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Should I buy a Xbox Series S?

I love the suggestion of buying a ps5 de, might as well tell him to go buy a the lockbess monster, Bigfoot, a unicorn, or 3060ti.

Finding a PS5 DE right now is like trying to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Thing sells out in seconds.

I was lucky about getting a 3080 and a 3060 Ti, I don't think those are as impossible though, you just gotta be signed up for alerts when places like Best Buy do big re-stocks and jump in the queue for multiple cards/models

I am on the fence about getting a Series S. I have a good PC, and I love my PS5. I think I might wait for XsS to drop in price before buying one to hook up to my 1440p PC monitor as a companion to my gaming setup. Or I will wait for a DE of the XsX, one or the other.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
If you want to moan about people not offering donations why don't you give him your series X and get yourself a series S as a replacement if it's so great?

You said the bold, not me. Glad you're at least willing to admit it considering the only people that I see advocating for the Series S here tend to be people who own the Series X (not the S) , are heavily invested in the ecosystem and want others to join at any cost even if it's via hardware that isn't fit for their needs. Note - even many of the Series S owners in this thread are suggesting the OP gets a Series X.

It's a system that's hard to recommend. Get over it.

That's not true at all, I can easy recomend the s to people in lots of scenarios. (Bedroom, kids, 1080p TV, smaller TV, etc) And has been by many others.

The anti s movement on this board is largely comprised of a group of either sony hardcore who would badmouth the s no matter what it is, or those who don't own one and are trying to justify why they spent the extra money. (Which in some cases is justified, in others its the same people who have thier hd cable box at 480p who wouldn't know 1080p from 4k sitting watching thier 50" from 15ft away)
The vast majority of actual s owners are happy with what they have.

And like I suggested for this guy, he sounds like he needs an x, but an s would do for now, he can just sell it when he has money for an x.
 
That's not true at all, I can easy recomend the s to people in lots of scenarios. (Bedroom, kids, 1080p TV, smaller TV, etc) And has been by many others.

The anti s movement on this board is largely comprised of a group of either sony hardcore who would badmouth the s no matter what it is, or those who don't own one and are trying to justify why they spent the extra money. (Which in some cases is justified, in others its the same people who have thier hd cable box at 480p who wouldn't know 1080p from 4k sitting watching thier 50" from 15ft away)
The vast majority of actual s owners are happy with what they have.

And like I suggested for this guy, he sounds like he needs an x, but an s would do for now, he can just sell it when he has money for an x.
There is zero reason whatsoever to get the S if you are an adult buying a primary console for yourself. The thing is out of date now and will be a total wasteland by mid-gen. Just spend the extra $100-200 to future proof your purchase.
 
You cannot play XSX/XSS games from a USB drive.
Perhaps try harder?
You can't even MOVE games from a certain platform to an external drive AT ALL. I have a feeling that you still feel that way is superior though. Regardless your comments about needing to spend $200 was flatly wrong.

If you want to moan about people not offering donations why don't you give him your series X and get yourself a series S as a replacement if it's so great?

You said the bold, not me. Glad you're at least willing to admit it considering the only people that I see advocating for the Series S here tend to be people who own the Series X (not the S) , are heavily invested in the ecosystem and want others to join at any cost even if it's via hardware that isn't fit for their needs. Note - even many of the Series S owners in this thread are suggesting the OP gets a Series X.

It's a system that's hard to recommend. Get over it.
Nope it's a system fans of a certain company who don't like Xbox much a brand in general feel the need to pop off hot takes on things they know little about; like our friend above who didn't even know about how storage was handled on Xbox.

The OP specially said money was a concern. If you don't like his choice in consoles again it has no impact on you. If you are going to recommend him to spend more money you can feel free to bridge the financial gap. I think he should stick with the budget he has. The XSS will get support this entire generation if graphics aren't your priority it's a great choice.
 
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DESTROYA

Member
That's not true at all, I can easy recomend the s to people in lots of scenarios. (Bedroom, kids, 1080p TV, smaller TV, etc) And has been by many others.

The anti s movement on this board is largely comprised of a group of either sony hardcore who would badmouth the s no matter what it is, or those who don't own one and are trying to justify why they spent the extra money. (Which in some cases is justified, in others its the same people who have thier hd cable box at 480p who wouldn't know 1080p from 4k sitting watching thier 50" from 15ft away)
The vast majority of actual s owners are happy with what they have.

