The Right Xbox

during their past summer showcase Xbox revealed three brand new models of the Xbox system hitting store shelves later this year bringing the grand total right now to six systems really actually kind of five almost actually kind of only three models it can be a little confusing with how many different options there are different price points so I wanted to break down what the different Xbox options are the ones currently available and the ones that will soon be available what I think in terms of value-wise you're getting the most out of and ultimately just which one's the right one for you and to begin with let's just do a quick step-by-step overview of all these different models and we're going to start at the bottom with the 512 GB Xbox series s this was one of the two original versions of the system that released back in 2020 and it is meant primarily to be the most cost-effective way of getting into the Xbox ecosystem at MSRP it's $299 300 bucks often times you can find it for cheaper though there have also been things like bundles uh and this really is the lowest cost entry point this is a digital only system it doesn't use discs it is the lower spec option so it's not going to be able to play games quite as visually beautifully as its older sibling the Xbox series X but ultimately if all you need is just an Xbox machine you can hook up to a TV and start diving into things like game pass this is the option that's going to do that at the lowest price possible The Next Step Up from that is the one tbte Series S this was originally released last year in a black design and as part of this most recent showcase the announced are also going to re relase it in white once again so you can get in that white option if you prefer uh this is effectively the exact same thing as the 512 option it just has double the storage capacity allowing you to have a lot more games installed all at once for an increased price of 50 bucks taking it up to 350 now third option is another one of the ones that was revealed at the recent summer showcase and is actually the one that actually is a new model in a sense uh which is the Xbox series X All Digital Edition this offers the power level of the series X for things like higher resolutions sometimes better frame rates really just varies across the game but generally speaking is going to allow to play games in a much prettier State than the series s uh but with this old digital option like the series s there is no disc slot you cannot get any games physically for it uh if you have any interest in being able to break out your old Xbox One games and pop them into the slot that's not going to work you got to rely entirely on just using this system digitally which is an important thing to keep in mind the upside to this at least in a sense is that it's also making the system just a little bit cheaper uh coming in at 450 50 bucks less than The Next Step Up the original series X uh this was again one of the launch options that came out back in 2020 this was the original full price option for being able to play games in their full Glory as well as maintaining actually being able to use discs unlike the series s and comes in at a price point of 500 and lastly another newly revealed one the most expensive option on this list to the point where it's honestly a little bit spicy the special edition series X and unlike the other options on this list it sounds like this is going to be a li limited option uh it is not available for pre-order just yet but if it's something you're interested in you probably want to keep your eyes open for this one because it might not stick around too much longer at least based on how Xbox has presented it so far and this is effectively the same thing as the regular series X but with two important differences one it does have a unique visual style uh it offers these very bright green highlights on things like the stand as well as having these bright glowy dots on the body along with a more unique controller to pair with it uh and then the other important actual function difference it offers the largest storage option out of any of these systems uh the other options again either came in 512 for the series s or 1 tby for a lot of the mid-range options and this one is going to offer a whopping 2 tabt this is a very shiny version of the system literally but it is going to cost you uh now with those five models laid out again yes there are five different models at different price points but ultimately really it's kind of like three different versions of the system going from the series s with different storage s series X with different storage sizes and then in the middle is that all digital series X and the main questions we really have to look over and answer here is how much storage do you really need how important a physical Drive is and what is the important difference between the series s and series X in actual practical experience I'm going to start with storage because this is actually from a at least price standpoint a little more interesting than you might think uh when it comes to expanding the storage of Xbox systems you actually have to buy a proprietary expansion C you can use external ssds and things for if you want to be able to store older system games but in order to support those titles that are running on current gen systems you have to use their official expansion cards and in the case of those official ones they can actually get pretty pricey uh at least MSRP wise you're looking at a minimum of 90 bucks just to get an extra 5 12 gigs if you want a full terabyte that costs even more and so with that in mind when you look at the price difference between the different options of systems right now if you want as much storage as possible it is a better idea to throw a little more down at the outset just to get that extra storage right away for instance 512 Series S to 1 tab Series S that's a $50 difference if you did that afterwards with an expansion card it's 90 bucks same applies to the series X in limited edition design right that is a 1 TB difference for $100 more and if you were to invest in one of the bigger expansion cards that goes to a full terabyte that's more like an extra 150 bucks now the other question here is do you even need that much storage which ultimately comes down to what type of stuff you're playing and your own patience level for uninstalling and reinstalling things as someone who has used the 512 Series S to date like that is one of my main systems still alongside the series X the 512 doesn't last particularly long depending on what you're playing I mean if you're sticking entirely to smaller indie games and that kind of thing yeah you're going to be able to make use of quite a bit of space but the moment you get invested in any kind of major AAA launch if there's a Game Pass title you want to try out and it's one of the the big launches from Xbox Call of Duty alone is just gigantic these days that's going to eat up a ton of space very very quickly this isn't to say that 512 is unusable in these conditions but you're going to have to be prepared for the fact that you're just going to be juggling installations left and right uninstalling games reinstalling games uh depending on your internet speed this might even be an even bigger headache for how long it takes to download a game fresh all over again it is something that I personally have done a lot with how many different games I try to keep up with but uh being able to avoid it as much as possible with more storage is certainly appreciated ultimately