The powerful Xbox is now officially available on the market since November 2020, and many units if not all are sold out, so getting a new one is almost impossible at the moment. Like the PS5, the resale market is already taking advantage and already pricing the new console well above its original price. However, it is not advisable to buy it at such inflated prices as more units are in production and will soon be available for sale. Also, the number of new generation games for this console is minimal, so waiting until 2021 to have proper material to take advantage of the Xbox series X is not unreasonable.
However, after several days of testing the console for many hours, we can get some initial impressions about the new generation.
First of all and going into the esthetic point of view, the console is a little bigger and heavier than its predecessor, but not as heavy and big as the PlayStation 5. Its design is quite square, which is why we saw many memes comparing the console with a mini-fridge. However, despite its not so daring design, it decorates very well next to the TV when placed vertically, since if placed horizontally, its circular base becomes visible to the side.
The console is quieter than expected, so the sound of the internal fan is almost imperceptible. Its grill at the top is responsible for removing the heat from the console, so by putting your hand on the top of it you can feel hot air coming out. Across various sources, it has been rumoured that the console is the one that generates the most heat and images with ventilation problems have been shown on social media. However, we placed the console under a thermal visor in normal conditions after playing for hours, and we measured that the console generates an average of 50 degrees, which is a normal temperature for a machine with these characteristics.
On the other hand, turning the Xbox series X on is a pleasure, since it is almost instantaneous to be on the main menu and also loading a game takes seconds. The reason is that its internal memory type SSD makes the console find the files quicker, unlike a noisy hard disk memory, and its powerful 8-core processor also contributes to this exceptional performance. Moreover, it is an aggregate value the fact that the console can jump from game to game immediately to a point where the game was left, no like before that it was necessary to close completely a game, for getting access to another.
Its internal memory is 1TB, so it will only be available over 800 gigabytes after having its operating system installed. Therefore, if you want to have multiple games saved in the internal memory, it will be a problem since this amount is very limited for the size of each game. So buying an external SSD memory with good speed is going to be quite necessary. Or you have to uninstall games to add new ones. Unfortunately, purchasing an official memory for the series X is quite expensive.
The image quality is wonderful if you have a 4K TV with console features such as HDMI 2.1 ports, low latency and the ability to reproduce images at 120 Hz. We liked that from the menu you can set the console to give priority to the smoothness of the game in its frames, or on the other hand to give priority to the image quality at the cost of sacrificing the number of frames. In fact, with some games that we tested, we noticed a lowered image definition when we prioritised frames. However, this reduction is perceptible if we pay a lot of attention to this aspect.
The Xbox series X controller may not be a real jump between generations that many of us expected. However, some improvements were made such as ergonomics, reduction in latency when pressing the buttons and the reaction of the game on the screen, and the inclusion of a third button in the middle. Many people have criticised the fact that the new controller continues to depend on removable batteries and not a rechargeable internal one. However, with the rechargeable batteries that we used, we could play more than expected, and we did not have to recharge them as much as the DualSense of the PS5 or even the PS4 pro DualShock.
A giant step that Microsoft undoubtedly took is its online service that for a reasonable monthly fee, you can have access to an extensive library, like a Netflix of games. We were able to access many titles from past generations and new ones. However, the number of games developed for the new Xbox series X is still limited, so if you get the new console, don't expect a lot of next-gen games available.
In conclusion, the Xbox X series is a console that really worth buying but at a fair price and not an exorbitant one. So, if you haven't got one yet, we advise you to be patient since 2021 is the year where you will really see titles that will squeeze the capabilities of this console. And very important, it is necessary to combine this console with a gamer tv so you can really perceive its real characteristics.
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