And like I suggested for this guy, he sounds like he needs an x, but an s would do for now, he can just sell it when he has money for an x.
OP already says he has a 4K TV, what’s a better fit for a 4K TV a X or S?
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
You can't even MOVE games from a certain platform to an external drive AT ALL. I have a feeling that you still feel that way is superior though. Regardless your comments about needing to spend $200 was flatly wrong.


Nope it's a system fans of a certain company who don't like Xbox much a brand in general feel the need to pop off hot takes on things they know little about; like our friend above who didn't even know about how storage was handled on Xbox.
$300+$220
Like I stated you cannot run xss games off of a USB drive.

You can continue to be stubborn and I'll continue to repeat these facts.

I don't like the value of the 4TF's,10gb's,500gb ssd with no br disk drive for $300 that needs a additional $220 to get above water for the OP who's asking.

I'm a huge fan of Xbox Series X.
I own one with the additional $220 ssd do you?
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
OP already says he has a 4K TV, what’s a better fit for a 4K TV a X or S?

As I stated already, if he has the funds, the x makes more sense in his situation. But as he finds himself short, and he wants to play now, the S works for now.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
There is zero reason whatsoever to get the S if you are an adult buying a primary console for yourself. The thing is out of date now and will be a total wasteland by mid-gen. Just spend the extra $100-200 to future proof your purchase.

Not true really, if you are a casual gamer who doesn't care much about graphics, the S is fine. They can play Madden, cod, and forza just fine. They don't scour the internet checking frame rates or resolutions. Not my choice, but for some this makes sense.
Obviously this isn't most of the people on this board.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Depends on the upscaling, I don’t have a S but from past experiences not as great.

They actually look pretty good, the seating distance and tv size play a large role.
In my bedroom I have an S on a 49" 4k tv, and while the X is a bit sharper, the S still looks quite nice. Up the size to 55" or 65", it will start to matter more.
 
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Not true really, if you are a casual gamer who doesn't care much about graphics, the S is fine. They can play Madden, cod, and forza just fine. They don't scour the internet checking frame rates or resolutions. Not my choice, but for some this makes sense.
Obviously this isn't most of the people on this board.
If all you play is Madden, CoD, and Forza and you don't care about graphics just keep playing on your PS4/Xbone for two more years while you wait for the PS5 and XSX to come down in price.

So we've narrowed the appropriate audience for the XSS down to EA Sports, CoD, and Forza fans who don't already own a PS4/Xbone. I know a guy who prides himself on gaming a full generation behind (he's just now upgrading to a PS4 from his 360), so maybe you could upsell him on the XSS lol. But yeah, nobody else should buy this thing.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Not true really, if you are a casual gamer who doesn't care much about graphics, the S is fine. They can play Madden, cod, and forza just fine. They don't scour the internet checking frame rates or resolutions. Not my choice, but for some this makes sense.
Obviously this isn't most of the people on this board.
You might only have enough room for those 3 games.
 

RGB'D

Member
If OP is having a hard time floating the difference between a Series S and a Series X, maybe even if he saves up for the X, the 200$ would make a better difference for rent/food/necessities/etx.. This is a enthusiast site for people that probably spend irresponsibly on the hobby (My PC is a money pit but I love it), but there is nothing wrong with having a really great experience with a console that is less advanced for a while and reevaluating at a later date. Companies offer trade ups promotions all the time and a Series S might serve him well to a mid gen refresh.

As a PS5 DE owner (all that was available) don't even consider it if you don't have the funds. In 2 games I spent almost the price of a whole year of gamepass... even the PS5 disc edition is going to be more expensive this gen and I can afford it. It's a great machine but from a cost analysis, I think the Series S/Gamepass hits a really nice value for people that can't afford to spend as much for a hobby.
 
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$300+$220
Like I stated you cannot run xss games off of a USB drive.

You can continue to be stubborn and I'll continue to repeat these facts.

I don't like the value of the 4TF's,10gb's,500gb ssd with no br disk drive for $300 that needs a additional $220 to get above water for the OP who's asking.

