The Xbox Series X: A Closer Look at Microsoft's Latest Console

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This is the Xbox Series X, and I've spent a lot of time with this console this year. So, let's take a closer look at what Microsoft's latest and greatest console has to offer. Spoiler alert, this is really the Xbox 1.5 - but it's not necessarily a bad thing. There's a whole lot to unpack here before we get into the unboxing.

Now, on the back of the console, we've got the well, oh, that's you can't play that yet, can you? Oh, no, I think it's time to open up the Series X. Whoa, whoa, yo, that is an unboxing experience, holy! I've waited so long for this, so we have the hardware, and we also have what I assume are our cables, controllers, that kind of stuff.

So, we have an HDMI cable - now unlike a lot of times when you're unboxing and go "what ever you actually are probably gonna wanna use this" because this is a high-speed HDMI 2.1 cable. Now any HDMI will work with the Series X; in fact, any TV pretty much will work with the Series X but to get those high frame rates, 8K, all that kind of stuff, you're gonna want an HDMI 2.1 cable like the one they've very kindly included.

So definitely hold on to this one. There we go, that's our Xbox box now - wanna take a look at our Xbox box? And that my friends is a retail model of the Xbox Series X; now of course, this is a little bit more PC-like than most consoles, so it is a vertical design.

Although I will mention, you can drop it on its side, so it does have four little rubber feet - so you can use it like this. But up front, it's pretty straightforward. You have a USB A port, your controller button; the power button as well as your 4K Blu-ray drive.

So, this will accept discs from the original Xbox, from the 360 and the Xbox One, as well as your DVDs, Blu-rays all that kind of stuff. But around back we've got a decent amount of ports - including our HDMI, power, Ethernet, two more USB-A for total of three, as well as the storage expansion module.

Up top, you'll see the big fan itself; so that is the only fan in the entire Xbox Series X; but we have done an entire video talking about the overheating potential or rather the lack thereof, which you guys can feel free to check out.

So now I think it's time plug it in and take a closer look at exactly what you get with the Xbox Series X for this generation. Going into this generation, one of the main differences between these Series X and the previous generations is in speed.

So yes, the Xbox Series X is the most powerful console of all time; beating out course, all the previous Xboxes but even slightly beating out the PlayStation Five. But when you look at the gameplay, it looks nice; it looks better - but we're not seeing the kind of massive leap that we've seen with previous generations, right?

I think going from PS2 to PS3 for example; a part of this is because the Xbox Series X as well as the little brother this Series S are powered by the Xbox Velocity Architecture which is code for an SSD.

Now there are certainly doing some stuff on the backend to actually able to sort-of fire hose that data straight from your SSD onto the graphics. So, there's a lot that they're doing; but generally this is sort of bringing the console's at parity to what the PC space has had for a long time.

It's one thing to talk about how fast the console is; but it's really good a good sense of it - let me give you a little bit of a load time comparison. So here I have

