Xbox Series S owners, how do you feel about the purchase after owning it for a while?

[Weiss]

That's not how much it actually costs. Read the entire terms, that is a placeholder open loan for $1200. You don't pay anything until end of the first month and it will be adjusted accordingly. It pre-approved the loan amount for $1200 to expedite the process, how do you think you got approved so quickly?

Click to shrink...

I kinda figured (it did say this was the maximum amount) but I've never taken a loan for anything before and I sure wasn't going to sign for it without knowing for sure I was going to only pay the $720.

It's a moot point anyway, I ended up finding a Series S on the Source's website. Never actually thought to look there and no tracker site said they were available there, so lucky me.

Finally I can use my shiny new nextgen console for what it was built for: Playing Banjo-Kazooie on a 4K TV.

 

[AceStrimmer]

You just wait for a digital sales. Most of the time you don't have to wait long.

Click to shrink...

Agreed. I recommend following deals websites for sales in other parts of the world for digital, often ones which don't even need VPN or gift cards.

 

[drzzrd]

I kinda figured (it did say this was the maximum amount) but I've never taken a loan for anything before and I sure wasn't going to sign for it without knowing for sure I was going to only pay the $720.

It's a moot point anyway, I ended up finding a Series S on the Source's website. Never actually thought to look there and no tracker site said they were available there, so lucky me.

Finally I can use my shiny new nextgen console for what it was built for: Playing Banjo-Kazooie on a 4K TV.

Click to shrink...

Good stuff, glad you found it out-right!

Although the All Access isn't the best deal, it's still fair and is a small discount if you include Game Pass Ultimate for 2 years. For 0% finance offer with no hidden fees, it's almost always beneficial to take it. If you had $1000 to drop at once, might as well invest it in an ETF.

That would return potentially 7-10%, so effectively making your Xbox Series purchase cost less.

 

[Weiss]

Good stuff, glad you found it out-right!

Although the All Access isn't the best deal, it's still fair and is a small discount if you include Game Pass Ultimate for 2 years. For 0% finance offer with no hidden fees, it's almost always beneficial to take it. If you had $1000 to drop at once, might as well invest it in an ETF.

That would return potentially 7-10%, so effectively making your Xbox Series purchase cost less.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I know, but the thing is I was planning on getting a Series X back on launch so I did the Xbox Live to Game Pass conversion in advance, then decided against it as I thought it would be too irresponsible of me to finally clear my debt only to get right back into it with a shiny new console, so I've kinda had it sitting around in my account for four months for a console I don't have.

It's not actually that big a deal to me because I was more into not blowing a huge load of money at once, but whatever. I'm better off now and the console I bought comes with three months of Game Pass Ultimate to make up for the months I lost (unless you cannot add months like that using a gift card, that seems plausible). The way things are now I save about $100, nothing special really. Shouldn't have bought Game Pass in advance though.

 

[AM_LIGHT]

After getting a PS5 and selling my one X , I was going to get a series X down the line. I have GP ultimate until late 23 and my current laptop is pretty weak so I am not currently taking advantage of the service. I was always dismissive of the series S and viewed it as a much worse value compared to series X. But I am seriously considering getting one now instead of a series X exactly because it's cheaper and weaker. My PS5 more than good enough for all the big third party titles. Having a series S solely as a GP machine makes sense . Plus it makes it easy buying everything else for my PS5, While it would have been more difficult to choose if it was between PS5 and series X.
P.S. I am in the middle East so both series S/X are readily available.

 

[soundofsilver]

Overall I love it, but I'm a little bit disappointed that the backwards compatibility works by running the One S versions of the games. It's my fault for not doing enough research but I just sort of assumed "I'll be able to play old games at 4K".

This may be an exceedingly stupid question, but currently I have my S running through my 4K TV (which I think is max 60 fps). Would my S look "better" running through my 1080p gaming monitor?

 

[Ploppee]

So as everyone knows the new consoles have been impossible to find but I've seen a fair few Series S about. Is it worth diving in whilst I wait for a PS5 do you reckon? Or should I just wait it out?

I'd be big into gamepass i think I just don't want to miss out on features.

 

[GalvoAg]

Wait it out

Or get the X

 

[Deleted member 19533]

I don't think it's worth it at all. Its storage is so small for a digital only console for one and will need to be upgraded making it even more similarly priced. Two being the performance simply isn't there in many instances already, and we're just getting started.

 

[Caiusto]

Rank S

 

[Deleted member 11008]

I think is pretty good for a casual approach. Enthusiast people will look down on the console, but I think its presence to the market will be positive in the long term.

 

[Fat4all]

i give it an s/sss

 

[JusDoIt]

Don't got one, but the storage seems like the biggest long term issue. Also it doesn't seem to be hitting that 1440p/60fps mark often.

