The Xbox One X - thoughts

[S1500]

With E3, I bought it for $50 off the regular price, on the first day they discounted it. I had to get a manager to write off the discount.

 

Of course, today, I find out they're coming out with a new one in 2020. Obsolete the moment I took it out of the store. heh.

 

Okay, so $450 later, I'm so far happy with it. Sure, it doesn't bring too much to the table compared to my 1 gig Xbox One. But, I like the fact it's smaller, and the Coleco-sized power supply is gone. It's just a tiny bit larger than a PS2. I'll give it that.

 

I don't have a 4K TV, so not enjoying the benefits of 4K gaming. And that's only limited to specific games. But I'm 1 step closer.

 

Hoping with the surge of more backwards compatible titles, I might be able to retire my 360 and have tons of single player games to play as I get bored with online multiplayer games from one to the other.

 

As for Kinect, I never had it, and I was apparently too late to enjoy the 2 or 3 games that used it. I'm sure the Playstation Move failed to...move as well.

 

So, your thoughts?

[Austin]

I upgraded to the X from a standard Xbox One and I am glad I did. Most multi-platform titles run the best on the X (as Digital Foundry shows in their comparison videos) and it boosts the performance (and in some cases, resolution) of older Xbox One and backwards compatible titles. Load times across the board are faster too. It's been win-win for me. Also, as someone that records and streams more often than not, having an internalized power supply and a common connector has made moving it between rooms and recording setups a lot easier.

[slab0meat]

As I mentioned recently, I'd been looking to upgrade to a 4K TV, along with the upgrade to One X along with it.

 

The TV didn't happen last weekend as planned, but I hooked up my One X last night. I was very happy to get rid of the power brick, along with minor aesthetics. I've read how the difference is clear once you have the right TV, even on some older games. I'm very much looking forward to trying some out soon.

 

CERTAINLY not obsolete. You get the 4K benefits (movies, games, whatever) once you have the TV.. there's no guarantee when the next one comes out, plus it'll be supported for many years. Better internals.. enjoy it and get yourself a 4K TV, then you can really enjoy it, I'm sure.

[S1500]

I'm curious(once I get a 4K TV) what 4K movies are going to look like. I wonder how long it's going to take Redbox to start stocking 4K movies.

[StormSurge]

My wife bought me an S for Christmas 2016. Prior to that, my plan was to hold out for the X. I didn't have a 4K/HDR TV at the time, but I do know. (4K movies look great BTW)

One of these days, I'll pull the trigger on the X. Probably if/when the price drops a bit more or a good trade-in upgrade offer comes around.

[cimerians]

You really need a 4K TV for this machine and the PS4 Pro in my opinion. It's awesome I love it, runs a lot of the old games and they look wonderful. I just picked up this TLC TV on sale recently, the Xbox One X detected it and I had to do no configurations at all.

https://www.amazon.com/TCL-49S405-49-Inch-Ultra-Smart/dp/B01MYGISTO

Edited June 13, 2018 by cimerians

[StormSurge]

I also have a TLC & it's fantastic. 55" for around $500 on sale at Target.

[Lost Dragon]

I've recently upgraded to a 4K TV..but neither the Xbox 1 X or PS4 Pro interest me enough to abandon my standard PS4.

 

There haven't been any games annouced on either format over the past few days that have changed my mind.

 

I only changed my TV (1080P) as it kept breaking down.

[moycon]

I love my Xbox One X for playing games. The load times are significantly less, and some games run a lot faster (I noticed a huge difference in the game Lies of Astaroth) but If you're buying a 4k TV to watch movies only, you might just save your $$$ for now. The upgrade from regular Bluray to Ultra-HD is pretty minimal. There are plenty of YouTube videos discussing this, here is one of them...

[spacecadet]

I had an X for 14 days and then I returned it for an S. Though I don't claim that's the right decision for everyone, it was for me. I went back and forth looking at direct split-screen comparisons of games on both machines (in 4K; I mean I made sure to watch 4K videos on my 4K TV to make sure it'd approximate what I'd actually see), and I agonized over whether the differences were enough to be worth the extra cost. I ended up deciding that, combined with the number of games I thought I'd even play on this machine, it wasn't worth it for me. I got the S instead and I've been really happy with it.

 

For one thing, as I thought, I mainly use mine for 4K streaming and 4K Blu-Ray. That's what really attracted me to it, because I have a PS4 anyway and 90% of the games I'd even want on the Xbox One are cross-platform. So I only have something like 3 games for it and I've had it for 7 months now. So I got a 4K streaming box, a 4K Blu-Ray player and a wireless game controller for my PC (that's mostly what I use it for) for $229 with a free copy of Madden 18 included. Whatever games I get for it on top of that are like a bonus.

