10 Things We LOVE About The Xbox Series S

hey what's going on guys welcome back to xbox on it's sam and charlie here with a look at the smallest console in the xbox family but look just because it's small doesn't mean that it's lacking in pretty much anything it is an extreme piece of hardware after all so here's 10 things that we love about the xbox series s let's get started with something we've loved since before we even got our hands on the hardware that price tag we're a couple of months on from the launch now and it's still kind of hard to believe a brand new console for 249.99 making the next general widely accessible to everyone and helping that price go down even smoother is xbox all access getting you not just the console and the controller but also a subscription to xbox game pass ultimate all for just 20.99 a month over two years it actually works out as the cheapest way of getting an xbox series s and a basically bottomless selection of amazing games speaking of which sam one of those one of the vital features with the xbox series s is that it's an all digital console that means there's no disk drive so all of your games will be stored right there on the hard drive this makes it an absolutely perfect game pass machine no discs no fuss just a library of well over a hundred games to download and sample at your leisure in case you don't already know we're talking about all the xbox classics here halo gears forza as well as some of the biggest and best blockbusters of recent years from control to doom eternal and some hidden gems you might have not known to seek out for yourself like outer wilds overcook 2 or even slay the spire which is very very good and if you're on an xbox game pass ultimate subscription which is what you get with all access you'll be able to tap into an equally massive pc library play on your mobile with cloud gaming and even unlock some more console games from star wars to sims thanks to the included ea plays library as well another thing we love about xbox series s is well okay it's technically two things okay the dynamic duo of ssd storage and xbox velocity architecture there's a lot of technical stuff at work here but what you really need to know is that it's all the same tech underpinning the xbox series x and most importantly it all means that games load much much faster than ever before we're talking 11 seconds to jump into a game of outer worlds compared to almost a minute on the xbox one s under 30 seconds till your trucks touch the ground in tony hawk's pro skater 1 and 2 and even games with huge worlds like the witcher and forza horizon 4 you're looking at less than a minute until you can start playing and that is not the only benefit either the absolute killer feature here has got to be quick resume this is something you're really going to appreciate once you've got that sampling platter of newly downloaded game pass titles all laid out and ready for snacking because this lets you hop between games lightning fast while keeping the last thing you played suspended in animation so you can jump right back in where you left off you can you know quickly resume basically it does what it says on the tin you know we'll come back to the inner workings of the xbox series s in just a moment but for now let's take a minute to appreciate just how good it looks despite that price tag this is a premium experience right from the unboxing all the way through to the setup which makes clever use of the xbox app if you've got it installed so you don't have to wait long to get it started trust me it's very quick but the console itself is pure chef's kiss that sleek white design with the black vent making the whole thing look like a fancy speaker which is pretty ironic because it's actually whisper quiet when you're playing games but then there are little details the two sets of rubber feet so you can position it horizontally or vertically the braille bumps on the rear ports to help with accessibility and all this without talking about the thing that really jumps out at you when you first see a series s in person okay it goes without saying but this thing is tiny at least by console standards anyway this is the smallest xbox ever made less than half the weight and just over a third of the size of the series x this means it'll slide neatly into your tv stand which is very nice but better yet it's small and light enough that you'll be able to throw in your backpack to take a bit of next-gen gaming around a friend's house or on your next road trip but in the meantime it just makes moving the console between rooms a total snap so you won't mind losing the living room battle over who gets the tv ever again all right we're going to bring it back over to the tech now because one of the most important things to know about the series s despite the smaller size and the price is that it's capable of all of the same next-gen tricks as its bigger brother like for example 120 fps this dizzying frame rate jump is something that you really need to experience for yourself to truly understand but essentially the results are smoother more immersive visuals and a gaming experience that's responsive to your inputs it's an upgrade that benefits everything from those clutch shootouts in a game like fortnite or rainbow six siege to the beautiful 2d animation of ori and the will of the wisps and adding an extra burst of speed to rocket league and star wars squadrons trust me guys you need to give this a go and there are plenty of other next-gen graphical boosts to treat your eyes on the xbox series s including variable rate shading mesh shaders and sampler feedback for improved texture streaming but one we just have to shout out is hardware accelerated direct x ray tracing this technology simulates the movement of light rays and the way they interact with objects more realistically and in more detail than ever before we could describe the results but honestly just have a look at them the brilliantly reflective puddles and buildings in watchdog legions london the gorgeous sunshine on call of the seas tropical island concealing the dark secrets that lie beneath or every gruesome detail illuminated by the cyberpunk shades of neon lights in observer system redux solving murderous crimes has never looked so good of course there are some graphical differences between the xbox series x and s but thanks to its hdmi 2.1 output the same as found on the xbox series x the s is capable of pumping out a 4k 120 hertz signal and although the general target resolution in most games is 1440p on series s there are some cases where developers have been able to achieve the full 4k60 visuals such as ori and the will of the wisps it really does look amazing but honestly this only really matters if you're going to be playing on a massive 4k screen if you want and want the crispiest visuals possible then yeah the xbox series x is a better option but if you're mainly using a 1440p screen then you're unlikely to notice too much of a difference while still benefiting from all of the awesome next-gen graphical whiz bangery of ray tracing 120 fps and all the rest there's one bit of hardware we haven't touched on yet though touched being the operative word here after all because yep we're talking about the brand new xbox wireless controller that comes packaged with your console at first glance it might not look too different to an xbox one pad and that's a fair observation at the end of the day because it is a beauty but its form factor has had a subtle redesign to make it more comfortable for a wider range of hand sizes and shapes plus textured surfaces to ensure a great grip you've also got a usbc port for easy charging if you have a rechargeable pack a snazzy new d-pad that's halfway between the classic dish and cross designs and the newly added share button for saving those perfect gaming moments in the moment and when it comes time to shuffle up on the couch you won't need to shell out for a second controller because your xbox series s is fully compatible with all official xbox one accessories it's part of an unprecedented commitment to backwards compatibility that well i guess that brings us on to our final point doesn't it sam the xbox series s supports four generations of bat compat four you can play games all the way from the original xbox through to the 360 and the xbox one right up to today all on the same machine which is pretty mad it's very impressive given it means literally thousands of titles to choose from but it gets even better for some of your favorite xbox one games you're going to see an optimized version rebuilt with a new tech in mind to take advantage of the next gen features we've been talking about right here in this video how does playing halo 1 to 4 at a smooth 120 fps sound pretty good right and even the games that haven't been specifically given this treatment you're going to see everything boosted from frame rates to auto hdr implementation and of course those lightning fast loading times so you can jump straight into your favorite games from any generation so that's why we love the xbox series s but what about you if you've already got one shout out in the comments and let us know your favorite things about playing on the xbox series s you lucky lucky thing but whatever the case remember to hit that like button subscribe to the channel and ring the notification bell to make sure you're on top of every video just as it hits thank you so much for watching bye

Channel: Xbox On

Views: 93,491

Rating: 4.9015627 out of 5

Keywords: Xbox On, Xbox One, XB1, Xbox, Xbox UK, Gaming, Xbox Games, Console Gaming, Gaming News, Videogame news, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, 120 fps, 4k, 1440p, Controller, Xbox game pass, Ultimate

Id: 7OU8oX8dUio

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021