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Xbox Series S è so small and compact that it surprises you immediatelyas soon as it comes out of the package. Microsoft has put together a precise packaging, in line with the arrangement of the objects already seen for the X Series: in the center of the box is the console, wrapped in a protective fabric and a band that shows the official claim of this new generation: “Power your dreams”.
Unboxing and first impact
In a separate housing we find instead cables (HDMI is 2.0) and pad, the latter in a prominent version, totally white and very elegant. The idea is clearly to convey a sense of familiarity immediately, to make it clear that the X Series and the S Series are part of the same ecosystem.
But if it is true that already during unpacking, unity and cohesion with the “big sister” is perceived, the materials used for packaging send another message: that is, for better or for worse, Series S is Microsoft’s entry-level console, a product that does not hide its main objective, that of reducing costs and capturing a part of the public willing to invest very low figures in video games.
There are 200 euros of shipping, between the X Series and the S Series, and this difference has many counterparts: the absence of an optical reader, the lower SSD capacity, the internal components much more used in terms of power, which points to a resolution of 1440p but in some cases there are no scruples to even go down to 720.
Accept or not these commitments, in the face of an architecture that still takes advantage of the speed of the SSD and allows you to use next generation rendering techniques (from Ray Tracing to Mesh Shading), it is a choice that should depend on the conditions of use and the gaming station. Those who don’t have a 4K TV, for example, might be more inclined to go for the “small” one from Microsoft.
On the other hand, after spending many days in the company of the S Series, we would like to highlight some contradictions which makes the machine much less “future proof” than Microsoft’s “green-black tower”, suggesting a bit of caution.
Design: simple but effective
S series, we said, is contained in size and quite effective in design. Simple, essential, but magnetic in its own way, even for that “over the top” two-color scheme that opposes the white surfaces of the hardware to the black disk that covers the fan.
While the materials used for the center body are of excellent workmanship, the circular dark plastic is of slightly inferior quality, but nothing that gives the idea of a machine built on a limited budget. The choice to break the chromatic unity that characterizes all other Microsoft platforms (even that of the generation that is about to leave us) is certainly very strong, and the result can only be defined as divisive: not everyone will like aesthetics. . Less “tame” than the X Series, but personally we think it adds a touch of character to the console. For ergonomics and pad functionality considerations, we refer you to all the other content in our coverage dedicated to the X Series, as the supplied driver is exactly the same– Slightly thinner on the sides, with new finishes that improve grip and the central button to share content.
The experience of using Xbox Series S
Let’s move on to the user experience and start immediately on the positive notes: when it comes to system responsiveness, the S Series has nothing to envy Microsoft’s “top of the range” console. Start-up is immediate (we talked about a couple of seconds), and the navigation in the interface is fast and agile. The appearance and organization of the operating system are very traditional, with a few options that could be revised, but are generally effective.
Loading times for products, both those that have received the next generation update and those that instead run in backward compatibility, they are lightning speed, and the quick recap adds a finishing touch of class to the set, allowing you (unless it’s always online titles) to jump from game to game, picking up the game exactly where you left off.
As we said for the X Series, going back to the hardware with a Hard Drive after testing the speed of the SSD is really difficult for the immediacy and fluidity of the experience to make the time spent with the console more pleasant. Examining the menus, you find what we can define as the first big obstacle for the S Series, which is the capacity of the internal memory.
Temperatures, noise and consumptionHaving to handle a very low resolution, the S Series is a very low-power machine. Power consumption is, as expected, the lowest of the next-gen consoles, peaking at 91w with Gears 5. In comparison, the X Series consumes 180-190w while running the same software. Despite this moderation in power demands, the console tends to get very hot, while remaining silent, more or less in line with the noise values recorded on the One X (the X Series, on the other hand, is truly unbeatable on this front). Since it is this last aspect that concerns gamers the most, we can only applaud Microsoft for how it has managed the engineering of its machines.
Considering the space required for the operating system, the storage memory is limited to around 360GB – really very little for a fully digital machine, especially when we think about the file size of today’s games. It is true that with Smart Delivery Microsoft promises to save space for users of the S Series, but at the moment the difference between the different versions is not so pronounced, and we must take into account the entire unlimited catalog of backward compatible titles that will not have these optimizations. and they are also often used as the Game Pass workhorse. It remains true that for next-gen titles you can use an external SSD without losing the benefits in terms of loading speed, but for all latest-gen patch games (from Forza Horizon 4 to Gears 5) instead an official memory expansion is needed, which costs almost as much as the console itself.
In short, the truth is that the absence of an optical reader it is somewhat in contradiction with the characteristics of the carBoth with the size of its internal SSD and with the intention of selling it to a less intelligent audience, more reluctant to adopt a user experience independent of the physical format.
Backward compatibility
Since we entered the subject of backward compatibility, there is another fundamental aspect that is worth highlighting. That is, as Microsoft indicated, in the absence of a specific patch, all previous generation titles will run on the S Series in the One S version. Unfortunately, this option Take out of the equation many of the merits the X Series has in managing backward compatibility.: Consider for example that in products like Final Fantasy XV, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Monster Hunter World, the selector to choose the rendering mode (resolution vs framerate) does not even appear, because it is not available in One S.
Even if there is a considerable difference in computational power between the two consoles (4 Teraflops of the S Series versus 1.4 of the One S), this surplus is not exploited in the least. A real shame, because as some patched titles show, it certainly would have been enough to at least double the frame rate.
What actually happens to those titles that get a software update, like many of their own games (Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5)? In many cases, like Rare’s pirate adventure and PlayGround Games’ racing game, you get a frame rate that hits 60fps, a rare result in the world of consoles. On the other hand, the resolution almost always stops at 1080p, reaching 1440 in just a few products (The Falconeer even manages to beat that figure, rendering at 1800p.)
Let us repeat once more, therefore, which S Series is a console designed primarily for those who do not have, and do not want to buy, a 4K television. On a state-of-the-art display, all enhancement artifacts can be seen, and we firmly believe that the visual quality of products released in recent years and those to be released in the future is also enhanced by resolution. A striking example is Gears 5.
After the Next Gen update, the 343 Industries shooter integrates some improvements related to the lighting system: general optimizations related to the calculation of ambient occlusion, the simulation of shadows and reflection effects on certain surfaces.
Without putting too much emphasis on technical details, you should know that the game is capable of calculating the effects of light in the most realistic way. The ability to perceive these details, on the other hand, is closely related to the number of pixels generated by the hardware, and the resolution of the Gears 5 on the S Series ranges from 1440p to 720p; a value – the latter – that We hoped we were completely left behind several years ago..
There is no need to turn it around: in many moments the cleanliness and clarity of the image are specifically committed, so much so that some users may even prefer the viewing experience provided by the One X. The old Microsoft console does not get the benefits listed above, but it still plays at higher resolutions, and even on a 1080p screen it presents an image more clean. sharp thanks to the benefits of downsampling (in practice, the image “narrow”, resulting in general clearer; this is the same technique that Ori and The Touryst use in the X Series, rendering in 6K for exceptional visual cleanliness ).
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