 

I probably do use my Xbox One S more than any of my other consoles, I just don't use it much for gaming. So for me, the Xbox One X would have been a waste. But if you're really into Xbox games, especially if it's gonna be your only console, then I can see an X being worth it.

[+remowilliams]

Recently replaced the monitors here and now running the XB1X in 4K HDR. The gaming difference (in 4K) was quite stunning.

 

As Austin mentioned the differences for other content is win-win as well.

[slab0meat]

Not just worth it if you're going to be playing a lot of games. Depending what you already have or have to buy, it can be your gaming system, 4K blu ray player, 4k streaming point with the apps... And if you hit a sale (like eBay's recent 20% off), even better.

 

I don't know the costs of those items separately, but the One X *can* be a very good option/bargain for minimal gamers as well.

[cimerians]

Not just worth it if you're going to be playing a lot of games. Depending what you already have or have to buy, it can be your gaming system, 4K blu ray player, 4k streaming point with the apps... And if you hit a sale (like eBay's recent 20% off), even better.

 

I don't know the costs of those items separately, but the One X *can* be a very good option/bargain for minimal gamers as well.

 

Plus the media player is pretty good...and Plex isn't bad either

[spacecadet]

Not just worth it if you're going to be playing a lot of games. Depending what you already have or have to buy, it can be your gaming system, 4K blu ray player, 4k streaming point with the apps... And if you hit a sale (like eBay's recent 20% off), even better.

 

I don't know the costs of those items separately, but the One X *can* be a very good option/bargain for minimal gamers as well.

 

But the S does all those same things. Literally the only thing the X has over the S is the game enhancements. So if you don't care about the enhanced games, you may as well save yourself $200+.

 

And it's not as if those same games look awful on the S. So I just don't see how the X could ever be a bargain for minimal gamers. It's a higher performance option for those who need every last pixel out of the games that are enhanced for it.

Edited June 13, 2018 by spacecadet

[S1500]

 

But the S does all those same things. Literally the only thing the X has over the S is the game enhancements. So if you don't care about the enhanced games, you may as well save yourself $200+.

 

And it's not as if those same games look awful on the S. So I just don't see how the X could ever be a bargain for minimal gamers. It's a higher performance option for those who need every last pixel out of the games that are enhanced for it.

 

 

I was under the impression the S was just a freshened-up Xbox One regular, like the newer NES. Oops. Oh well. I sold off my old one for $150, so the cost wasn't too bad.

 

Now I gotta go TV hunting soon. Only problem is it probably won't fit in a Honda Fit.

[Austin]

I wanted to add that as someone without a 4K TV, there was still a noticeable upgrade. A lot of Xbox One games use variable resolutions and 720p is the average for many of them (with some games going even lower in intense moments), maybe 960p on the high end if you're lucky in rare cases. With the X, they'll be running at 1080p consistently across the board. DOOM 2016 as an example never drops below 1080p on the X, whereas it basically never hits it on original Xbox One hardware.

 

I probably do use my Xbox One S more than any of my other consoles, I just don't use it much for gaming. So for me, the Xbox One X would have been a waste. But if you're really into Xbox games, especially if it's gonna be your only console, then I can see an X being worth it.

This is a fair assessment. If you don't game that much on it, then the X is definitely not worth it.

 

I was under the impression the S was just a freshened-up Xbox One regular, like the newer NES. Oops. Oh well. I sold off my old one for $150, so the cost wasn't too bad.

Not entirely, no. It does have a 4K Blu-Ray player in it, supports HDR for Blu-Ray playback, and performance-wise it seems have a small bump compared to the base Xbox One. I've read somewhere along the lines of 10%, not a game changer, but it's something to note.

[slab0meat]

 

But the S does all those same things. Literally the only thing the X has over the S is the game enhancements. So if you don't care about the enhanced games, you may as well save yourself $200+.

 

And it's not as if those same games look awful on the S. So I just don't see how the X could ever be a bargain for minimal gamers. It's a higher performance option for those who need every last pixel out of the games that are enhanced for it.

 

The OP didn't mention the S, just a regular One. But overall, I can't say a whole lot without repeating myself.

 

If someone is going 4K, outside of the TV purchase.. the One X is a decently priced all-in-one, with TV, apps, media, 4k blu ray all in it. You don't HAVE to be a hardcore gamer to have one, but I'd guess it's mostly hardcore gamers going from a One or One S to an X. If someone is just getting into it all, it handles everything, plus will play a ton of games, no matter how little you might play, there's a lot to pick from, including older ones that are now enhanced.

