Xbox Series S "Brilliantly Designed Machine"

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I really dont get the brilliant part. It looks almost exactly like an xbox one s board, which is just like the phat xbox board, only smaller. It is designed like a pc motherboard. Thats like saying a new mATX board is designed brilliantly when these are as old as fuck, with very little change over the years 🤷

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And before someone gets their panties in a bunch, the only modern home console that could be said to be "brillinatly" designed is the sex. The ps5? Some part of it, sure. The series s has nothing brilliant about its design imho, and thats not really a minus.
 
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I really wanted to write "nuht! its rubbish!" to pretend to be a submental console wanker but I realised it will just be taken as console warrior bullshit so enjoy this deconstruction/ruining of the joke instead.

I'm can't wait to be able to buy out my cousins XSS from him when he gets a Switch (He's 8yo) and turn it into an emulation machine. For someone in the know what kind of internal res can you do in Dolphin with this? Can you render at 4K internal (or the equivalent multiplier) and get locked 60fps in Super Mario Galaxy for instance? Can you go further and supersample the 4K?

I could do 4K internal with 4xSSAA on my GTX 1080 and 8xSSAA was only just too much, prob wouldn've been fine on a 1080 ti. Is the XSS like a 1070, in terms of GPU grunt or what?
 
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Suspicious Buffy The Vampire Slayer GIF
 
I think the Xbox Series S is definitely a brilliant console overall, especially for the price.

But "once you remove this, it's not gonna go back on again" is far from what I would consider a brilliant design.
 
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This is going to trigger some folk.
I think the actual article text would be more triggering.

"To be clear, my overall opinion of the console and its performance has not changed - Series S works but there's still the sense that the cutbacks to spec were a little too severe. Specifically, I still think it should have shipped with more memory and a wider interface for more bandwidth."

"It's still early days in the generation and in terms of how gaming will play out in the long term, it's still difficult to judge to what extent Series S will be able to keep up in a world where technologies like Unreal Engine 5 are already placing serious demands on Series X and PlayStation 5 hardware."

 
as an owner of one, i can say i agree...shits just ridiculous. no noise when playing flight simulator...love it. i use it more than my ps5 fo sho.
I know a couple of people now that have replaced their launch day Xbox One with a Series S and are super thrilled with it.

They dont care about 4k I think one still plays on a smaller 720p TV, the S is perfect for many people.
 
He just bricked it messing around with it so he decided to make a vid. lol
I was hoping they would have provided us with teardowns of all consoles at this point.

I guess we will have to wait for Richard to brick a PS5 sometime in the following years for the circle to be complete :P
 
"To be clear, my overall opinion of the console and its performance has not changed - Series S works but there's still the sense that the cutbacks to spec were a little too severe. Specifically, I still think it should have shipped with more memory and a wider interface for more bandwidth."

Funny part. He criticizes the performance when that should be praised, and praises the design, when that's where the flaws lie.

What he advocates here is basically the perfect way to completely erase the strongest point of the console, IE: making it more pricey and less differentiated from the Series X. Talk about a weird take.
 
I know a couple of people now that have replaced their launch day Xbox One with a Series S and are super thrilled with it.

They dont care about 4k I think one still plays on a smaller 720p TV, the S is perfect for many people.
This is such an important point. For the audience the XSS targets its a fantastic device. The biggest detractors aren't the people MS is going after so their complaints are pretty meaningless. If you want more power MS makes a device for that specific purpose.

Funny part. He criticizes the performance when that should be praised, and praises the design, when that's where the flaws lie.

What he advocates here is basically the perfect way to completely erase the strongest point of the console, IE: making it more pricey and less differentiated from the Series X. Talk about a weird take.
This is also super important. The biggest goal for the XSS was to provide the most performance for $300. Anyone talking about how MS could have added more RAM or a more powerful SOC seem to forget that the point of the console is to REDUCE the cost of entry into the Xbox ecosystem not increase it. The XSS is just a capable as any other console this generation minus the reduction in graphical power. That won't prevent a developer from coding high end AI or advanced physics. This $300 box has raytracing for Pete's sake!
 
the design puts me off. i really wish they'd get rid of the big black circle thing. shit, just make it white or even light grey. but black? otherwise yeah it's a great little machine. i'm trying to get hold of a Series X but i'm thinking maybe i should just grab an S to hold me off until the X. it's like £250 so it's basically nothing.

