Xbox Series S review | Smaller, Cheaper and powerful

Xbox has been Microsoft’s answer to the Sony’s Playstation for over a decade now. Despite having struggled to catch up with playstation in the past, Xbox has been improving its hardware and software for a seamless gameplay over the years gaining a huge fanbase.

The Xbox series S is the younger and less powerful sibling to the beefier Series X. Though being less powerful than the series X this console does deliver on what it promises. At a fair price point of $299 it is a good pick especially for those who don’t mind gaming at 1440p. Despite gaming at a lower resolution the series S can easily get to 120FPS in certain titles.

The looks, feel and Ports.

The Xbox series S is a beautifully crafted piece of machine which elevates the aesthetics of almost any room. It comes only in one color choice which is white. In fact this color selection by Xbox was one of the best moves that they could implement on a budget friendly console such as this one.

It has a futuristic look to it adding a touch of elegance in just about any room. This combined with many other unique features at this price point has greatly appealed to the mass. The port selection in this console is quite standard.

At the rear we have an ethernet port for connectivity, HDMI 2.1 (capable of outputting 120FPS), two USB ports and a storage expandable port.

Specs.

Pros and Cons of the Xbox Series S.

Pros

• It can game up to 120 FPS at 1440p.
• It is easily upgradable since the storage is expandable.
• It has HDMI 2.1 which can output 120FPS.
• It is relatively affordable at $299.
• It has a cool white design that blends in most rooms.

Cons.

• It cannot play native 4K and it has to be Upscaled.
• It with a relatively low storage space of 512GB and only 364GB is usable.
• It has no disk compartment.

Let’s talk resolutions for a bit……

When talking about resolutions we mean the console’s ability to output a certain number of pixels on the display. For example to achieve to true 4K a pixel count of 2160 X 3840 but can vary. Another point to note is that when a display is rated 4K it means that it has 4000 pixels horizontally which is four times of what Full HD 1080P offers.

The Xbox series S can natively output 120FPS at a resolution of 1440p. If you want to game at 4K in the Series S it has to be upscaled (provided the TV is 4k enabled) which stretches the pixels to fit the screen.

Conversely, the Xbox series X can game at 4k natively meaning it does need to be upscaled, since it outputs true 4k from the source. Although, the difference is not that huge between native and upscaled 4k, native 4k still has better details.

What is Ray Tracing on the Xbox series S ?

Ray tracing is a relatively new concept in gaming and one of the early adopters of this technology was Nvidia back in 2018 with their Geforce RTX graphics lineup. AMD followed suit with their AMD Radeon RX 6000 series. RTX is a term used by Nvidia to let consumers know that those GPUs are Ray tracing enabled.

A good example is the Nvidia RTX 3090 which is the best gaming GPU that Nvidia can offer at the time of writing this article. One of it’s hyped up features when it came out is it’s ability to game at 8K at 60 FPS ( Frame per second )

Also next gen consoles such as this Series S, the series X and also the PS5 lineup feature this technology. With Ray tracing the image quality is crispier bringing a more vibrant and life like experience.

Raytracing is a feature aimed to improve how lighting interacts with the virtual objects. It improves shadows and reflections of scenes bringing a more realistic and enticing gameplay.

Let’s talk about the next gen Xbox controller……

The new Xbox controller that came with the next gen consoles was not much tweaked as compared to the PS5’s new Dual sense controller. One of the notable features was recording while playing which come in very handy. There is one thing about Xbox controllers that drives me crazy with excitement and that is their unlimited customization.

Xbox controllers are by far the best in terms of customization. With tons of colors choices to choose from, I can hands down recommend Sony to up their game in this territory. Other than that the controller is very much comfortable to hold; no complains there.

So who should buy the Xbox series S?

If you are ready to give up native 4k and you are on a tight budget then the series S might just be the perfect fit for you. Many people might not even be able to tell the difference between native 4k and upscaled 4k and this should not be a determining factor when purchasing this console.

The aesthetics of this machine are also worth considering. With it’s gorgeous white color, it can blend in just about any room and enhance the looks of the room with it’s futuristic look. Honestly, I think that it looks way better than the cuboid built Series X. ( That’s just my opinion)

Another tip is that the Series S has no disk compartment meaning, it is digital only. Some people find it to be a deal breaker but I actually find it to be okay. It is a good factor to keep in mind when purchasing it. At the end of the day it all boils down to what you, the consumer wants and how much money you are willing to spend on a console.

Final thoughts.

The Xbox Series S is a fairly priced console, in fact miles better than what you can currently find at the market at that price point. Definitely, we cannot ignore that it is not a perfect machine.

It has its shortcomings such as lack of a disk compartment, Lack of native 4K support, a relatively low storage space and other minor issues. If you don’t mind any of these shortcomings, then I would highly suggest this console to you. If you are not brand loyal to Xbox and you are open minded to other consoles, then might also want to check out the PS5 digital version although it is a bit pricier than the Series S.