all, I bought the other consoles about a year after this to see what all the fuss was about and don’t get me wrong they are both better, just not by much. At the time of purchase these were going for $230 or so, I see the price has drastically increased. A++ for the price to performance ratio.

The Xbox series S is definitely one of the BEST consoles I've ever owned hands down! I was skeptical in purchasing the series S because ppl on the internet would have you believe the series S is an underpowered underperforming waste of money but I am here to tell you that couldn't be further from the truth!Pros: Next gen gamingThe Xbox series S is a fully equipped next gen console! It's got the same CPU as the series X albeit with slightly slower clock speed, it's got a 4TF RDNA 2 GPU along with 10GB of GDDR6 RAM and an incredibly fast SSD. What all this translates into is a console that is extremely powerful but that is NOT designed for 4K gaming. The console was designed with 1440p 60fps in mind and 1080p 120fps in mind which for $299 is absolutely BONKERS. You can't even get a comparable PC build for less than $700.Gamepass: the number one reason I bought the series S was because I wanted an Xbox to play gamepass games with my little brother. With gamepass I've been able to experience absolutely brilliant games! Halo infinite on the series S is freaking gorgeous. Once you get over the fact this console wasn't designed for 4K gaming you realize just how amazing this console really is. The series S can upscale games to match your 4K TV resolution & even on games that run natively at 1440p they still look incredible on my 43inch 4K TV. The series S doesn't come with an HDMI 2.1 cable so if you want to play games at 120fps you will need a TV or monitor that's compatible with HDMI 2.1 as well as a cable. I've been blown away by the series S when it comes to playing games at 120fps. The resolution typically falls to 1080p but who cares your playing Fortnite and MW2 at 120fps on a console that costs $299😱 that's the brilliance of the series S.Aside from gamepass games I've also purchased Dying Light 2, MX vs ATV legends, cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, riders Republic, saints row, the quarry, Modern Warfare 2 & most recently Hogwarts Legacy. Quite a few of these games I also own on PlayStation 5 but I purchased on Xbox Series S because the XSS is the console I take with me when I travel for work so I can play my favorite titles when I'm away from home. That being said I've had an opportunity to play some of these games side by side to see how well the XSS holds up to the PS5 and I've been astonished. MW2 for example runs extremely well on the XSS. The difference between MW2 on XSS and PS5 is negligible at best. The XSS version runs at 1440p at 60fps while the PS5 version runs at dynamic 4K at 60fps. Both consoles are capable of running MW2 with 120fps but the XSS runs with a resolution of 1080p at 120fps while the PS5 runs with a resolution of 1440p at 120fps. The end of the day I can play on both systems and enjoy them very very much. The PS5 looks better in most games but the difference between 1440p and 4K isn't as drastic as I thought it'd be.To the haters: the Xbox series S is a fantastic next gen console that packs a lot of bang for the buck! I highly recommend it for anyone who doesn't mind 2K gaming vs 4K gaming and for anyone who just wants an amazing little console that's easy to pack up and take with you wherever you go. I am extremely glad I made the purchase and I can honestly say I spend more time playing games on my series S compared to my PS5 thanks to the massive collection of games available on gamepass. Anyone on the fence I say buy it because you will NOT be disappointed, this is one hell of a console!Happy gaming ✌️

Works great love it

I have no SSD card, I'm told to get one at some point, there is currently no room after 4 or so games were put on. I'm coming from a vast background of gaming so the main problems for proper health need to be addressed. The ps4 I had has a wifi card which was permanently attached to the inside motherboard. It was a failure to be removed so I just called up xbox tech support and they let me know the series s (new and old gen versions), as well as the 360 all have wifi cards which can be just unbolted with a torx security screw. In this age, the health problems from wireless devices is at an all time high, so although opening the unit, they explained will destroy the warrantee, that is the only way to stop endlessly outputting rf even if you are using an ethernet cord and standard no wifi modem. Opened up the case, removed the card for wifi as well as for wireless controllers. Then the safety issue I had was the tv, pawned my Sony LED tv, got the Epson Non-LED projector and that is perfect. The blue shade of LED light is what causes addiction along with accumulative permanent damage to the eye as well as white or blue light at night or within 3 hours of sleep ruins the sleep quality. Many a sleepless night, I am over 1000 in Grand Theft Auto. This new gen now allows us to input our Ps4 system characters and use our newly made Xbox screennames, which feature a spacebar in the screennames which is unique to Xbox names. A 360 unit must be used, tho if you want a screenname longer than 12 characters. This is an easy fix though.Grand Theft Auto is completely messed up on my old gen, here you get a slightly odd blurry ground issue, rarely, odd graphic issue slightly, not bad at all and I think SSd may help that too. Level 1000 plus character went through fine owning everything, but cars sold or the 13 mil cash from ps4 all fell out my bank account, but importantly my new cash made stays, so this is really cool. I really love my first character I made on Ps3, and I am tired of the underscores and dashes in screennames, cant use spacebar still in ps5 screennames. I am getting the braided extra long type c cord here, I had it for the series s cord and it was not too heavy duty but if very gentle with it it will work, but clearly the controller was designed with a mistaken idea the wireless feature will be utilized, this is a no wireless device area and this system is best for that.

I use this all the time. Been an xbox fan since I was a kid. Woohoo.