Some people genuinely need help, if this triggers them.
you're on a forum that is heavily biased towards Sony. there will be many salty fanboys that get upset over anything positive about xbox
 
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I think the actual article text would be more triggering.

"To be clear, my overall opinion of the console and its performance has not changed - Series S works but there's still the sense that the cutbacks to spec were a little too severe. Specifically, I still think it should have shipped with more memory and a wider interface for more bandwidth."

"It's still early days in the generation and in terms of how gaming will play out in the long term, it's still difficult to judge to what extent Series S will be able to keep up in a world where technologies like Unreal Engine 5 are already placing serious demands on Series X and PlayStation 5 hardware."

Pretty harsh criticism coming from Richard.

But pretty much exactly my criticisms towards the Series S when the specs were revealed, and further reinforced seeing the Series S in action.
 
you're on a forum that is heavily biased towards Sony. there will be many salty fanboys that get upset over anything positive about xbox

I think there are pretty genuine reasons to find this a very weird take for what I mentioned above. Praising a design that doesn't come back together when dismantled seems really strange to me, almost as strange as criticizing its alleged lack of power when it's explicitly designed to run the games for cheap. And it's entirely successful at that. If one wants power, that's what the series X is for. Advocating two diversified products to be a lot less diversified seems to be bordering on incompetence for a tech journalist.
 
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the design puts me off. i really wish they'd get rid of the big black circle thing. shit, just make it white or even light grey. but black? otherwise yeah it's a great little machine. i'm trying to get hold of a Series X but i'm thinking maybe i should just grab an S to hold me off until the X. it's like £250 so it's basically nothing.


you're on a forum that is heavily biased towards Sony. there will be many salty fanboys that get upset over anything positive about xbox

I am aware of the bias towards Sony here, but surely they could ignore Xbox threads if it upsets them so much.

They should be more upset over the fact that Sony has abandoned ape escape rather than Xbox existing :(
 
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For $300 to be able to play most of the newer games on the market smoothly is pretty damn amazing. You can't even buy a mediocre RTX3060 for $600 nowadays :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Pretty harsh criticism coming from Richard.

But pretty much exactly my criticisms towards the Series S when the specs were revealed, and further reinforced seeing the Series S in action.
What about seeing the XSS reinforced your criticisms? Was it the raytracing for $300 or the fact it has more features and 120 fps titles than systems that cost even more.? How does it compare to the X1 the system it replaced?
 
No its not. Supersampling down to 1080p gives a better image.

That shit is miniscule and often times the supersampling AA effect isn't worth the performance hit when things like TAA and TAAU are constantly improving. If i'm on a 1080p TV paying $200 more for what effectively amounts to better antialiasing seems a waste.
 
I have both an X and an S, both are great devices. The S plugged into a 1440p monitor is perfect for coop or when the TV isn't available.
 
Its perfect for someone that doesn't give a shit about resolutions over 1080p.

I agree. That's why I returned mine. Playing on PC and PS5 made the difference with XSS a bit too stark for me. So now I'm trying to find an XSX. But for folks gaming on a 1080p TV, XSS is great.

Now I wish Xbox Series X had a digital version since Game Pass is primarily what I'll be using it for.
 
What about seeing the XSS reinforced your criticisms? Was it the raytracing for $300 or the fact it has more features and 120 fps titles than systems that cost even more.? How does it compare to the X1 the system it replaced?
There are reasons 1st party developers doesn't implement ray tracing (DOOM Eternal).

There sure is a lot of good stuff about the Series S, but there are also cutbacks outside of what was promised in certain games. It has swayed me from contemplating buying one to simply not be interested unless I see improvement on those fronts.
 
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What about people who don't really care about 4k, but want ray tracing and reasonable draw distances? Like me?

It's really not that simple IMO.
It sounds like you have a very specific set of features you are looking for that no console really meets. The XSX and PS5 target 4k and the XSS targets Full HD but does have raytracing in some titles. Most people who are happy with 1080P gaming aren't usually super upset they don't have massive draw distances. I'd think you are not the norm when it comes to typical gamers.
I can't wait until they axe it when the Series X gets cheaper
Yeah that's not ever going to happy. The X1 wasn't dropped when the X1X came out. Their whole development pipeline is designed around 2 consoles and PC.

There are reasons 1st party developers doesn't implement ray tracing (DOOM Eternal).