I think it's cool if you're only playing one game at a time and don't care about being sub-1080p sometimes because the framerates and SSD speeds do seem to deliver.

 

[Gay Bowser]

I think it's a great product. It's not really aimed at the type of people who post here, though, which is why you'll probably see a lot of people telling you to "just spend $200 more!"

 

[Noisepurge]

So as everyone knows the new consoles have been impossible to find but I've seen a fair few Series S about. Is it worth diving in whilst I wait for a PS5 do you reckon? Or should I just wait it out?

I'd be big into gamepass i think I just don't want to miss out on features.

Click to shrink...

You could just get an Xbox One S or X for the meantime for even cheaper. There's only The Medium that's a Series game.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

I mean, I say it depends entirely on whether you care about 4k or about always having frame rate parity with the more powerful systems. You say you want one while waiting on the PS5 to be available, so I can only assume it'll be a smaller secondary console anyway in a year or twos time so not always have feature parity with third party games won't be an issue anyway.

For your use case, I say that it's probably going to be a great system. It'll be a great little Gamepass machine, particularly if you never already had an Xbox One, and you'll be able to comfortably play games on it natively for the next 6 or 7 years.

I also wouldn't worry about the lack of storage or the poor performance in a decent amount of games. You can easily use any USB HDD as cold storage (and play BC games off of it as well) and for every example of poor performance on the system there are just as many examples of amazing performance on it (Metro Exodus 1080p60 with RT, Star Wars Squadrons 1440p120 etc).

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

You could just get an Xbox One S or X for the meantime for even cheaper. There's only The Medium that's a Series game.

Click to shrink...

That's incredibly short sighted. The Series S will play games for the entire generation, the Xbox One systems won't be getting a lot of games probably starting at the end of this year. Plus, many games will probably play better (frame rate and graphics quality outside of resolution wise) on the Series S as well during this cross gen period.

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

Waste of money
Go for the X.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

You could just get an Xbox One S or X for the meantime for even cheaper. There's only The Medium that's a Series game.

Click to shrink...

There's no reason for someone who can afford the series S to get xone.

 

[JEH]

I use mine for older One and 360 titles and it's great for that. Perfect size for my desk as well.

I will use other platforms for next gen AAA titles though.

 

[Gay Bowser]

That's incredibly short sighted. The Series S will play games for the entire generation, the Xbox One systems won't be getting a lot of games probably starting at the end of this year. Plus, many games will probably play better (frame rate and graphics quality outside of resolution wise) on the Series S as well during this cross gen period.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the "just get a One S" comment is a little WTF.

The Series S is a great value with Game Pass and honestly I think Microsoft deserves a lot more credit than they get for making a more accessible entry point into the next generation. They made the best $300 console possible in 2020. It's got a modern CPU and it's built around high-speed flash and it'll play new games for years to come. Sony's answer for someone who has $300 and wants a console is the PS4; I don't see how the Series S isn't a far more attractive option than that.

Especially as a "secondary" console alongside an eventual PS5, as in the OP's case, I think the Series S is a great choice. Sure, if you're made of money, go for the Series X. But the Series S is smaller and cheaper and plays all the same games.

 

[TissueBox]

2 apples out of four oranges.

 

[Weiss]

I could buy a 1TB storage with the money I saved getting a Series S over the X. Probably more than one.

I'm also blind enough not to notice the difference between 1440k and 4K. I guess playing Xbox One X enhanced Banjo-Kazooie would be pretty cool, but I'll live.

 

[Ploppee]

Yeah im not overly fussed about having the top performance with everything for now. I haven't had an xbox since 360 so I think gamepass will keep me occupied for the foreseeable. We have a PS4 pro but its getting quite long in the tooth. Would you say it performs visibly better than that?

I'm a really cautious buyer and don't wanna be let down haha

 

[Weiss]

Yeah im not overly fussed about having the top performance with everything for now. I haven't had an xbox since 360 so I think gamepass will keep me occupied for the foreseeable. We have a PS4 pro but its getting quite long in the tooth. Would you say it performs visibly better than that?

I'm a really cautious buyer and don't wanna be let down haha

Click to shrink...

Are you fine playing the games or do you need to play them in their most optimal capacity?

Edit: Oh and whether you still care about physical media is important since the Series S doesn't have a disk drive.

 

[Ra]

I wouldn't be content with the performance profile or the storage restrictions.

You really have to understand the compromises into which you are buying

 

[HardRojo]

Wait and get the Series X, for real.

 

[RedHeat]

Get a Series X. You won't regret it.

 

[LightKiosk]

I view it the same way I view the Switch Lite. You lose too much.

