02 May
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Xbox One S Review 2020: Affordable 4K Entertainment

best cheap xbox one games 2017 s rating 9

"The Xbox One S is more than a console – it's a great Ultra HD Blu-Ray player."

  • Chic new look

  • Strong input / output selection

  • Ultra HD Blu-ray support

  • Improved compatibility with Windows 10

  • Attractive pricing

  • Not as small as expected

  • Hardware still slower than PlayStation 4

  • Cortana is disappointing

Xbox One S is Microsoft's cheaper update to Xbox One during the cycle. It offers both 4K media support and a better name for Xbox. On the hardware side, the miniaturization is said to overtake the PlayStation 4, which is still smaller and more subtle than the original Xbox One. On the software side, Xbox One S is the standard Microsoft carrier for Windows 10. While older Xbox One consoles can upgrade to the same software, there is still a lot of confusion about how Windows 10 and Xbox work together. The updated console ensures clarity.

There is a heavy load on the shoulders of this console that is too heavy for an incremental upgrade. Sony has not only launched a "slim" PlayStation 4, but also a much improved version of its console, the PlayStation 4 Pro. Microsoft also has its own powerful Xbox One X, which is currently the most powerful console, but Xbox One S is the much cheaper alternative.

Despite its low price, with exciting new features like Game Pass that complement Microsoft's vision for Xbox One, the One S doesn't have the improvements you'd expect from a console upgrade, nor is it the beginning of a new generation .

Smaller, but not that small

We liked the look of the original Xbox One and found it to look better than the PlayStation 4, which never looks right with its awkward angles. In practice, however, the Xbox One had a big problem. It was big – the biggest thing most people put in a home entertainment cabinet next to an A / V receiver.

Microsoft fixed this by reducing the Xbox One S by 40 percent. Sounds great, doesn't it? Nevertheless, the number is deceptive. The box is only a few centimeters narrower and about one centimeter shorter than the original. The power supply is now also internal.

The less-than-expected miniaturization means that the new Xbox is just catching up with the slim PlayStation 4. The Xbox One S is wider and a hair bigger, but not quite as deep.

The new Xbox isn't as small as the numbers suggest, but it is undeniably attractive. It's minimalist, uniform, and simple, with clean, sharp lines. The two-sided design of the original returns here – half of the Xbox One S is flat, while the other half is littered with exhaust ports.

In contrast to the original, the ventilated half uses a pit grille instead of diagonal slats. This is reminiscent of pixels and feels like home on a game console. A large cutout for the fan pointing upwards slightly affects the appearance from above, but is hardly noticeable due to its position in an A / V housing. Most people will only look at the Xbox One S from the front, and from that point of view, it's definitely the best looking console of this generation.

Fun and functional

The original Xbox One can be difficult to use due to its touch-sensitive power button. Other buttons, such as the controller sync button, were physically but unfavorably arranged.

The new Xbox isn't as small as the numbers suggest, but it is undeniably attractive.

Fortunately, the Xbox One S solves these problems. On the front are a physical power switch, a controller sync button and a disc eject button. All are easy to find and use, even in a dark media room. There's also a USB 3.0 port in advance – a little disappointing. However, the PlayStation 4 has two. Finally, the lower right corner hides the IR blaster, which allows you to control other IR devices through your Xbox One S by repeating the IR signal detected by those devices.

On the back of the Xbox One S there are two HDMI ports (one on, one off), two additional USB 3.0 ports (one for Kinect), S / PDIF and Ethernet.

Overall, with a notable exception, the connectivity is almost identical to the original. The Xbox One S deletes the dedicated Kinect port. You will need a USB adapter to connect an earlier Kinect to the new console. Aside from the hassle of having to purchase an adapter (Microsoft distributes it for free, at least if you contact Xbox support), this change means that Kinect users are effectively one less USB than before.

Xbox One S.Bill Roberson / Digital Trends

Bill Roberson / Digital Trends

Still, Xbox One offers more connectivity than PlayStation 4. Microsoft has selected Xbox One as a one-stop solution for everything from games to television. While it's questionable whether its mainstream features have prevailed, they remain something that the PlayStation 4 doesn't even try to emulate.