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This is the Xbox Series X,I've spent a lot of timewith this console this year.So let's take a closerlook at what Microsoftlatest and greatest console is all about.Spoiler alert, this is really the Xbox 1.5that's not necessarily a bad thing thoughthere's a whole lot to unpack herebefore we get into the unboxing.Now and on the back, we've got the well,oh, that's you can'tplay that yet, can you?Oh, no, I think it's timeto open up the Series X.Whoa, whoa, yo, that is anunboxing experience, holyI've waited so long for this,so we have the hardware,we also have what I assumeare our cables, controllers,that kind of stuff.So we have an HTMI cable,now unlike a lot of timewhen you are unboxing and go whateveryou actually are probablygonna wanna use thisbecause this is a highspeed HDMI 2.1 cable.Now any HDMI will work with the Series X,in fact any TV pretty muchwill work with the Series Xbut to get those high frame rates, 8K,all that kind of stuff, you'regonna want an HDMI 2.1 cablelike the one they've very kindly includedso definitely hold on to this one.There we go, that's our Xbox boxnow, wanna take a lookat our Xbox box Xbox boxand that my friends is a retailmodel of the Xbox Series X,now of course, this is alittle bit more PC likethan most console, soit is a vertical design.Although I will mention,you can drop it on its side,so it does have four little rubber feetso you can use it like this,but up front it's pretty straightforward.You have a USB A port,your controller button,the power button as wellas your 4K Blu-ray drive.So this will accept discsfrom the original Xbox,from the 360 and the Xboxone, as well as your DVDs,Blu-rays all that kind of stuff.But around back we havea decent amount of ports,including our HDMI, power,ethernet, two more USB-Afor total of three, as well asthe storage expansion module.Up top, you'll see the big fan itself.So that is the only fan inthe entire Xbox Series X,but we have done an entire videotalking about the overheating potentialor rather the lack thereof,which you guys can feel free to check out.So now I think it's time plug it inand take a closer lookat exactly what you getwith the Xbox SeriesX for this generation.Going into this generation,one of the main differencesbetween these Series Xand the previous generations is in speed.So yes, the Xbox Series Xis the most powerful consoleof all time, beating outof course, all the previous Xboxesbut even slightly beatingout the PlayStation Five.But when you look at thegameplay, it looks nice,it looks better,but we're not seeingthe kind of massive leapthat we've seen withprevious generations, right?I think going from PS2to PS3, for example.A part of that isbecause the Xbox Series Xas well as the littlebrother this Series Sare powered by the XboxVelocity Architecture,which is code for an SSD.Now there are certainly doingsome stuff on the backendto actually able to sortof fire hose that datastraight from your SSD unto the graphics.So there's a lot that they're doingbut generally this is sort of bringingthe console's at parityto what the PC spacehas had for a long time.It's one thing to talk abouthow fast the console isbut it's really good a good sense of it,let me give you a little bitof a load time comparison.So here I have "Watch Dogs: Legion"a game which is optimized,for not only the original Xbox One S and Xbut also of course has a portfor the Series S and the Series Xand the difference is massive.Whereas these new consoles canload it in about 21 seconds,the previous generation consolesare over a minute and 10 seconds,that is a massive difference.Same thing goes for othertitles such as Gears 5while yes on the Series X and Syou're loading in 10, 11 seconds.The previous generation of consolesthey're 52 seconds and a minuteand one second respectively.Same story for "Dirt 5",you're looking at 12 secondson these new consolescompared to 40 and 42 secondson the Xbox Onethat is something that you will noticeevery time you load a game.Now, when it comes time toplay games on the Series X,generally titles will fallinto a couple of categories.First of all, there'sbackwards compatible gamesthese are titles that would already workon the previous Xbox One.So things like originalXbox games, 360 games,Xbox One games, they'll runat least as well on Series X,if not better than they did before.Next, there's a series of gameswhich supports Smart Deliveryso generally these are Xbox One gamesthat are being optimized for the Series X.So take, for example, "Forza Horizon 4"that is a game whichgets some improvementsbut most importantly, will run at 4k at 60on the Series X with that patchof course comes free of charge.The same thing goes fora lot of other titles"Gears" is a good onewhere not only does it getimproved quality settings, 4K60,but importantly it alsosupports 120FPS in multiplayerlike another example of an Xbox One gamewhich is just being modifiedto work on these consoles.Now, outside of that, there'sa another category of gameswhich is not an officialcategory, but for me,they're more of the games that can trulytake advantage of this hardware.So things that really takeadvantage of the Ray tracing,for example, now "Dirt5" is one of the games,as well as "Watchdogs Legion"that are technicallySeries X native games.They're not just like patchedbut these are the earlygames from the generation.As always, I expect thingsto improve over timewith these games are taking advantageof things like that Ray tracingto push the envelope on graphics a bit.But that being said, when youlook at the console generationthat we're coming intowith the Xbox Series Xand the PS5,there's not a killer feature yet, right?None of these gameslook like they're truenext gen powerhouses.They look a little bit betterwhere you really noticed that differencebesides stuff like theloading times is the fluidity.The idea that we will see many more gamesrunning at 60FPS is great, 4k60is a very smooth experienceand at this point I wouldsay the majority of peoplewho were buying theseconsoles already have 4k TVs.If you don't then can Iintroduce you to my friendthe Xbox Series S, whichwe'll be doing a much,more in-depth video on soon.So make sure to stay