 

I'm not trying to sell X Box One X's here, but again, if it's someone new, buying a One or One S doesn't make a ton of sense IF that person is going 4K.

[DJ Clae]

I'm happy with my 1080p TV. The super sampling you get with the X is worth it to me. The original Xbox One is so underpowered, you get 1080p full HD in many games where you wouldn't on the original Xbox One.

Edited June 14, 2018 by DJ Clae

[DJ Clae]

 

But the S does all those same things. Literally the only thing the X has over the S is the game enhancements. So if you don't care about the enhanced games, you may as well save yourself $200+.

 

And it's not as if those same games look awful on the S. So I just don't see how the X could ever be a bargain for minimal gamers. It's a higher performance option for those who need every last pixel out of the games that are enhanced for it.

I feel that MS has been very successful at creating a misinformation campaign about the S. It's very easy for the uninitiated to get confused with the letters on the names.

 

But make no mistake. The S is just a base model Xbox One. It happens to be a slim, revised model they put out. It runs the same game code. The only difference is that they happened to give it an ever so slightly faster GPU. This causes certain games to run with slightly fewer hiccups, but for the most part it's the same. It just happens to have the enhancement of being able to play 4K blu rays, and it can upscale your games to 4K. This does not make it a different system. It just has a better upscaler to make it better compatible with newer TV's. It was made for people who did not already own an Xbox One. It's quite like the slim PS2, where Sony added progressive scan DVD playback.

 

Of course MS benefits from having people think that the S is a new, enhanced console, meaning they sell more systems to people not educated about their product line. Yes it is an awesome looking redesign though.

Edited June 14, 2018 by DJ Clae

[spacecadet]

I feel that MS has been very successful at creating a misinformation campaign about the S. It's very easy for the uninitiated to get confused with the letters on the names.

 

But make no mistake. The S is just a base model Xbox One. It happens to be a slim, revised model they put out. It runs the same game code. The only difference is that they happened to give it an ever so slightly faster GPU.

My position is pretty much the exact opposite of yours - that MS has done a really good job of making people think the X is a different system than the S, when nearly everything that MS touts about the X (with the exception of X-specific game enhancements) was actually introduced with the S. There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about things both models can do equally well, with some people thinking those features are exclusive to the X.

 

Also, saying the S just "happens" to be able to play 4K Blu-Rays is a little disingenuous - that's a major new feature that it introduced, as was HDR. The Xbox One S was the first 4K HDR Xbox. The Xbox One X is just a faster version of the same thing, since the S wasn't really fast enough to play *games* at 4K, and the X is, if developers choose to use its extra power that way (not all have).

 

These are the only differences between the two machines:

 

Xbox One X - Custom CPU @ 2.3GHz, 8 cores; Custom GPU @ 1.172GHz, 40 CUs, Polaris features, 6.0 TFLOPS; 12GB GDDR5 RAM @ 326 GB/s

Xbox One S - Custom CPU @ 1.75GHz, 8 cores; Custom GPU @ 914MHz, 12 CUs, 1.4 TFLOPS; 8GB DDR3 RAM @ 68 GB/s

Feature-wise, they're the same. The question is just whether the extra horsepower is worth more than double the price for the system in games, but remember that since 4K is actually 4 times the resolution of 1080p, it's going to take a lot more horsepower just to keep games looking the same at that higher resolution. In practice, I didn't think the games looked different enough to justify the cost for me.

This is one of the few X-enhanced games I actually own for Xbox One and played on both the S and X:

It does look different, but not enough for me to even really notice while actually playing. Even hands-off, I have to really look for the upgrades while watching the video.

I feel like the X is for people who'd go out and buy a GTX 1080 for their PC. And more power to you if that's you; there's nothing wrong with that. But the price is just going to extra performance; it's not like a faster graphics card can actually *do* more. And it's the same with the Xbox One X.

Edited June 14, 2018 by spacecadet

[DJ Clae]

You are kidding. The games have different code for the X enhancements. The S uses the base Xbox One code. The X is basically a different system that has full backward compatibility and is marketed with the same software catalog.

 

The base Xbox One is not good enough. When the same games typically run in full 1080p on the base PS4, yet usually struggle to hit 900p on the Xbox One, that's not good enough. That's the primary reason I upgraded to the X.

Edited June 14, 2018 by DJ Clae

[S1500]

I didn't get MS points(as I signed up afterward), but that looked to be useless anyway.

 

Was just emailed download code for Red Dead Redemption + 30 bucks in MS store credit. I'll take it, sure!