I'm wondering if MS or a third party will offer/allow a HDD that you can plug in to have big storage without the high cost of the new super speed storage? That would seem to be a good fit for people that buy this.

That's a great news really, i can totally see this console alongside a Gamepass subscription as a solid livingroom entertainement offer. All in all i wonder what the point of having expensive high-end 4K ready consoles is, if 95% of people don't even have a 4K TV or monitor. edit: freshly released reveal trailer: [youtube=KHLfCFMKxPg]

I would say the bigger story here is that the Series X is going to be $499! Considering it's GPU alone is more powerful then anything AMD has on the market today and the average price for the 5700XT is about $469 and don't even think about the Radeon VII! And for $499 you're getting an 8 core/16 threads Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8 GHz / 16GB GDDR6 RAM @ 560GB/s / 12.2TF RDNA 2 GPU (RDNA 2 TF's are more powerful in gaming compared to RDNA) / 1TB NVMe SSD @ 2.4GB/s RAW 4.8GB/s compressed read speeds / Support for USB 3.2 external HDD / 4K UHD BluRay Drive / Case / PSU / and Controller! Even us PCMR have to admit it's a pretty sweet deal.

why not 144fps? More people have this one, and it would be a much better option for everyone. Yea, 20CU RDNA2 might not be enough, but you could just put some more of it .... now it seems just... eh.... bad ...

Hmm, the hd size is concerning. We're sure to see 1/2 TB games by the end of this generation for sure, at least on PC. Realism and "best" graphics has a cost. Off-topic; Ready Player One-type of game might be possible within a few years?

Series S seems like an awkward half step to me. It comes with, what, a total of 10GB of unified memory, of which 2.5GB is taken up by the OS. There seems to be an assumption that this thing is designed with 1080p in mind but what about playing at 4K/30? I guess the SSD and other custom bits and bobs must really help here but the included SSD is puny, there's no disc drive and I think Microsoft have underestimated how budget-conscious gamers value the preowned/trade-in market. Microsoft already tried an Xbox One without a disc drive, it made no impact at retail at all.

jbscotchman:

That's a nice looking speaker.

Looks like case ventilation to me...;) Seriously, though, I tried to watch the Microsoft video on this and the background "music" was so horrible I had to switch it off...;) First words were, "Want a new thang..." or something like that. Yes, "thang"...;) Enough was enough.

XenthorX:

That's a great news really, i can totally see this console alongside a Gamepass subscription as a solid livingroom entertainement offer. All in all i wonder what the point of having expensive high-end 4K ready consoles is, if 95% of people don't even have a 4K TV or monitor. edit: freshly released reveal trailer: [youtube=KHLfCFMKxPg]

Are there really that many people without a 4k tv or monitor?

XenthorX:

Looking good. I think 512Gb is fine, we have 2 AAA a year that release around 100Gb, a bunch of 20-30gb and a lot more around 5Gb or less.

Something to think about is os and firmware storage. Just on the Xbox one this takes at least 100 GB.

NCC1701D:

I'm wondering if MS or a third party will offer/allow a HDD that you can plug in to have big storage without the high cost of the new super speed storage? That would seem to be a good fit for people that buy this.

Same as with the Xbox One, you'll be able to connect any USB HDD or SSD. But you likely won't be able to play games from it that require internal NVMe SSD speeds (but Xbox One games and games that don't require such SSD/HDD speeds should be fine). If it's the same as the Series X, you'll also be able to add an additional SSD through their proprietary expansion slot.

NCC1701D:

I'm wondering if MS or a third party will offer/allow a HDD that you can plug in to have big storage without the high cost of the new super speed storage? That would seem to be a good fit for people that buy this.

Doubtful. One of the selling points is the custom NVMe solution which offers blazing fast loading times. That feature would go to waste with a slow HDD.

XenthorX:

All in all i wonder what the point of having expensive high-end 4K ready consoles is, if 95% of people don't even have a 4K TV or monitor.

I thought that if you go and buy a TV today there pretty much isn't anything else than 4K 🙂

vbetts:

Something to think about is os and firmware storage. Just on the Xbox one this takes at least 100 GB.

That's shocking, how the hell can it take more space than my win10 install, something is off 😱

Netherwind:

I thought that if you go and buy a TV today there pretty much isn't anything else than 4K 🙂

Gonna have to check this out next time i'm at the store, haven't looked into TVs for ages !

Supertribble:

Series S seems like an awkward half step to me. It comes with, what, a total of 10GB of unified memory, of which 2.5GB is taken up by the OS. There seems to be an assumption that this thing is designed with 1080p in mind but what about playing at 4K/30? I guess the SSD and other custom bits and bobs must really help here but the included SSD is puny, there's no disc drive and I think Microsoft have underestimated how budget-conscious gamers value the preowned/trade-in market. Microsoft already tried an Xbox One without a disc drive, it made no impact at retail at all.

its pointless to have a disk drive now, i havent had a disk drives on my pcs for the last decade or so,

TheDeeGee:

These things are sold at a massive loss arn't they?