tunedbut that is a consolewhich is a little more focused at 1080Pand sub 4k resolutions.But the idea of you'regetting these games,which will look a little bit betterand will ideally lookeven better in the futureBut importantly, they'rerunning quicker, smootherand you have the ability torun it even higher frame ratesup to 120 FPS.So for a good exampleof how the frame rate can impact your gamerunning at 30 FPS means thatyou get a brand new framedisplayed on your TVevery 33.3 millisecondsyou run it 60 FPS, you get a new frameevery 16.7 milliseconds.However, if you're running at a 120 FPSyou get a new frame,every 8.3 milliseconds.Now I don't need to tellyou the difference betweenseeing someone walk around the cornerand eight milliseconds versus33 can make a huge difference.Now only just for you to be able to reactbut also for your controllerto be able to respond, right?These kind of differencescannot only just look great, right?I mean, obviously thegame looks super smooththere's a reason whymost phones these dayshave higher refresh rate displaysbut also you have that performanceinside these new consoles.Now, I don't want to giveyou the wrong idea herethe Xbox Series S can runsome games at 120 FPS,the PlayStation 5will absolutely run games at 120 FPSand in fact, we've done an entire videotalking about the TVs you need to getbecause most TVs todaywill not support these high refresh rates.But the nice thing about thisnew generation of consoles isit is pretty much baked in from the start.So what you're looking at here,if I'm just to give you the topline of the whole experiencegoing to next gen is not necessarily gamesthat look a lot better, right?From the graphics, thereare certainly improvementsand there's more to come.What you're really going to seeis in the speed of the load timesand just how fast everything moves as faras the interface goesand just simply how smooth the games run.You should expect a higherlevel of performancefor the vast majority ofgames this time around,you know, all those 30FPS games are gonna be 60.All those old 60 FPSgames are gonna be 120with some caveats here and there,but it's a differentkind of generational leapthan what we've seen in the past.When you look at the Series X controller,this looks very similar to the Xbox Oneand I think the theme hereis very much evolution.So if you look at somethinglike the DualSense controlleron the PS5this is a much more thorough re-imaginingof what a controller can donow of course make sure tosubscribe to the channelfor a lot more on the PS5,as well as the DualSense.But speaking specificallyabout this Series Xthere are a couple of major improvements.First of all, it now uses a USB-C portit also has a new texturegrip on the handles.These shape has beenslightly redesigned comparedto the Xbox oneso it's a little morefriendly to smaller hands.You have a new share button aswell as a much improved D-padbut generally speaking,this is very similar tothe Xbox One controllerand in fact, you actuallycan use this on the Xbox Oneand vice versa,if you already have anyXbox One controllers.They will work right out ofthe box with the Series Xand of course, all of thisis compatible with the PCas well as things like your phone as well.Now there are some underthe hood improvementson the Series X controller.So things like latency hasbeen improved specifically whenyou're using with thesebrand new consoles,but generally speaking,if you like an Xbox One controller,you'll like the Series X verymuch a Xbox 1.5 controller.If I do say so myself,which considering that Iliked the Xbox One controllermore than pretty much anythingelse, not a bad thing,but it's not quite as ambitiousit's something like the DualSense.- If it ain't broke, don't fix it.- It's a great great pointunless you can fix it better.So if you'll humor me for a second,let's say that the Xbox Series X reallyis that Xbox 1.5, right?So while yes, a lot ofthings are very similarthere are some major improvementsthat have been happeningthis console generation.They just simply won't bereplicated into the futureand honestly, this is really the backboneof gaming for the nextfive, six, seven years plus.So the thing is whilecertain aspects of technologyand of gaming are evolvingat a super fast pace,you look at graphics, right?Which, I mean, this isalmost 10 times more powerfulthan the Xbox One when it first came outwhen it comes to graphics,but then you look at the memorywhich is barely twice as much, right?Certain things scale atdifferent sort of ratesand the last generationquite simply was prettyconservative, right?I mean, the graphics were okay,but those last gen consoles,weren't all that powerfulwhen you compare them toeven a mid-range PC of 2013.When you compare that to today,when you build a fairlyhigh end gaming PC,you're actually looking atroughly equivalent specs,the Xbox Series X and the PS5,that bodes well going into this generationbecause you have thatbaseline of performancebecause let's not forgetthe vast majority of gamesout there are designedwith the console's in mindfirst and PC second, right.And while yes, I will saythat there are certainlysome aspects which feel verymuch like a quicker Xbox Onebut there's also not reallya lot of time to think backon those old days of going from PS1 to PS2or PS2 to PS3, right?There's lots of differentpeople who buy consolesbut at the end of the dayI think one of the most important thingsis that things are moving forward, right?And I think it's hard toargue that the Xbox Series Xdoesn't move things forwardin a pretty major way.It might not be as flashy as the PS5,It might not have thattrick new controller,the PS5 does,it might not be as cheapas the Xbox Series Sbut if you are someone who is interestedin the Xbox One,if you were someone who wasinterested in a game consoleto play actual games on,unlike some other devices thatpretend to be game consoles,then it's hard to go wrongwith the Xbox Series X.I mean that in a real way, right?It's easy to get caught upin the speeds and feeds,it's easy to get caughtup in the millisecondand the megahertz,but ultimately the Xbox SeriesX is a refined, quicker,and ultimately a console thathas a whole lot more potentialthan the Xbox One ever did.