Poll: *** Xbox Series X|S - General Discussion Thread ***

Which will you buy?

  • Series X

    Votes: 529 59.8%
  • Series S

    Votes: 104 11.8%
  • Not interested

    Votes: 230 26.0%
  • Both

    Votes: 22 2.5%

  • Total voters
    885
Soldato
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Swapping the internal hard drive to an ssd on One X helps loads for load times and general o/s speed. I think if you are coming from or have a modern pc the load times are not going to feel as impressive.
 
Soldato
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I've see that the eneloop pro's are the batteries to get, but not so sure on a good charger. Is there a stand out charger that one should get?
None I can think of, I think I have seen some "packs that come with 4 batteries and a charger, two using, two charging is my usual cycle and should be fine.
 
Soldato
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed but what is the point in the Xbox Series S?

It targets a gaming resolution of 1440p but i don't even think you can get TVs in 1440p. It either 1080p and below or 4K. I don't get who MS is trying to target here. Or is it just a chepaer version for the sake of it?
 
Soldato
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I obviously know nothing about the engineering on the Xbox but these load times ARE way longer than I was expecting. I guess all these older titles are still using either legacy DirectX filesystem APIs or the emulator is limited transfer speed some way. How on earth can it otherwise take 37 seconds to load in a maximum of 512MB (which is what Alan Wake could use in total)???
The Alan Wake charts make me think it was actually a fairly well coded game to start with, it's the smallest percentage improvement. Whether that's the bottleneck or there's other limitations stopping it, the other titles clearly show much bigger improvements are feasible. I don't know how you can't be impressed by those improvements. This does raise a new dilemma though, I've been conditioned for years to go and make a cup of tea or put the bin out while I wait for loading screens. Now I'll actually have to play my game..
 
Soldato
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed but what is the point in the Xbox Series S?

It targets a gaming resolution of 1440p but i don't even think you can get TVs in 1440p. It either 1080p and below or 4K. I don't get who MS is trying to target here. Or is it just a chepaer version for the sake of it?
As someone how is avery casual gamer, that and game pass might be enough for me, considering im not even fussed on games. Then theirs a big age range of kids playing Fortnight and Minecraft for there bedroom on a small screen.
 
Soldato
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As someone how is avery casual gamer, that and game pass might be enough for me, considering im not even fussed on games. Then theirs a big age range of kids playing Fortnight and Minecraft for there bedroom on a small screen.

In that case why didn't they just target 1080p? That would be the most likely resolution for a TV in a childs bedroom.
Or is it a case of big number syndrome?
 
Soldato
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed but what is the point in the Xbox Series S?

It targets a gaming resolution of 1440p but i don't even think you can get TVs in 1440p. It either 1080p and below or 4K. I don't get who MS is trying to target here. Or is it just a chepaer version for the sake of it?

Best guess I've seen:

1440p will look decent on a 1080p TV or a 4K TV, particularly given the console has dedicated hardware for scaling the image up to 4K.
1080p will look decent on a 1080p TV or crap on a 1080p TV.

I did wonder similar. Always assumed Series S would be a 1080p console. And I can't help but wonder whether it will wind up that way within a few years anyway.
 
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Soldato
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I've got a Series S on pre-order from Amazon but I'm wondering how much better the Series X would be for gaming on my TV. I've got two fairly cheap TVs, both Hisense, on at 50" and the other at 55" and they say 4k but obviously at the price point you take this with a pinch of salt. I'm currently using an Xbox One S for my gaming, so even the Series S is a vast improvement for me on my TV. Do you guys reckon I should stick with the S, or try for an X. I know the Series S will upscale, and it's good for 1440p. I also know my TVs will not support 120fps, but do we think games overall will perform far better even at lower resolutions on the X vs the S, or will they be locked through the engines?
 
Soldato
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In that case why didn't they just target 1080p? That would be the most likely resolution for a TV in a childs bedroom.
Or is it a case of big number syndrome?
Its a case of " this is what it can do", its clearly a case they are targeting 1080p screens etc, casual gamers ( some TV scaling tech makes it harder to notice), its filling in a dempgraphic. The massive difference is this console couple with game pass.
 
Caporegime
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The Alan Wake charts make me think it was actually a fairly well coded game to start with, it's the smallest percentage improvement. Whether that's the bottleneck or there's other limitations stopping it, the other titles clearly show much bigger improvements are feasible. I don't know how you can't be impressed by those improvements. This does raise a new dilemma though, I've been conditioned for years to go and make a cup of tea or put the bin out while I wait for loading screens. Now I'll actually have to play my game..

Yeah, I was really underestimating just how long it takes. When I tried Borderlands 3 on my SATA SSD on PC with a stopwatch, it took more than 2 minutes before I could start playing. The XSX does it in 56 seconds according to Ars Technica.
 
Soldato
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed but what is the point in the Xbox Series S?

It targets a gaming resolution of 1440p but i don't even think you can get TVs in 1440p. It either 1080p and below or 4K. I don't get who MS is trying to target here. Or is it just a chepaer version for the sake of it?
The console will render at 1440p but likely output at 4k.
Its cheaper to corner the market for next gen at a cheaper price.
 
Caporegime
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed but what is the point in the Xbox Series S?

It targets a gaming resolution of 1440p but i don't even think you can get TVs in 1440p. It either 1080p and below or 4K. I don't get who MS is trying to target here. Or is it just a chepaer version for the sake of it?
It's to entice PC gamers who have 1440p screens. It's the only logical reason, as you say TVs don't support that resolution (I'm sure there are some but not many).

I have a feeling most TVs will use it in 1080p and upscale themselves, unless there is a 4k output option which lets the console do the upscaling.


rp2000
 
Soldato
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unless there is a 4k output option which lets the console do the upscaling.

There is.

Also of note is DirectML:

https://lordsofgaming.net/2020/06/xbox-series-x-directml-a-next-generation-game-changer/#:~:text=Xbox Series X supports Machine Learning for games,DirectML leverages unprecedented hardware performance in a console.

Microsoft could well be cooking up tech similar to Nvidia's DLSS, which would explain their "1440p and up to 120fps" claim for a console that seems a little underpowered for that (long-term).
 
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