Not really. It’s a slow SSD on a APU with 28CU’s. This is a break even at worst price. I felt they would price it at $250.

KingK76:

I would say the bigger story here is that the Series X is going to be $499! Considering it's GPU alone is more powerful then anything AMD has on the market today and the average price for the 5700XT is about $469 and don't even think about the Radeon VII! And for $499 you're getting an 8 core/16 threads Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8 GHz / 16GB GDDR6 RAM @ 560GB/s / 12.2TF RDNA 2 GPU (RDNA 2 TF's are more powerful in gaming compared to RDNA) / 1TB NVMe SSD @ 2.4GB/s RAW 4.8GB/s compressed read speeds / Support for USB 3.2 external HDD / 4K UHD BluRay Drive / Case / PSU / and Controller! Even us PCMR have to admit it's a pretty sweet deal.

I mean Consoles are often like this, as they are sold on a loss. Xbox one X had a similar deal, even more so when it dropped down below 300 in sales

Loophole35:

Not really. It’s a slow SSD on a APU with 28CU’s. This is a break even at worst price. I felt they would price it at $250.

Nah this will be sold at a loss, I think parts alone maybe they'd break even, maybe small loss. But have to factor in the R&D costs into it. It wont be as much of a loss as the Series X, but Consoles have always been a loss, its always been the software where they make the money and overtime consoles make money once development costs become cheaper. most likely why they made this "digital" only, forces people onto the xbox store where they take their 30% cut or whatever each game. Can't use used games or borrow games on this

Jawnys:

its pointless to have a disk drive now, i havent had a disk drives on my pcs for the last decade or so,

I'm buying the ps5 for the 4k drive alone, maybe pointless for you but for anyone with bad internet or who enjoys the other media beyond gaming will want one. Heck I got great internet and i would still choose to have a disc drive. One reason is when games get taken of the storefront, I can see find a physical copy and play from there.

XenthorX:

That's shocking, how the hell can it take more space than my win10 install, something is off 😱 Gonna have to check this out next time i'm at the store, haven't looked into TVs for ages !

Even the cheapest tv's are 4k now... they just have shitty colors and brightness.

Ricepudding:

Nah this will be sold at a loss, I think parts alone maybe they'd break even, maybe small loss. But have to factor in the R&D costs into it. It wont be as much of a loss as the Series X, but Consoles have always been a loss, its always been the software where they make the money and overtime consoles make money once development costs become cheaper. most likely why they made this "digital" only, forces people onto the xbox store where they take their 30% cut or whatever each game. Can't use used games or borrow games on this

Naw bro you don’t imbed T&D cost in. This APU is for more than just this console much like the XSX APU is a sever chip for X-cloud.

XenthorX:

if 95% of people don't even have a 4K TV or monitor.

I always find it funny when people over exaggerate numbers. Anyone in the past 2 years have pretty much been buying 4K TVs, because of how affordable they are. 1080p TVs aren't worth it anymore. Nor are there really any market for them and going to a store will show you as such, unless you are looking at 32" TVs and lower, which most people, given the prices of 40"+ TVs, are not looking into 32" or smaller TVs. And 2 years ago, in 2018, around 1/3rd of US households had a 4K TV. Been 2 years since then with much cheaper 4K tvs since. Yes, the US is not the world. I understand that. But 95%? Sorry, not even remotely possible.

XenthorX:

Gonna have to check this out next time i'm at the store, haven't looked into TVs for ages !

Ah, this explains your statement i guess. Not sure why you made such a statement if you're out of the loop though. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In regards to the series S, i personally don't think it's going to be a big seller, at first. Unless there's a lot of mom and dads who don't know what they are buying or care, which is possible. From the people who actually KNOW what they are buying, and buying sooner rather then waiting awhile, they are likely the ones who are going to be wanting to have the latest and greatest, best possible eye candy one can have. I suspect they will not be buying a Series S, as they are also likely to be the ones that have 4K TVs already, or will want to buy a 4K TV along side the console, given how cheap 4K TVs are. Series S then, in my opinion, is the long game.

First: There are many poor country's where the can sell this consoles. If you take in account all the people that have a TV's (only main TV's) that are working in the world you will see that over 70% don't have 4K. Second: To me this console make's sense if after 2-3 year they will make a PRO version, still until then if you are low on money, or you did no own an XBOX until now, this may be for you. Some may buy a PS5 and an XBOX S.