Series X and S comparisons

iwb100

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I’ve now had chance to properly look at the X and S and compare - thought this might be useful for those who are undecided about which or whether to get either...

X is on my 4K OLED TV downstairs.
S is on my 1080p TV upstairs.

Games played on both thus far...

Watch Dogs Legion
Assasins Creed Valhalla
COD BO Cold War
Tetris Effect Connected
Destiny 2

Looks - X is big, chunky and looks great stood up but less so sitting down. S is absolutely beautiful and so small. It’s easily the best designed physical form I’ve seen. It’s also satisfyingly dense.

Heat and noise - both consoles are warm at the vent but cool elsewhere. S gets surprisingly warm but it’s form factor clearly contributes to that. Neither are much different from my one X in terms of temp. Noise - both are absolutely whisper quiet. Nothing to say about noise.

Speed - Both are great with the SSD and there is no noticeable difference.

Hard drive size - Clearly this could be an issue if the S is a main console my drive is virtually full already though I’m deleting elements of cod I won’t play...the campaign....and zombies to save space...more games should offer this.

Games Performance...ok so this is about the S, keep in mind rushed launch software is not indicative of the future...Watch Dogs - yeah there is a noticeable hit on IQ at the lower resolution and I’d say other settings are also reduced. The RT looks good but not sure it’s worth the hit the game takes on this console. ACV - this looks insane on the S and yes it’s 30FPS but it’s amazing you get a game like this looking this good running smoothly on a £250 console. It’s less than a switch and this game would have no chance of running on that even at standard def resolutions. This is a showcase IMO for the S. COD - is great on the S. RT is not available on the S but I’ve turned it off the X as well as I’m only playing MP and want the frame rate. Plays really smoothly.


Overall: S is amazing value, amazing size and easily the best option for many people. But you have to accept it’s compromises and be aware of them. I wouldn’t recommend it for an avid gamer to be their main console on a 4K TV. But for second consoles, or kids, or more casual it’s absolutely a superb offering. I will use it a lot as I can’t always get on the big telly downstairs. And I will happily use the S over the X most of the time.

Anyone else with both feel free to chip in...or any questions?
 
Thanks for the write up. Enjoyable read. I'm considering getting a Series S for my daughters to play Roblox on (they've already been hogging my Series X)
Might be overkill but it would future proof for a number of years compared to the old One consoles.
 
I have both and your review is spot on.

my X will be used for the big hitting exclusive games, the S for game pass and PS5 for the cross platform games
 

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