I'm a huge fan of Xbox Series X.
I own one with the additional $220 ssd do you?
Can you move X|S games to an external drive? After that can you move it back to the internal drive when you are ready to play? Can you buy an external drive for less than $220? Shocked you have an XSX but don't have any idea how storage works on the console.
 

quickwhips

Member
If you can't afford to pay all of a $300-$500 product without financing it, don't buy it yet.
You get two years of game pass with this so the value add is great. I'm pretty sure I'm going to just finance two series x when they come in stock as I'm want one in each room but don't feel like dropping 1000 day one.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Can you move X|S games to an external drive? After that can you move it back to the internal drive when you are ready to play? Can you buy an external drive for less than $220? Shocked you have an XSX but don't have any idea how storage works on the console.
Can you play xss and XSX games from a usb external? No so for 1TB it's $220.
364gb's of storage space won't go far nor will 4TF's this generation.

I don't wanna wear out my eternal ssd by installing,deleting and moving games.

Time consuming as well which isn't consumer friendly.

I know how it works that's why I have the additional 1TB nvme for my XSX and plan on buying additional ones to build my XSX library.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
If any of the following reasons are really important to you, do no buy an S:

- buying games on disc
- watching 4k movies (and you don't have a dedicated 4k player, so an X performs double duty)
- you can't live with a small SSD (with the risk if you needs lots of storage, you got to get that $250 Seagate SSD card)
- you can't live with games that will look and run in roughly that Xbox One X range. A little better than One X but nowhere close to Series X. Series X resolution and/or frame rates can sometimes be double the S. Depends on the game though
- you got a 4k tv and want to take advantage of the 4k res
 
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Can you play xss and XSX games from a usb external? No so for 1TB it's $220.
364gb's of storage space won't go far nor will 4TF's this generation.

I don't wanna wear out my eternal ssd by installing,deleting and moving games.

Time consuming as well which isn't consumer friendly.

I know how it works that's why I have the additional 1TB nvme for my XSX and plan on buying additional ones to build my XSX library.
But you don't have to delete games when you can simply store them until you are ready to play. No need to re-download, no need to spend hundreds of dollars. The OP stated saving money was important your solution presents the opposite. Yours is the most expensive way to go when there are clearly cheaper options, options I might add other more expensive consoles lack. For some reason you can't seem to understand that. Yet you call ME stubborn it's fascinating.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
But you don't have to delete games when you can simply store them until you are ready to play. No need to re-download, no need to spend hundreds of dollars. The OP stated saving money was important your solution presents the opposite. Yours is the most expensive way to go when there are clearly cheaper options, options I might add other more expensive consoles lack. For some reason you can't seem to understand that. Yet you call ME stubborn it's fascinating.
Saving money,utilizing his 4KTV,can buy physical which games can be bought cheaper new and used,significantly more storage,significantly better graphics(why buy a NEW piece of gaming tech with minor improvement ala xss?)

Also moving games,deleting and reinstalling as often as a 364gb ssd will require is not only time consuming but surely can't be good for the life of the ssd. PS5 is in a similar(although slightly better) situation with it's small amount of available storage.
 
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Saving money,utilizing his 4KTV,can buy physical which games can be bought cheaper new and used,significantly more storage,significantly better graphics(why buy a NEW piece of gaming tech with minor improvement ala xss?)

Also moving games,deleting and reinstalling as often as a 364gb ssd will require is not only time consuming but surely can't be good for the life of the ssd. PS5 is in a similar(although slightly better) situation with it's small amount of available storage.
He asked a basic question. He said saving money was important. It is hilarious that you'd say the PS5 is in a better situation when it can't offload PS5 games to external storage AT ALL but the XSS is worse when it can. I guess that says it all. The XSS storage is easily mitigated with a cheaper option than anything you've mentioned. If saving money is the OPs goal listening to you would certainly move him in the wrong direction.
 

Sanpei

Member
S' main problem is it plays old games without OneX enhancement...

you play some games with lower textures or res, like Halo 5, Destiny 2...