On one hand you have the specs difference, but if you wanna upgrade the storage as 500GB is very small for these new games, we all know how expensive it is at the moment. For the long term, the Series X is just a flat out better purchase.

 

[Teapot Jeffries]

As someone with only a 1080p tv still I love it.

Games look great. Lots run at 60 frames. Back compat improvements. Retroarch. Small. Silent. Couldn't be happier!

I have no doubt future games are also going to look great as well, especially first party. I don't think we've really seen what devs can squeeze out of it yet.

10/10 so far for me.

 

[Ocean]

Once you account for the storage limitations, I don't feel it's good value when compared to digital PS4, or even XSX.

I have an old lunch model PS4 and an X1X. I wanna trade them in for an XSS just to have a console ready to test our game pass exclusives but locally they're way overpriced. I'm getting one because it's as much as I feel I can squeeze out of my old consoles' trade-in value, but if I were paying cash I'd probably just spring for an X.

 

[Archduke Kong]

As someone who doesn't own one, I feel like this is going to be a question that can only be properly answered in at least another year or two, when Xbox Game Studios are pumping out in house titles with more frequency and the gen is a little more in swing.

I mean as of right now, it's probably worth it as a digital Xbox One/next gen capable machine, but I'm curious how more demanding titles are going to run over the next few years (I'm interested in getting the S down the line as an introduction to the ecosystem, and a possible supplemental console that I can use for the Bethesda games I'm going to be missing out on with PS5, so I'm personally not rooting for this thing to fall short lol)

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Yeah im not overly fussed about having the top performance with everything for now. I haven't had an xbox since 360 so I think gamepass will keep me occupied for the foreseeable. We have a PS4 pro but its getting quite long in the tooth. Would you say it performs visibly better than that?

I'm a really cautious buyer and don't wanna be let down haha

Click to shrink...

Gamepass will be great since you didn't have an Xbox One, as you'll be able to experience the exclusives that you missed.

And yeah, every single new game that you buy will perform better on Series S over PS4 Pro, except for maybe last gen games such as Nier Replicant which don't have native next gen versions and thus might not have a specific profile for Series S but will have a PS4 Pro patch. But any actual cross gen game will absolutely either look better or perform better, if not both at the same time.

If you buy any multiplatform games that are older and got a PS4 Pro patch, those games will run better on the PS4 Pro and PS5, but I'm not entirely certain that will be a huge concern either.

Plus, you will still get stuff like the FPS boosts that the Xbox BC team are doing with legacy games on Series S as well, so you won't miss any features compared to the Series X other than a disk drive, some space and possibly feature parity

 

[CubeApple76]

I think for casual players or as a secondary option for Gamepass and Xbox Exclusives for a mainly PS player it is a good option. Personally I knew I wanted 4K since I was buying a new TV for next gen so it was Series X or bust for me, but I can appreciate a well put together box

 

[Noisepurge]

That's incredibly short sighted. The Series S will play games for the entire generation, the Xbox One systems won't be getting a lot of games probably starting at the end of this year.

Click to shrink...

But if he just wants something to play until he can find a PS5 it's not a bad pick, especially now when people are dumping their old consoles :D

 

[Musubi]

I have one they are fine if you just wanna foot in the door of the Xbox ecosystem. If xbox is going to be your main console though just go with the Series X instead.

 

[j7vikes]

Honestly I'd probably wait it out unless you plan to play the vast majority of your third party games on PS5 and just want the fairly cheap "entrance" to game pass.

You mention not caring about top performance "for now." But it's not going to be forever longer until you can more easily snag a PS5 or Series X. So if you're fine with paying 300 and a game pass subscription to kill time until that day comes go for it. If you have any inkling of wanting top performance from the Xbox line I'd simply wait to snag what you truly want and likely "can't" regret from a performance standpoint. That's always a risk with a less powerful and capable system.

 

[Alek]

I think you will regret the S in the long term. With that said you can always dip your toes in to Microsoft's ecosystem with it, and then see if you're really into it, and re-sell it for an X when they're available.

 

[Kromis]

I think it's a great product. It's not really aimed at the type of people who post here, though, which is why you'll probably see a lot of people telling you to "just spend $200 more!"

Click to shrink...

As an enthusiast waiting for better 4K home theater equipment to come out (specifically, 4K TVs bright enough to take advantage of Dolby Vision + better 4K receivers with HDMI 2.1 capabilities), I grew to love my XSS after I wasn't able to obtain the XSX from the Microsoft store (I have a bunch of Xbox/Microsoft credit I've stocked up for cheap + free via Microsoft rewards to use towards hardware). It's so snappy! Quick Resume is soooo good as I bounce around a bunch of Game Pass games and I really can't go back to my Xbox One S! Although I would've preferred to play the Xbox One X Enhanced versions of the games that support it, the XSS optimizations for games that take advantage of it are still pretty good. In the meantime, I'm gonna be stocking up on more MS points to use on an XSX refresh later down the line.

