Everything has unfolded quite quickly this week with Microsoft finally revealing the Xbox Series S, before announcing Australian prices and release dates. Given pre-orders won’t start until September 22nd, you’ve got a bit of time to work out which console that you want.
Xbox has now revealed the final specs for both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S and it’s hard to deny that both are great value for what you’re getting.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN XBOX SERIES X AND XBOX SERIES S
- Size: The main differences from a physical point of view is that the Xbox Series S is roughly 60% smaller than the Xbox Series X.
- Disc Drive: The Xbox Series S has no disc drive, meaning you’ll only be able to purchase games digitally or play them using Xbox Game Pass.
- Storage: Whilst the Xbox Series S SSD is only half the size (512gb vs 1TB), it’s still the same SSD, providing super fast load times.
- Performance Target: The Xbox Series S is targeting games running at 1440p at 60 FPS (up to 120 FPS) whilst the Xbox Series X is targeting games running at 4K at 60 FPS (up to 120 FPS). This is due to the fact that whilst the consoles have the same CPUs, the AMD RDNA 2 GPU in the Xbox Series S is a little bit less powerful. On paper, it sounds like the Xbox Series S is less powerful than an Xbox One X, but it uses the RDNA 2 technology more efficiently to get better results.
THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE XBOX SERIES X AND XBOX SERIES S
For the majority of people, the experience between using an Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are going to be fairly similar.
- The Same Games: As far as we know, the Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S will both play the same games. Whilst there will be some Xbox Series exclusive titles (such as The Medium and Scorn), these will be playable on both consoles.
- Backwards Compatibility: Just like the Xbox Series X, the Xbox Series S will be compatible with every Xbox One game as well as accessories. Features such as Smart Delivery will also still exist.
- Quick Resume: The super fast SSD will allow games to load in seconds, and we’ll also be able to have up to three games suspended at once, bouncing between them instantly.
- Expandable Storage: Both consoles will use a propriety expandable storage which Seagate is creating. We still don’t have pricing, but it’ll only come in a 1TB variation at launch. You’re able to use an external HDD, but only for Xbox One games.
- HDMI 2.1/Dolby Vision: Both consoles have HDMI 2.1 output and will get Dolby Vision for games in the future. This means that you’ll be able to output at 4K/120FPS (where possible) and Dolby Vision will bring stunning HDR to consoles at a later date.
Australian Xbox All Access Xbox Series X/S Subscription Pricing Has Also Been Revealed
XBOX SERIES X VS XBOX SERIES S SPECS COMPARED
| CPU | 8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz 3.6GHz w/ SMT Enabled | 8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6GHz 3.4GHz w/ SMT Enabled |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz |
| GPU Power | 12.15 TFLOPS | 4 TFLOPS |
| System on a Chip | Custom 7nm Enhanced SoC | Custom 7nm Enhanced SoC |
| RAM | 16GB GDDR6 RAM 10GB @ 560 GB/s 6GB @ 336 GB/s | 10GB GDDR6 RAM 8GB @ 224GB/s 2GB @ 56GB/s |
| Performance Target | 4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS | 1440p @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS |
| Storage | 1TB PCle Gen 4 NVMe SSD 2.4GB/sec uncompressed 4.8GB/sec compressed | 512GB PCle Gen 4 NVMe SSD 2.4GB/sec uncompressed 4.8GB/sec compressed |
| Expandable Storage | 1TB Expansion Card | 1TB Expansion Card |
| Backward Compatibility | Thousands of Xbox One and backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games at launch. Xbox One accessories are backward-compatible as well. | Thousands of Xbox One and backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games at launch. Xbox One accessories are backward-compatible as well. |
| Disc Drive | 4K UHD Blu-ray | Digital Only |
| Display Out | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 |
| RRP | $749 | $499 |