You wont see smooth edges in those... But if game uses dynamic res, then it is fine...
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
He asked a basic question. He said saving money was important. It is hilarious that you'd say the PS5 is in a better situation when it can't offload PS5 games to external storage AT ALL but the XSS is worse when it can. I guess that says it all. The XSS storage is easily mitigated with a cheaper option than anything you've mentioned. If saving money is the OPs goal listening to you would certainly move him in the wrong direction.
A $399 PS5 is a much better situation for him than a xss.
You already been schooled on the storage part but continue to look like a fool all you want.
 
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Well, you can. Unless you’re willing to give up your series x and just use an s. It’s hard to recommend the s, especially someone in OPs situation. He described his situation. Even then, the s comes with as many stipulations as a mogwai

You're such a transparent troll. Just stop man. Jesus Fucking Christ you're pathetic. 🤦‍♂️😅
 

retsof624

Member
S' main problem is it plays old games without OneX enhancement...

you play some games with lower textures or res, like Halo 5, Destiny 2...

You wont see smooth edges in those... But if game uses dynamic res, then it is fine...
That’s what made me change my mind on getting the Series S. I didn’t want to play the same versions I was already playing so I leaned back towards the X. Great decision.
 
This is the most absurd use case for a console I have ever heard of

"Use case"? 🤦‍♂️🤣 Do you hear yourself?

Ask me if I give two shits about your opinion of a "proper use case"...?

For ME, this is a perfect setup. Yes, there are "use cases" for such a small, efficient, inexpensive console that the XSS fills better than the other options currently on the market. It sits under my XSX and PS5 and fills its function well. I have a multiple screen setup and it's great. 😁👍🏼 And I'll likely buy another XSS for a spare bedroom which has a smaller 1080p TV.

At any rate, if you took two seconds to think outside your own console warrior bullshit you'd have responded to the fact that I recommended he LIKELY should wait and hold out for an XSX if it's going to be his primary console. Instead, you beclowned yourself.
 
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A $399 PS5 is a much better situation for him than a xss.
You already been schooled on the storage part but continue to look like a fool all you want.
Haha yeah 'schooled'. Asked about getting a XSS and you recommend a more expensive and less flexible storage having system that won't play any Xbox games at all. Surely you have his best interest in mind. And I'm the fool? Hopefully he won't listen to anything you have to say you clearly don't have a clue what you are talking about.
 
If you want to moan about people not offering donations why don't you give him your series X and get yourself a series S as a replacement if it's so great?

You said the bold, not me. Glad you're at least willing to admit it considering the only people that I see advocating for the Series S here tend to be people who own the Series X (not the S) , are heavily invested in the ecosystem and want others to join at any cost even if it's via hardware that isn't fit for their needs. Note - even many of the Series S owners in this thread are suggesting the OP gets a Series X.

It's a system that's hard to recommend. Get over it.

🤦‍♂️
 
Also moving games,deleting and reinstalling as often as a 364gb ssd will require is not only time consuming but surely can't be good for the life of the ssd. PS5 is in a similar(although slightly better) situation with it's small amount of available storage.

Kind of OT here, but I still see this about SSDs from time to time.

I feel I should mention moving games to and from an SSD really won't have much impact on the SSD's lifespan. SSD lifespan concerns stem from a time when the tech was new and drives were tiny but for some reason it's still a concern for people. The technology has advanced rapidly since then and sector death leading to non-functioning drives are pretty uncommon now. New drives wear level, self-correct, block manage and won't actually delete things until that space is required. The result is modern SSDs are much less likely to even see sector death, and there can be a lot more dead sectors before an SSD ceases to function. An older 250GB SSD like a Samsung 850 Evo can write over a petabyte before it no longer functions. Newer SSD tech like the one in the series S will last longer than that, and the larger the drive the longer it lasts as well. My first SSD was a 250GB Samsung Evo which was my only drive for a year, then when I replaced it with an NVMe drive it became my game mod drive which saw constant writes and rewrites over 5 years. Running it though Crystaldiskinfo it's still sitting at a "Good" rating @ 94%. I'll probably die before it does barring some catastrophic failure burning it out.


Even if every game was 100GB you'd have to delete and reinstall the games tens of thousands of times before the SSD died. If you play two games a week you'd have to do this for over 100 years to kill the drive just moving games around.