 

[Slappy White]

I was thinking of maybe getting the S when it seemed that the X was going to be impossible to find but I waited and ended up getting the X yesterday. Don't get the S just because you are getting tired of waiting to find an X. They are going to start being easier to find.

 

[AM_LIGHT]

I currently own a PS5 and a switch. Sold my one X last month in order to save some money for an eventual series X purchase. But I am seriously considering getting a series S instead exactly because it's weaker and cheaper. It will be strictly a GP machine while ps5 for everything else.

 

[ghibli99]

I have a Series X, but am intrigued by the S since it seems to hold its own, especially when taking into consideration the price and small form factor. If you're still gaming at 1080p or sit far enough away from your 4K not to notice the higher resolutions, it's a compelling option outside of the smaller internal storage and lack of an optical drive (if that matters to you).

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

It's okay. The internal hard drive is tiny, so you have to invest in a good external or that proprietary internal card to expand it to make it usable and it'll still require a lot of memory management. The biggest issue for me is that the OS is still garbage, but it runs better than on any of the Xbox One systems. They haven't improved it at all.

I mainly got it to have access to the games I owned since my Xbox One X died and to play anything else on PC since that's way more capable than my Xbox Series S.

 

[Blayde]

21/26

 

[THIJJ]

My only complaint about My S is that it's literally out of space with 4 games. Gears 5 and expansion, Horizon 4 and a couple other ones i can't remember atm.

Other than that, it's a fantastic little system.

But that's for me, it's the perfect compliment to the PC; anything I want to throw power at I have the PC for, including MS exclusives. But if I was strictly console, I'd probably go for the X. I'd want the ability for the legion of coming MS exclusives to look their best

 

[knightmawk]

It's comparably cheap, it's very very small, and unless you really care about advanced graphical features games look great. Like upscaling is good and you still get the benefits of the SSD and things like Ray tracing. I also have a PS5, and it does look better, but I'm not that fussed about the difference between native and upscaled 4k as some people.

If you want the best looking possible experience, hold out for a Series X, if you want to play new games and old games with advanced features like higher frame rates and near zero load times but can stand the lower resolution, the S is good.

 

[PianoBlack]

I thought it was fantastic while I had one. You get all the main benefits of Series X for cheap, in a tiny box: quick resume, fast loading, frame rate boosts in most games that have performance modes, BC enhancements including 1440p for X enhanced 360 titles, access to next gen games as they come.

The problems are well covered but IMO not really worth worrying much about:

- Storage will likely be a problem down the line but is no issue today. There are like 10 total games that need the SSD, otherwise plug in any old hard drive or USB drive you have laying around (and it still improves load times and works with quick resume).

- Performance can be variable across games, but it seems obvious that what we are seeing is a split between games that bothered to optimize (Metro Exodus, Ori, Gears 5) and games that just run in some crappy One S profile at 900p or whatever. The fact that the well-optimized titles exist tells me that Series S will likely perform increasingly well as time goes by and devs begin to drop the last gen versions of games and code specifically for Series S.

- Digital only is what it is, if you weren't already ok with it you wouldn't have posted.

 

[CandySTX]

It's alright!

I use mine as a Rare Replay/Back compat box. It handles that aspect perfectly. Problems start to arise when One X titles enter the picture.

Pretty much stuck with the lowest resolution and hard 30fps caps for everything.

Space isn't actually that much of a worry due to the whole thing where the S only downloads lower res assets.

If you're looking for full on next gen, I would absolutely suggest holding out for one of the heftier systems.

 

[Pryme]

The storage issue is overblown, especially if you aren't playing bloated fare like the COD suite. Thanks to cold storage, you can easily keep 6 or more games in the SSD and rotate out the rest from an external HDD.

it's only 200GB less usable space than the PS5, so I'm sure how the ability to fit 4 more games internally is a transformative change.

You could just get an Xbox One S or X for the meantime for even cheaper. There's only The Medium that's a Series game.

Click to shrink...

What an absurd recommendation. For $100 savings, you'd buy a One S with a massively weaker GPU, slow CPU, slow HDD, weaker audio performance and very limited resale value?
The One X is discontinued, and third party games are games.

 

[Pryme]

for what it's worth, the Series S has a 4.7/5 star user rating on Amazon, largely dragged down by multiple one-star reviews from folks complaining about scalper pricing.

4.8/5 stars on Best Buy.

In case you need real world reviews from Series S owners.