Xbox Series S/X: Thread 03

[nonny]

Any idea when I can actually buy an X?

They were in stock at Curry's and a few others last week but like the PS5 you have to be quick and keep checking...

[charlesr]

I'm in a discord server notification channel. Fingers crossed

[nonny]

I'm in a discord server notification channel. Fingers crossed

Yeah good luck. I found that stock informer site ok but seemed to notify me too late depending on the retailer.

I'd just keep your eyes peeled as they are definitely coming in just in small amounts.

[Neon Ignition]

So, I think my opinions of the Series S will develop in waves as it's not really what I'm focused on most out of the machines so I've only been on it in small doses and a lot of it has been getting my head around Dev mode etc. First things though:

Controller: I was actually really happy on opening this up to see how many of the quality of life improvements it has carried over from the Gears 5 controller. The little texture grips on the rear, as well as the trigger are perfect. It feels weighty too. I think the sole criticism I'd have of it is that the dpad is still very poor. They've opted for a nice shape, the angular coin piece is better than the dpad from the XBO later models, but the actual clicky function underneath still feels cheap and imprecise rather than a sturdy rolling 8 way function.

Console: I've seen a lot of Series S in images and videos but actually holding one in hands it's actually quite amusing how small it is in reality, especially when sat next to the PS5. It's so tiny there's actually room for controllers to rest in front of it. I still don't like the big black round grill but otherwise it really is a tidy little machine. I'm not remotely bothered by system noise either, I know it bothers some but rarely do I find consoles get to a level that annoys and I'm sat less than 20cm from the units but Series S was noticeable from the start due to how silent it is. There was that brief moment on first power up where you're not sure it's even powering up its that silent. Impressive.

UI: Not much I can do with this one, it sucks - hard - but its inescapable across the brand because MS is so fixated on its messy W10 imagery. The store comes across worse than the Sony one but thankfully at least the system is back up to all my others so not something I'd need to endure much.

U

[CMcK]

Have to disagree with you about the Series controller d-pad. I think it’s superb and it’s fast replacing my joystick as choice of controller for shmups on the console.

[Neon Ignition]

It still feels like the cheap 4 way ones on third party pads for me but it's definitely a small issue as I'd be hard pressed to think of an Xbox game that's dependent on it I play

[Cassius_Smoke]

I'd like to watch a teardown of the seriesS because I watched one for the seriesX and I think it's probably the best constructed piece of consumer electronics I've ever seen. I've watched a lot of teardowns of phones and consoles and the SeriesX is easily the best I've seen. From the split MB to the hefty aluminium mounting bracket and the X-clamp, it's all very well thought out and full of quality materials. Also the SSD is modular, unlike the PS5, so if it fails... Just swap it out, although getting to it looks like a pain.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Update

I've watched the SeriesS teardown and wow OK. First it's cheaper made, but definitely not cheap. I think the heatsink alone must cost a quarter of the production costs with all that copper.
The second thing I notice is that none of these parts are shared with the SeriesX. The fan, heatsink, psu, motherboard are all custom for this console, which seems like a very expensive way of doing it. Also the SSD is modular again, which raises the question why they didn't put a bigger one in. I get they wanted to keep costs down, but if you buy a memory extension card the cost of the console is then knocking on the door of the SeriesX.

Its a weird console.
I don't understand why they didn't just use the seriesX, take out the disk drive, swap one half of the motherboard with a cheaper seriesS one and shrink it a bit. They could use the cheaper Xclamp and heatsink too.
Having two completely different manufacturing plants and parts must be costing them a fortune. It doesn't make much sense to me.

[k0pp0]

I've got a very weird situ with my XSX. It does not like powering 2 USB HDD's from the rear USB ports.

It's a very good chance that one of the drives is on the way out, but it seems fine on the front port.

Other than that - load times improvements and quick resume are just the mutts nuts.

Haven't tried emulation yet - keep forgetting to.

[Neon Ignition]

Dev Mode: It's interesting, it makes accessing your Xbox via PC on the same network insanely easy but I don't think there's much of value unless you're putting Retroarch on there. I've managed to install the programme, another for making file navigation work like Windows and changed the internal partition sizes so the system now allocates 50GB aside for Retroarch which is necessary for running dual layer PS2/Wii games that must be installed. Otherwise all software runs off a USB stick (gone for 256GB) meaning that the main memory remains free for your Xbox games though you can't access them whilst in Dev Mode. The biggest irritation is easily a default setting that asks you if you want to delete content you've added when leaving dev mode which is what you'd be doing every time you switch to play Xbox titles. You have to select no but it defaults to yes so one slight slip and you have to redo everything. Well worth it though, I hate Retroarch and have been relying on youtube guides a lot but once it's finally done it should be really wide reaching and useful.

[k0pp0]

Any idea when I can actually buy an X?

Stock informer site alerts + their discord.

If buying from amazon (where I got mine last week), keep trying to add to your basket - it was about the 15/16th attempt before it allowed me.

[nonny]

Update

I've watched the SeriesS teardown and wow OK. First it's cheaper made, but definitely not cheap. I think the heatsink alone must cost a quarter of the production costs with all that copper.
The second thing I notice is that none of these parts are shared with the SeriesX. The fan, heatsink, psu, motherboard are all custom for this console, which seems like a very expensive way of doing it. Also the SSD is modular again, which raises the question why they didn't put a bigger one in. I get they wanted to keep costs down, but if you buy a memory extension card the cost of the console is then knocking on the door of the SeriesX.

Its a weird console.
I don't understand why they didn't just use the seriesX, take out the disk drive, swap one half of the motherboard with a cheaper seriesS one and shrink it a bit. They could use the cheaper Xclamp and heatsink too.
Having two completely different manufacturing plants and parts must be costing them a fortune. It doesn't make much sense to me.

Yeah I have thought this as well, regarding the design of the Series S... they've gone modular with the SSD I guess for simpler repair and upgrade down the road (surely there has to be a 1TB Series S in the works) but it only has 512Gb right now because of cost so I would wonder why have a completely redesigned console when more costs could be saved sharing some parts.

I didn't like the Series S design that much but once you see and hold one, and how small it is... you don't really appreciate just how good a job they've done. I prefer the Series X design but the S is actually rather nifty and cute.

[nonny]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/31/22360211/microsoft-xbox-360-xcloud-backward-compatible-games

Xbox have brought some select 360 and original Xbox titles to their xcloud service. This is still in beta but nice to see a decent spread of older titles you're now able to play whilst taking a crap...

[nonny]

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/data-storage/external-hard-drives/seagate-expansion-hard-drive-for-xbox-series-x-s-1-tb-10216391-pdt.html?awc=1599_1617861922_f7e7fc1311e96aeb5423b9c3b4e584cb&srcid=369&xtor=AL-1&cmpid=aff~HotUKDeals~Discount+Code~47868~Pepper+Deals+Ltd

1tb expansion card is £40 off at Curry's right now...

[CMcK]

If it drops another £40 I’d consider it. Still way too expensive at present.