Once again, a console undercuts Blu-ray players

While previous Xbox One consoles were limited to 1080p video output for both games and videos, the Xbox One S offers support for 4K video and a 4K Blu-ray player that is not found in either PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 is professional to find.

Of course, 4K resolution support doesn't affect games. They are rendered with the same frame buffer as before. Unlike the original system, the Xbox One S can do native 4K output for the user interface and media. You can play 4K and HDR Blu-rays on the new UltraHD TV you bought, or you can download Netflix for 4K streaming.

HDR, short for "High Dynamic Range", works against it and improves the picture quality if your TV supports HDR. Still, strangely, HDR mixes with this console's 1080p target, as TVS with HDR usually also offer 4K resolution. In this case, the Xbox One X would make more sense.

Support for 4K remains largely unnoticed after switching on – and that's a good thing. You can set the Xbox One S to 4K and leave it there without having to worry about your source content. 4K movies look as detailed as you'd expect, but games rendered in the resolution they were originally designed for look just as good as on a 1080p display. Even Hyper Light Drifter's pixel art style looked pin sharp.

Xbox One S.Bill Roberson / Digital Trends

Bill Roberson / Digital Trends

This makes the Xbox One incredibly attractive to anyone with a 4K display. There are few standalone Ultra HD Blu-ray players, and the ones available are expensive. Ultra 4K Blu-ray players can be sold for the cheapest models for $ 200 to $ 249. This suddenly makes the Xbox One S, which is regularly available for $ 200, an economical purchase.

Oddly enough, a full-fledged console has managed to undercut dedicated home media players, but that has happened before. Some players may remember that the PlayStation 3, the first console with a Blu-ray player, undercut most dedicated players at the time of its release. The Xbox One S does the same trick and should draw the attention of every home theater enthusiast for this reason alone.

It is still an Xbox One

The Xbox One S is a new design, but not a completely new console. Apart from what is above, everything else remains the same.

That's a problem. The Xbox One sold poorly compared to the PlayStation 4 for a simple reason. Most games are played on both consoles, but Sony's is more powerful and the games look a little better. Sony also has some premium exclusive products that the Xbox will never see.

The Xbox One S does nothing to fix that. It is slightly faster due to higher clock speeds on the GPU and the associated ESRAM. This is enough to get a few extra frames in titles that run at an unlocked frame rate, and it can make up for the tearing in some games, but the difference isn't usually noticeable in gameplay. We only know everything thanks to the Digital Foundry from Eurogamer, one of the few publications that are equipped for frame-by-frame analysis of a console. Microsoft said nothing about improved in-game performance in its official Xbox One S press release.

Xbox One S.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Microsoft has lost this generation of so-called "console wars". The Xbox One S hasn't changed a thing.

Our opinion

Most players are unlikely to find the Xbox One S more attractive than before. It remains less powerful than its Sony rival. Aside from the smaller footprint, which, as mentioned earlier, is less impressive than suggested when it was released, there is nothing on the Xbox One S that could draw an enthusiast's attention.

Although Xbox One S isn't the best game console today, it's a great home theater appliance. The Xbox One S has a 4K-enabled Blu-ray player – a feature not available on the PS4 or PS4 Pro – that alone may be worth the price of admission, provided you have a 4K TV.

Is there a better alternative?

The Xbox One S achieves parity with the standard PlayStation 4 in almost every respect. However, the omnipresence of this console among gamers can cause the PlayStation 4 versions of multiplatform games to get more attention from their developers.

How long it will take?

It depends on how often you want to update your console. The more powerful version of Microsoft's Xbox One, the "Xbox One X", is already available at relatively low prices. And the next generation will appear later this year with the release of the Xbox X series. While most games like Halo Infinite will stay compatible with the Xbox One S for at least a year, time is ticking for this generation.

Should you buy it

No. The Xbox One S is an aging console that doesn't make sense for most players with a new generation along the way.

This article was last updated on April 27, 2020 by Cody Perez, a Digital Trends employee.

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