In many ways, the new Xbox One S is the physical embodiment of Microsoft’s efforts to reconnect with the core gamer. Gone are the functional, plate-like set-top box aesthetics of the original hardware and come a fresh new design. Yes, it’s smaller, lighter, more refined – but most importantly, this is a piece of hardware that isn’t ashamed of what it is or trying to be something different; it’s a beautifully designed game console and a marked improvement over the launch model in almost every way.
There’s a lot to love here – the integration of the multi-voltage power supply into the main chassis is welcome, of course, while the sturdier plastics don’t attract hairline scratches to the same extent as its predecessor’s shiny bits. The revised USB port placement makes more sense, the lack of a Kinect port isn’t really missed, and the ability to lay the console horizontally or stack it vertically is a great feature to have. Oh, and Microsoft has bundled the stand into the package – so there’s no extra blackout for what’s essentially an extra bit of plastic. There’s even a high-speed HDMI cable in the box, good to have for a 4K UHD 60Hz connection.
Also notable is the addition of a revised Xbox One controller, which shares the rougher matte plastic of the main console, allowing for higher purchase levels. It just feels better in the hand, with Microsoft also reworking the thumbsticks for less wear and tear – not really an issue in our experience, but nice nonetheless. Plus, a new Bluetooth radio allows for easier wireless connectivity to Windows PCs, while preserving its own custom connection to Xbox One hardware – it works on consoles old and new.
All of this on its own is more than enough for what you might call an ‘Xbox One Slim’, except Microsoft has gone a step further here. The machine’s smaller size is a factor in the old 28nm processor being replaced with a 16nm FinFET chip, which means lower power consumption and less heat – a fact confirmed to us in the Xbox’s exclusive tech interview. One S of today. The process scaling requires a complete redesign of the architecture – an opportunity Microsoft has taken to add functionality, something we never saw in the previous console generation.
So yes, it is now 4K enabled. Plug the Xbox One S into a UHD display and it will ask you if you want 3840×2160 output by default. The display area in the Settings app has been revamped with the ability to switch between 720p, 1080p, and 4K output. In the advanced settings, the Xbox One S conveniently tells you which advanced display features are available with your chosen screen – a useful readout given the vast array of different features typically crammed into the cutting-edge 4K displays, and also serves to confirm that older 30Hz 4K TVs are not supported.
The Xbox One Blu-ray app – downloaded from the Microsoft Store – is getting an upgrade and will support the new UHD discs that are now hitting the market. In addition, Netflix 4K and the limited range of HDR content are also supported. We’ll be exploring the Xbox One S’s expanded media functionality in a future feature, but for now it’s safe to say it works well, but there’s room for improvement. Dolby Vision HDR is not supported (HDR10 is the preferred format and to be honest there are very few screens embracing the Dolby system), but more pressing is the lack of bitstream audio functionality, allowing next-gen audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS are excluded: X.
Also a bit frustrating is the lack of HDR gaming content we get to test for this review, meaning we weren’t able to try out one of the machine’s most promising features. Microsoft didn’t want to provide the demos for Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4 that we saw at E3 that came across as really impressive. At this point, all we can say is that HDR gaming is coming and the first impressions look promising.
In the here and now, the upscaling from 1080p to 4K is competent, but could be better. By hooking up the Xbox One S to a 58-inch Panasonic DX750, we noticed that the UI was better scaled up to 4K using the screen’s scaler compared to the Xbox One S’s efforts (yes, the front-facing). end is not a native UHD).
| Xbox One S | Xbox One | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1.75GHz AMD Jaguar eight-core | 1.75GHz AMD Jaguar eight-core |
| GPU | 12 units of account | 12 units of account |
| GPU clock | 914MHz | 853MHz |
| Math performance | 1.4TF | 1.31TF |
| ESRAM bandwidth | 219GB/s | 204GB/s |
We’d love to see a 4×4 scaler mode added – it’s basically a simple ‘nearest neighbor’ upscale, but it works well because 4K is a simple 2x scale in both directions compared to full HD. The feature is supported on our Panasonic DX750, and by range it’s definitely better for gaming than both the Xbox One S and the DX750’s own standard upscaler.
All things considered, the 4K addition is a great ‘value addition’ to the Xbox One S, and while media app support is thin at the moment (we’ve heard Amazon is coming – but Plex would be really nice), the bottom line is that the lion’s share of UHD video content, especially in the field of HDR, comes from the new series of Blu-rays. The lack of support for bitstreaming here is puzzling, but we’re told it will be in a future update. All in all, if you’re considering a UHD Blu-ray player, the fact that you’re getting one integrated into the Xbox One S makes it a significant value proposition.
So by moving to a new 16nm FinFET processor, Microsoft is updating its media decoding blocks and adding the required HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 support to interface with new UHD displays. However, Microsoft went further. To support HDR gaming while handling traditional outputs for GameDVR, streaming and screenshots, a GPU boost was needed to get the job done. Xbox One S sees an increase in clock speed from the ‘stock’ 853MHz to 914MHz in the new console – a 7.1 percent increase. And curiously, Microsoft has enabled the ‘overclock’ for all applications.
As we explain in detail in our Xbox One S GPU benchmark analysis elsewhere, this allows games to better meet their 30fps/60fps targets and while most people probably can’t tell the difference, it’s there and essentially makes for a more refined look. , slightly smoother gaming experience: fewer drops from 60 fps and less tearing. And despite the overclocking, the Xbox One S is indeed significantly more power efficient than its predecessor. In our tests, it pulls 25 to 40 percent less juice from the wall, depending on the application.
We compared the Xbox One S to original hardware in a number of tests – using a disc-based game (where the disc keeps spinning) and a digital download (where it doesn’t). Plus, we’ve stacked the power consumption when playing media — especially the Blu-ray player — and added some Xbox One S-specific tests for UHD BD playback.
And while we were running these tests, we also broke out the sound meter to measure the acoustics of the new console compared to the launch version. We placed the gauge right next to the machine, so don’t take these numbers as representative of experience, but rather rely on them as a point of comparison between the two iterations of Microsoft hardware. As things stand, the bottom line is clear: The new console has significant energy efficiency benefits over the older model thanks to the process shrinkage, but the trade-off is a louder machine—most likely due to the reduced form factor.
Usually we notice a 3dB increase in noise from the Xbox One S – a bit disappointing for a media credentials machine, where we would really like the most discreet experience possible. However, the noise factor of 42-44dB is still a huge improvement over PlayStation 4, which is up to 10dB louder under load. Xbox One S is still a bigger console than its Sony competitor, but it houses a bigger cooling unit and simply put, a bigger fan that spins slower makes less noise.
Console noise is indeed more noticeable in the room compared to the older model, but overall it’s still a relatively quiet machine. That said, one thing we did notice is that UHD Blu-ray playback seems to be a little louder than standard BDs – and we wonder if the disc needs to spin faster to read higher bit rate video, resulting in more noise.
| Power/Acoustics | Xbox One S Power | Xbox One Power Supply | Xbox One S Noise | Xbox One noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Cars (Disc) | 79W | 109W | 47dB | 44dB |
| Tomb Raider (digital) | 74W | 108W | 45dB | 42dB |
| Play Blu-ray | 37W | 61W | 47dB | 43dB |
| UHD Blu-ray Playback | 44W | – | 49dB | – |
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