Is the $299 XBOX Series S REALLY worth it? | MVG

When Microsoft reached out and offered me a next-gen Xbox, I jumped on the

series

. Why mvg? I hear you ask well simply because the Series generation with four teraflops of compute and can even do ray tracing and 120 hertz in gaming, all for $299, but is all of this

really

accurate? it's just marketing gimmicks, what about backwards compatibility? Does it compare to the impressive showing we've already seen with the Xbox Series and less memory, there's a lot to unpack here, so let's go over the

series

in some detail. If you're like me and have been a part of the Xbox ecosystem since day one, you're in for a surprise here.

Setting up a 360 or Xbox can take some time, usually a software update is done first and then you need to sign in to your Xbox Live account. If you have two-factor authentication set up, you'll never remember your password, like me, and it can be a little annoying, but setting it up for the first time in this series is much easier. You still get that firmware update, but you now have the option to set up your Xbox through the companion mobile app. I have used an older version of the Xbox app. on my phone before, but this one is actually quite useful, it's a very simple process to set up.

I also noticed that the download speeds over the network are much faster than Xbox, so overall it was a very simple process and within a few minutes I was logged back into my account and for the first time I experienced the new Xbox series dashboard. It's not a radical departure from the Xbox One X, but there are some interesting touches; What interests me most is the speed and of course, even on the Xbox series s it offers this quite well because I have been an Xbox fan from the beginning. I've amassed quite a library of games, and if you have too, you're in for a real treat. is one of the most interesting features of Xbox Series with previous versions.

Xbox series . I think it's one of the coolest features of the Xbox Series The Series S's previous versions are excellent and one that makes the $299 system quite attractive, but there are some limitations to keep in mind compared to the Xbox Series X we'll get into. I see you've gotten this far into the system menu offering display options. 720p 1080P 1440p and 4K Ultra HD you can now also set 120 hertz refresh rates if your TV supports it, of course HDR and HDR 10 are also supported, these are effectively the same options you'll get with the big brother Xbox series X.

This means that you can play Dirt 5 in 4K at 120 hertz on the series, but it's important to emphasize here that there are no limitations on 4k on the series other than the developer; In fact, the tourist runs in native 4K on the series. Series and smoothers remain at 60 frames per second, of course, Series 4K games will likely be limited to a much smaller set of games, but it's nice to see Microsoft not excluding 4K for the system at large. part when it comes to Unfortunately, for next-gen games it is difficult to evaluate the series and respond to many of the concerns that developers have raised due to their memory limitations.

Cross-gen gaming means that code optimized for next-gen may not be available in many cases. Guardian Body Legion is an enhanced game in the series, but unfortunately the patch will not be available until the series' release date, which is November 10. Microsoft promises to have optimization patches available at launch for most games, but we'll have to wait until 2021 to actually get them. an idea of ​​how the series does with next-gen gaming, but it's not a big mystery across the board, even today the Xbox Series offers the same internal SSD power as the Xbox Series X, which is impressive, This is

really

a feature that we have wanted for a long time to notice how fast the performance of the SSD is in everything you play.

For example, loading a level in Sakura in the S series takes less than 10 seconds and in another test I compared a start in Ori's cold and the Wisps between Xbox one VCR and Xbox series s to get to the main title screen took 30 seconds on Xbox series s and on Xbox one VCR it takes over 1 minute and 18 seconds and this of course , it is not used. Of any next-gen improvements such as speed architecture, it is purely the combination of a fast CPU for asset decompression along with fast SSD read speeds, every game will take advantage of an increase in loading speed and in many cases , it may be a significant one that stands out.

For me it's Final Fantasy XV with no patches or optimizations at all. What we will see here is an amazing comparison of the loading performance of the Xbox One vtr with the next generation pcie SSD running on the s series with its blazing fast raw performance on the s series. loads the game in about 13 seconds on the poor Xbox One VCR, goes on and on and finally completes in a minute and 12 seconds once again, this is almost a minute faster, once you try next gen it's impossible to go back to anything previous is like going from a cable modem to fiber internet, another is loading an original Xbox game via backwards compatibility, the introduction of the Xbox panel takes longer to load than the game itself , it's simply that a good, fast SSD is a game-changer and I'm very glad to see that Microsoft has spared no effort on the performance of the drive itself, but unfortunately the same can't be said for storage size - it's the half the size of the Xbox Series X at 512 gigabytes and only 360 gigabytes of that size are usable.

