While the Xbox Series X remains a mystery in terms of pricing, a massive leak revealing the appearance and pricing of the Xbox Series S popped up yesterday in social media outlets.
The leak showed photos, and videos of the new machine. The machine is smallest Xbox console that has ever been put together by Microsoft, and at least on the eyes. it looks slick enough.
The Price?
According to Windows Central, Microsoft has confirmed that the budget console will cost $299, the price figure rekindles the hope that the Xbox Series X could cost $499 (instead of $599) .
At this stage it is very likely that we will see a price differential of $200 dollars between he machines, which is about the same price difference that we have been accustomed to during this generation, as the Xbox One X was $499, as opposed to the Xbox One S’ $299 price tag.
Microsoft’s All Access plan (buy an Xbox Series S while paying for it monthly) is rumored to cost about $25 per month .
The Launch Date?
The other important piece of information revealed last night is the launch date for both consoles, currently scheduled for a November 10, 2020 arrival.
Because the consoles are being released in the early part of November, it means that we are just two months away from experiencing the Next Generation of console gaming ourselves.
The Specs?
Xbox Series S’ technical specifications have been floating around for a while on the web, so everything that you will read here is not necessarily breaking news.
What is interesting is the near confirmation ( at least judging by the photos) that the Series S won’t have a disc drive. This is interesting mainly, because the lack of a UHD disc drive could affect the price gap between it, and the premium Xbox Series X (which does have a UHD drive).
It also puts the system at a distinct disadvantage if Sony decides to price its disc less PlayStation 5 model at around the same price point. Rumors are that Sony’s disc less PS5 will retail for $100 less than the premium PS5.
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A $399 discless PS5 would effectively hurt the Xbox Series S, mainly because for $100 dollars consumers would get a true next generation 4K machine, rather than one with GPU capabilities akin to the Xbox One X in the Xbox Series S.
The Xbox Series S has 4TF GPU, but shares the same custom RNDA2 with 20 CUs at 1.55 GHz. The CPU is a 3.8GHz 8-core Zen 2, which is the same as the Series X. The system also has a 512 GB SSD drive (the same as the Series X).
Basically, we are getting the same machine as the premium one, save for a 61% reduction in GPU power. Which puts it well under the PS5’s own technical specs. The machine seems to have been designed to run the more demanding Xbox Series X games at 1080p-1440p as opposed to the 4K resolutions that the premium console offers.
Still, the leak claims that the console can run games at 1440p, at 120 fps (the target frame-rate is highly unlikely unless it is working with older scalable 360 titles), and that it can upscale games to 4K (again, given the lack of GPU power it is likely that we are talking about older games here).
DirectX Ray Tracing has also been promised, which again, seems a bit of a stretch at this point but perhaps Microsoft will showcase games that demonstrate this feature running on it soon.
The Xbox Series S will be able to stream media at 4K which is something that the Xbox One S (and X) can already do.
It is nice that Microsoft has offered a budget console for consumers looking to buy into its Xbox Game Pass program. The lack of a UHD disc drive, and the lack of GPU power (in relation to its premium brother and the rival “budget” disc less PS5) will make Microsoft little experiment an interesting one.
Will gamers shell out $300 dollars for the Xbox Series S with the possibility of the disc less PS5 being only $100 dollars more, and the premium Xbox Series X possibly being only $200 more?
Considering how things have turned out, the rumored price reveal for the PS5 (which is supposed to take place on Thursday) seems now likelier than before.