when it comes to storage more is absolutely better but it is possible to get by in the lower ones if you're able to deal with the headaches that just come with that now question number two physical versus digital only this is a bit of a weighty topic for reasons uh it kind of feeds a little bit into this overall larger debate when it comes to things like preservation and actually being able to own physical versions of your games I will say me personally I fought to hold on to physical copies of as many titles as I can on my other platforms and Xbox is specifically the one that I have just chosen to go all digital on for the sake of convenience and making use of things like game pass it absolutely has its drawbacks though uh for instance you're always going to be at the mercy of how things are priced on digital storefronts uh as opposed to some games you know depending on how well they sold or how many copies went into circulation you might be able to get a pretty good price off for getting a physical copy somewhere not to mention the fact that you can do things like borrow games you can even pop in old games this is actually one of the things I really like about how Xbox does their kind of weird form of backwards compatibility that doesn't get talked about a lot if you have an old disc for a game that is supported in backwards compatible for Xbox you can pop that in it reads the disc and realizes oh you have this do you want to download the digital version of it and then play it and if you have a digital only model that is not an option you could take advantage of this does also just come down a little bit to personal preference and how you see yourself using your system uh if you've just already moved on to being entirely digital if you have no interest in holding on to physical versions of games whatsoever the digital options are going to be cheaper not just the series s's but also this new digital only series X it's a general Trend and shift to go digital only that I'm personally not really entirely loving for the industry at large uh but look if you just want to save the money you can and just get a system that's able to play the games and you have no interest in supporting discs whatsoever there's not a ton of reason to invest in the more expensive ones unless you really want that shiny limited edition option for 600 bucks and then question number three the series X and Series S split one of the big headaches with this particular question is that there isn't necessarily a perfect degree of consistent variety between how games perform depending on an individual specific title you're going to see some games where the series s version is wonderful and plays very closely to the series X version despite being at a lower resolution but still maintains you know frame rates and graphical effects and ultimately is a goodlooking version of the game and other times there are specific titles for the series s version doesn't perform as well generally speaking when it comes to first party Xbox themselves are very good about making sure that their Series S versions of games are going to be as competitively performative as possible to make sure that it's a good one but when it comes to third party that's where you can end up running into situations where is the series s version playable certainly is it keeping a relatively close neck-and-neck performance profile with it series X version not necessarily there's even been cases of some games where eventually have been fixed but at launch the series s version just ends up having a lot more problems Allen wig 2 is a great example of this the game had a lot of issues at launch on series s specifically including some mouth sync issues but it has been fixed now but it is an issue you would have had to have dealt with at launch and waited for a patch 4 that you wouldn't have had on the series X I will say as I mentioned earlier I have done my best to really actually keep playing actively on both series X and Series S I have one at my office and one at my home and I try to put a healthy amount of time on both versions because I always want to get a decent idea of how games are continuing to perform on that lower spec version versus the higher spec and the vast majority of the time the series s does well there are those Exceptions there are going to be those specific titles that for whatever reason just end up being a headache for the series s specifically but in most cases the series s version ends up being a perfectly stable solid way to play in experience games the series X is absolutely going to be the better looking version that's literally the point of it it is the more expensive one for a reason but if you're goal is just being able to play games in a playable solid state and you don't care about fine details you're not even going to be playing it on a gigantic screen or something then the series s is going to be a solid option bringing this all together I think the lineup that Xbox has right now with these five different price points as many as those are uh does answer a little bit of a helpful question of you know depending on what your specific needs are there's probably going to be a system that fits best for you uh generally speaking where I kind of sit on the options right now is that the most important question right away is to answer whether or not you care about physical because immediately if you do you have to get a series X there is no other option and then you just got to debate if you want to throw out more for the more expensive one and if you are cool with the idea of going just completely All Digital and you're looking at the series s or that all digital series X I think the big question here is how much you care about visuals and whether or not this is going to be your primary system I think if you're planning going all in on Xbox and you want that to be your primary machine and that's how you're experiencing the vast majority of your games it's worth spending the bit more to get the all digital version of the series X cuz ultimately that is going to give you the best looking version of games if however the Xbox is something where maybe it's a secondary system you already have a PlayStation 5 or a PC or something that you're putting more time into and you just want to have an Xbox system as like a Game Pass and exclusives machine and just something to have on the side the series s is really in my mind the perfect solution there because ultimately especially when there's the question of like performance and if a game is going to run well on a series s versus a series X first party Xbox stuff is going to be the thing so if your main idea here is you already have a main home elsewhere and you just want an Xbox machine to do Xbox specific things then the series s is going to show its value while also being at a lower price point and having a nice smaller trim body that's easy to set up around places so those are just my thoughts on which Xbox you should buy in 2024 with just so many versions coming out right now I've linked down below a couple of those choices that you can currently order for the other ones that are just pre only for now I'll update this later once those are readily avail able as always if you enjoyed this video hit the thumbs up button to let me know subscribe if you haven't yet and I'll see you guys later

Channel: Kevin Kenson

Views: 69,041

Keywords: xbox, xbox series s, xbox series x, new xbox, xbox series x vs series s, xbox series x vs s

Id: 56SJ_3lCLoA

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2024