If you have a large game library or a Game Pass subscription like I do, you'll fill up that SSD very quickly. I was able to max out the drive within the first few hours of use, so you may want to consider an external SSD. drive to download anything that is not next generation 2. Of course you will lose speed and for me the 512 gigabyte internal drive is the biggest drawback of the hardware; You'll need to spend $219 for the additional one-terabyte SSD module. but now that will put it in Xbox Series I hope that becomes more competitive even so.

I love the SSD in the series because it is truly a next-generation feature. Turning on an Xbox after a reboot takes about two seconds. Quick Resume allows you to continue a game from a suspended state almost instantly. I have up to four games that are suspended and quickly resumed. I didn't think I'd be good at a feature like this because generally speaking I tend to only play one game at a time, but as I was testing the Xbox Series for this review I noticed that I was using the quick resume feature quite regularly. For example, I can exit a game I'm playing and load Ori and the will of the Wisps and as you can see it goes straight back into the game with just a few seconds delay, this feature is great and offers up to four resume slots quick and if you are wondering why there are only 360 gigabytes available out of a maximum of 512 gigabytes of storage, this is the most likely reason why you think of the save states used in Emulation, the idea and concept are exactly the themselves and this explains why more than 100 gigabytes of space are lost in the operating system.

Microsoft has also talked about smart delivery. This is simply a delivery system that allows you to play the best version of the game. the console you own on paper. I had questions about this, it sounds like marketing nonsense, but there are some interesting things to note, for example, when testing Forza Horizon 4 during the making of this review, the Xbox Series X version is 81.9 gigabytes. for the entire game on the Xbox Series is down to 71.4 gigabytes, meaning you're only getting resources for the game you need. Forza Horizon 4 is on the list of next-gen ready titles for the series and during the making of this review I took a closer look at the performance as you can see that it is smoother and locked at 60 frames per second running at 1080P or 1440p, but it's a 1080p 60fps title that's truly considered next-gen.

Let's consider another example from Gears 5. This is another one. game that has a next-gen update patch and in Xbox Series multiplayer supports 120 frames per second and when tested runs well on a $299 system. It's quite surprising to see this level of performance in single-player mode - it's aiming for 1440p at 60 frames per second and also achieves it thanks to the power of the Zen 2 architecture - but to be honest, we'll have to wait for more patches. next generation available for third party titles, but I think the general rule is whatever the series. X, can this s series match it, albeit at a lower resolution?

We may see some flashes of Brilliance and a promise of good things to come, but will those eight gigabytes of RAM really be a factor? It's hard to answer that right now with the next generation we will undoubtedly see games that consume more resources and the floodgates will open soon. It remains to be seen if the series can swim alongside the X series or drown. Yakuza like a dragon is a title that has received some attention recently. Performance mode runs the game at 60 frames. per second, but to seal the deal you have to reduce the resolution to 900p, high resolution mode reduces the frame rate to 30 frames per second but increases the resolution to 1440p, which looks quite sharp, there may be some concerns that the series doesn't have the power to run everything at 60 frames per second at 1080p, but this really isn't the fault of the hardware which is more than capable.

Games still require their engines to be optimized and scalable and the Dragon engine is an example of that, unfortunately at the time. At the time of this review, we weren't able to test some additional next-gen titles because the patches hadn't come out yet, so if you want more details on the performance of the next-gen S series, I recommend you wait and get a feel for it. how these games work. will work once these patches are available but let's talk about one of the best reasons to buy an Xbox series s and that is to bring your library of existing Xbox games through backwards compatibility and this will be a great focus for the Xbox of next-gen I've spent many hours testing backwards compatible games, from early OG Xbox games to enhanced Xbox One titles, and there's a lot to cover here, both good and bad, so let's first look at how good the series actually gets.

Xbox. Backwards compatibility updates such as increased resolutions to 1080p, you can also increase the frame rate, add automatic HDR and add general performance stability from the start, almost all Xbox One sub 1080p titles get a boost to 1080P and the Frame rates are smoothed out. Sunset Overdrive, for example, on the Xbox Series frames does. a much more enjoyable experience, but let's up the ante, what about Hydro Thunder and the 360 ​​Xbox Live arcade game from Vector and Sega unit? This was an arcade racing game that ran at 30 frames per second on the 360. On the s series not only does a resolution upgrade also increase your frame rate from 30 to 60 frames per second and it is absolutely glorious.

Take a look for yourself. What happens on the OG Xbox? The Star Wars Republic Commando game does not work well in backwards compatibility. on the Xbox One X, but on the Xbox series, at leasttwo hours after playing, I've played, it's exclusive at 1080P and it doesn't seem to break a sweat running at 60 frames per second and talking about the original Xbox, how? about Ninja Gaiden black booster at 1080p 60 frames per second and the game looks phenomenal on the series hardware in general, every OG Xbox title I've tried is improved on the Xbox series in some way with the addition of Auto increased resolution HDR or boost the frame rate to make them pop in a way you've never experienced before on the Xbox Series part, the series is maintained. steady at 60 with only a very slight and occasional drop in frame rate to 59 and 50 88 this is only limited to indoor scenes with lots of NPCs.