There sure are a lot of good stuff about the Series S, but there are also cutbacks outside of what was promised in certain games. It has swayed me from contemplating buying one to simply not be interested unless I see improvement on those fronts.
Just to do a quick timeline. Was ID a first party studio when Doom Eternal was first developed? If that is true why did they put it on PlayStation? Are you really making a real point?

You have every right to not want an XSS but there is no need to create imaginary standards for the budget console.
 
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It is quite nicely made. Extremely simple with basically just the board, cooler and psu in a compact and easy to access form factor. No ribbons, excessive screws, funky board designs or shapes.

Draws less power than a PS4 slim while being significantly more powerful and smaller and silent. For the same price.

I don't really know anyone that has one that doesn't love it. Most people that share their disdain are those that haven't seen it, used it, and/or have no intent on getting one anyway and have a fantasy that it will hold back their precious Vidya.
 
It is a good system.

I enjoy it a ton. Ofcourse i'm a bit gutted about BC being One S versions, if they're not patched. And the storage should've been doubled. But its absolutely a good system to have on the side.

Play Doom Eternal on it for example, in 120hz. It looks amazing on my CX despite res being 1080p in 120hz. Plays like an absolute dream, is completely silent and load times are greatly diminished. You won't get this experience on any last-gen device and those cost just as much or even more. Its price is in the same ballpark as the OG PS4.

The system starts up within a second, you can't hear it (its more silent than my PS5), has quick resume and basically all next-gen features. Just at a lower resolution.

That and unaltered One S games aside, its a 60fps machine with also quite a bit of 120hz support. I played Alien Isolation, Prey etc all in high framerate on this thing. Which is impossible to do on Playstation. Which is why i'm happy I have this on the side. Series X does everything better but it costs almost twice as much. Series S is especially a no brainer if you happen to have a 1080p TV still.
 
I think the actual article text would be more triggering.

"To be clear, my overall opinion of the console and its performance has not changed - Series S works but there's still the sense that the cutbacks to spec were a little too severe. Specifically, I still think it should have shipped with more memory and a wider interface for more bandwidth."

"It's still early days in the generation and in terms of how gaming will play out in the long term, it's still difficult to judge to what extent Series S will be able to keep up in a world where technologies like Unreal Engine 5 are already placing serious demands on Series X and PlayStation 5 hardware."

That comes across a little downbeat.

There's been a few developers have expressed the same concerns. Be interesting to see what happens.
 
It sounds like you have a very specific set of features you are looking for that no console really meets. The XSX and PS5 target 4k and the XSS targets Full HD but does have raytracing in some titles. Most people who are happy with 1080P gaming aren't usually super upset they don't have massive draw distances. I'd think you are not the norm when it comes to typical gamers.
Maybe, it's possible but considering Series S target audience I wouldn't write them off completely.

Some people simply dont have enough space to get a big 4k TV, but still want the main selling point features associated with next ge-…wait isn't that Series S target audience?

Just kidding, I'll probably get a Series S somewhere down the line. I love the form factor and it is remarkably performant for its price. I simply think slightly more RAM would've sold me 100% on it instead of 85-90%.
 
Just to do a quick timeline. Was ID a first party studio when Doom Eternal was first developed? If that is true why did they put it on PlayStation? Are you really making a real point?

You have every right to not want an XSS but there is no need to create imaginary standards for the budget console.
Are you able to be in one Series S thread without labelling other peoples posts as not a 'real point'?

Why constantly antagonise people because they pointed out some unflattering facts? It seems excessive.
 
i mean the guillotine was a brilliant machine too... but you don't see people losing their minds over it now do you??
 
I think the actual article text would be more triggering.

"To be clear, my overall opinion of the console and its performance has not changed - Series S works but there's still the sense that the cutbacks to spec were a little too severe. Specifically, I still think it should have shipped with more memory and a wider interface for more bandwidth."

"It's still early days in the generation and in terms of how gaming will play out in the long term, it's still difficult to judge to what extent Series S will be able to keep up in a world where technologies like Unreal Engine 5 are already placing serious demands on Series X and PlayStation 5 hardware."

Of course he's right. It's 2021 and the machine is already demonstrating severe drops in performance and cutbacks in game quality already.

By the midpoint of the generation I imagine a lot of people who get it will have buyer's remorse. But for the Fortnite crowd / little kids it makes sense.
 
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