Microsoft’s Xbox consoles have been one of the top choices for players when it comes to choosing a device to play their favorite games. Ahead of its time, Microsoft launched Xbox back in 2001, and to date has launched around five gaming consoles and a cloud gaming service known as Xbox Game Pass.
Presently Microsoft has two consoles supporting the current generation, namely, Xbox Series X and Xbos Series S. Choosing between the two can be a real tough choice considering the features of both these spectacular consoles.
While Xbox Series X is priced at $500, Xbox Series S comes with a price tag of $300. Although there is a difference of $200, both the consoles are based on a similar foundation, besides they will also allow players to play all of the same games for years to come.
However, the difference is the features and specialization they target individually, in terms of graphics performance, and their different approaches to physical media. The Series X supports discs on the other hand the Series S is digital only. Here are some of the other key differences in their specs.
Differences between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S
As mentioned above both, Xbox Series X and Series S have a lot of common experiences to offer. But one cannot neglect the $200 price difference, and that should mean something.
Game selection and Disc Drive:
The Xbox Series X and Series S play almost the same new games. Similarly, both are backward compatible, that is they are capable of playing almost any game virtually that are available Xbox One. However, the Series S consoles do not have a disc drive and thus are not capable of playing physical drive games.
Resolution
Both the consoles have an output of 4K video signal. This means that watching videos on a 4K TV will give a similar experience on both consoles. However, it is recommended that players planning to play games on a 4K display, should go for the Series X.
This is because Series X is devised specifically for games with resolutions of up to 4K. On the other hand, the Series S features graphics hardware that is less powerful, designed mainly for 1080p and sometimes 1440p visuals.
Graphics-quality support
When it comes to graphic quality support, both Xbox Series X and Series S come with the same basic graphics capabilities, such as support for variable refresh rate, variable rate shading, and ray-traced visuals. Nonetheless, some games have already omitted ray tracing if players are playing on a Series S console.
Base storage
The storage capacity of Series X includes a 1 TB storage drive, offering about 800 GB of usable space. On the other hand, Xbox Series S comes with a 512 GB drive having about 360 GB of usable space. That’s a difference of almost 50%, so Xbox Series X can be said to be a clear winner here.
Expandable storage
Apart from the base storage, Xbox Series X and Series S, both include a slot allowing expandable storage in the form of cards making use of the CFexpress connection standard. Both consoles allow only the officially licensed memory cards from Seagate. These are typically priced at $140 for 512 GB, $185 for 1 TB, and $360 for 2 TB.
Additionally, Series X and Series S both still support external USB drives just as the Xbox One. This means any Xbox One–-formatted drive will work instantly on either of the new consoles.
Size
Talking about the size, the Xbox Series X is a tall machine measuring about 12 inches tall and about 6 by 6 inches at the base. Meanwhile, Xbox Series S is more compact with a height of 11 inches and 5.9 by 2.6 inches at the base. In fact, Xbox Series S is the smallest Xbox ever, and it’s designed in a way to be set vertically or horizontally.
It is reasonable for Microsoft to have two consoles of two different prices as it has done in the past. Having compared both, it is clear that Xbox Series X is the real next-gen powerhouse, featuring more storage. On the other hand, Series X comes with its size as an advantage.
That being said, given its latest features a space Series X is capable of playing games at the best resolutions and the smoothest performance if players are willing to shell out an additional cost. The Series S too is an excellent machine for that price however, the resolution drop and half the storage space can be a dealbreaker.