Another Xbox 360 title that had trouble maintaining its frame rate is Metal Gear Rising Revengeance with mine or something like that. hours of gameplay in the game, runs smoothly at 60 frames per second at 1080p. Another 360 title that didn't come close to locking at 60 frames per second was Ninja Gaiden 2. On 360 it was roughly around 45 frames per second. second, on the Xbox one VCR it was hovering between 50 and 60 FPS, but it's certainly not a lock on the Xbox series, it's locked at 60 and no matter what I do I can't get that frame rate to go down, but what What if you don't mind?

Backwards compatibility for OG Xbox and 360 titles is still impressive before I show you these numbers, keep in mind that I haven't played all of these games so I can't promise a fixed experience, but the first few hours of play show impressive performance . Next-gen Xbox One titles like Ace Combat also take advantage of processing and hit those magical C 60 frames per second in many areas where it was never close on Xbox One, and with that almost every Xbox One title I tried in the series with an uncapped frame rate reached the 60 FPS mark, but there is a Some disadvantages of the series are backward compatibility because the system considers the Xbox One S as its predecessor.

Some games like Final Fantasy XV rise of the Tomb Raider and Sakura do not include performance mode options, so all three games were maxed out. at 30 frames per second this is a bit disappointing and I wish Microsoft would patch these titles to incorporate performance mode options like the series should because it's more than capable of handling them even if you're coming from the Xbox One S or the series VCR s won't disappoint, so yes, the bottom line on backwards compatibility is that you won't get 4k and in some cases you'll miss out on performance mode options, but what you get here is nothing short of believable on a machine. 299.

The feature I tried that worked very well was remote play: you can pair your Xbox series with your phone through the companion mobile app and then simply connect a Bluetooth controller to play on your mobile device, the lag definitely exists, but I guess it's minimal and this is the same technology that powers the Microsoft Project xcloud streaming service that is still in beta. Remote play is nothing new, of course, PlayStation has been doing this for years, but I appreciate the ease of setup and user experience. The latest thing is heat and noise, which is why many media outlets are reporting claims that the Xbox Series overheating got hot and could heat up your apartment and other such nonsense.

What about the Xbox series? Well, I took a thermal camera and after two hours of playing Watchdog Legion. I can report that the heat and thermals too, within an acceptable range, the temperature on the fan reaches 121 degrees Fahrenheit or about 50 degrees Celsius, there is definitely no throttling and the best news is that the system is super quiet. I literally can't hear it over the ambiance. noise in my office here, super quiet and cool, just the way I like a game console. Microsoft wins points here for good engineering and now that the embargo is lifted, we'll open the system in a future episode, so stay tuned for that overseas.

So, in conclusion, the Xbox Series S is a little machine that packs a ton of power with backwards compatibility and a Game Pass subscription. It is unparalleled in terms of value for money. If you have reserved one, you can rest assured. happy with the hardware a fast SSD speed architecture smart delivery fast resume backward compatibility these are not buzzwords these are real features that Microsoft has delivered the only real drawbacks for me are the 360 ​​gigabytes of storage you will get and the lack performance mode options in some games I wanted to review the Xbox Series because I think it was the more interesting system of the two and I can absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to move up to the next generation but doesn't want to spend $499.

Unfortunately, doing so now, I wasn't able to try out some next-gen games that Microsoft gave me because we are still waiting for the next-gen patches to appear, for example, Watchdog's Legion and Assassin's Creed Valve, those patches will appear. at a later date and if there is anything interesting to share with you, I will definitely do so in a future episode, but I am very impressed with the hardware. I love these small form factors. I love speed architecture. the fast SSD, the fast summary, all of that works as advertised and honestly it's an absolute game changer and along with backwards compatibility it was something I spent many hours personally testing because as you know I'm a Big fan of sponsor compatibility, I thought. the experience was great and I think the most important thing about the Xbox Series s, if I had to sum it up in a few words, is the exact same experience that you'll get on the Series X, albeit at a lower resolution and if you think about it, so you know what to expect, so I'm very impressed with the hardware.

I applaud Microsoft for launching the series. It was a gamble for them, no doubt about it, but I think it will pay off for them in the future. Long term, well guys, we'll leave it here for this video. Thank you very much for watching. If you like this episode, give me a thumbs up and I'll see you in the next video. Goodbye for now.