I'll mention too, though personally I'd just save the $100 up to get the Series X over the Series S especially since OP mentioned he's planning on getting one anyways, DarkMage619 DarkMage619 's drive management solution is a pretty common way to manage storage. Large HDDs are dirt cheap, Large SSDs are still not. 364GB is not a lot of space but you can fit 4 or more games on it, a lot more depending on their size so as long as you use a little planning moving the game over from an HDD the day before really isn't hard keep on top of. That said, I'd still just save another $100 and get the Series X but even on the X I'd be running a large external HDD as even the 800GB (forget the actual number) will fill up eventually, then it's time to play musical chairs again.
 

dcmk7

Banned
Nope it's a system fans of a certain company who don't like Xbox much a brand in general feel the need to pop off hot takes on things they know little about; like our friend above who didn't even know about how storage was handled on Xbox.

The OP specially said money was a concern. If you don't like his choice in consoles again it has no impact on you. If you are going to recommend him to spend more money you can feel free to bridge the financial gap. I think he should stick with the budget he has. The XSS will get support this entire generation if graphics aren't your priority it's a great choice.

As you are already well aware, developers are already complaining about it in the media. And Sony fanboys certainly didn't make up those stories.

OP has a 4k television already and he even mentions should be able to afford the X soon enough.. which is the smart move.

He can future proof his purchase, run full 4k games and not be stuck with something which is worse in every aspect. It's very questionable if the S will survive the generation.

I have already read many messages on here about people who did buy the S and immediately regretted it.

Get the XsX OP, when you can afford it.
 
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dcmk7

Banned
I’ve decided not to get an Xbox Series X after selling my PS5. Instead, I am going to try my best to catch a PS5 Digital Edition on sale soon and cop that. I’m just too deep into the PlayStation ecosystem to opt out at this point. I’ve spent way too much money on games and all that. Besides, I like Sony’s offerings a lot better than Microsoft’s. Not that I am bashing them or anything. Just my preference. Here’s to hoping I can secure that Digital Edition soon, guys.
Didnt realise PS5 DE was in the equation, OP.

Just stick to what you really want. And don't compromise because the availability isn't there yet. You'll only regret it.

Especially if you don't like Microsoft's offerings as much.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I learned a long time ago I needed to get every console on the market, no regrets! If you think about a 7 yr hardware cycle, a $1500 expenditure is only $20 a month.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
The memory for Series S is not big and eventually you have to buy memory which are expensive, at that point you better off buying Series X.
 
That's not true at all, I can easy recomend the s to people in lots of scenarios. (Bedroom, kids, 1080p TV, smaller TV, etc) And has been by many others.

The anti s movement on this board is largely comprised of a group of either sony hardcore who would badmouth the s no matter what it is, or those who don't own one and are trying to justify why they spent the extra money. (Which in some cases is justified, in others its the same people who have thier hd cable box at 480p who wouldn't know 1080p from 4k sitting watching thier 50" from 15ft away)
The vast majority of actual s owners are happy with what they have.

And like I suggested for this guy, he sounds like he needs an x, but an s would do for now, he can just sell it when he has money for an x.

Yup. Imagine being so far up your own ass (and/or Sony's) that you think you know more about a product you DO NOT own in terms of it's "worth" or "proper use case" vs. those who DO own it. SonyGAF is truly embarrassing and self owns itself in every one of these threads. What a bunch of warrior clowns. 🤦‍♂️😅
 

dcmk7

Banned
Yup. Imagine being so far up your own ass (and/or Sony's) that you think you know more about a product you DO NOT own in terms of it's "worth" or "proper use case" vs. those who DO own it. SonyGAF is truly embarrassing and self owns itself in every one of these threads. What a bunch of warrior clowns. 🤦‍♂️😅
Good contribution :messenger_smirking:

How does your post help OP exactly?
 
Good contribution :messenger_smirking:

How does your post help OP exactly?

I originally posted a sincere response about my real life experience with XSS - a legitimate attempt to be helpful towards the OP by offering a nuanced look at why it's been a good console for my needs.

For my efforts I was attacked by SonyGAF, generally fanboys who do not own a XSS trying to tell me - a person who actually owns an XSS - that they somehow know better than I do because reasons.

I noticed you didn't respond to their dumb ass attempts to derail the thread and turn this into another warrior slap fight. Interesting. 🤔😉
 
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