- Microsoft's making a big bet with 4k gaming
in the Xbox One X, but is it worth the hype?
Today we're gonna find out on our review.
Stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
When talking about the Xbox One X
you need to bring up all that fancy new hardware.
So let's get to it.
On board there's an eight-core
custom AMD CPU
that's clocked at 2.3 gigahertz
and it puts out six teraflops of power.
There's also 12 gigabytes
of GDDR5 graphic memory
and 326 gigabytes of memory bandwidth.
All that results in a 40% more powerful console,
at least according to Microsoft.
Rounding out some of that hardware of course
is the 4k UHD Blu-ray player.
There's also HDMI 2.0b on board for output
that also supports AMD FreeSync,
which is excellent.
There's also an HDMI In port that's 1.4.
You get three USB 3.0 ports
as well as Ethernet optical audio out
and a few other tidbits as well.
Finally for HDR support you get HDR 10,
but not Dolby Vision.
So make sure you get an appropriate TV
that supports that technology.
You also get DTS 5.1
and Dolby Digital 5.1 with Atmos support as well.
So you may be curious about the heat output
of this device.
After all it's a lot of power under one hood,
but no worries there.
Now there is a lot of heat
that comes out the back vents,
specifically in three different areas.
It's about a 150 degrees Fahrenheit
or 65 degrees Celsius of heat that comes out.
That's very hot,
but don't worry about the actual console.
The top of it stays very cool to the touch.
In fact it barely gets warm.
I'm very impressed.
Now not only is it cool,
but the fans themselves are exceptionally quiet.
So you're not going to hear any whirring
to distract you while playing video games.
Comparing the Xbox One X to its predecessor,
the One S there are some unique differences.
Now Microsoft claims the One X
is it's smallest console ever made
and there's some truth to that.
It is actually shorter than the One S
and it does have an overall smaller volume
but it is still a bit wider
and has a larger footprint.
So that's a little bit hard to wrap your head around.
We would just know the One X is pretty tiny.
In fact it's packed so tightly it's very dense
and there's no empty space on the inside
versus the One S w
hich clearly has a fan on top
and some empty space for cooling on board.
It makes the One S also slightly louder
compared to the One X
so I really like the design that they done here
and that's partially due to the surface team
being on board with the hardware design.
When it comes to internal storage,
the One S comes with many options,
including 512 gigabytes, one terabyte,
and two terabyte,
whereas the One X only has one terabyte
at time of sale.
Now all those are hard disk drives
which is a bit unfortunate.
I would have preferred the One X
to have a faster SSD on board
but that probably would have driven the cost up
beyond its 499 price point.
And having used all three of the Xbox One consoles,
there are a lot of similarities between them
and that familiarity is actually really nice
because it's not gonna be a jarring experience
when you pick up the One X.
Now aesthetically, they're very similar
but the One X does evolve a little bit,
but they all have basically the same port
and the same experience
and they run the same dashboard.
And that's a really nice thing.
In other words it's not gonna feel very different
when you plug in that One X.
It's going to feel a lot like the One S,
especially if you have that device.
That dashboard though does run a bit quicker
with the One X
and of course apps do launch a lot faster
as well as games.
Now for you real legacy users,
here is the One X compared
to the original XBox One
and you can see
there is a massive difference in size.
Don't forget the one
only has a standard DVD player
versus the Blu-ray,
but the One does have Kinect support
which of course the One S
and the One X have since ditched.
Alright let's get real
and talk about gaming on the Xbox One X.
So there are three different levels
we need to talk about.
There's actual 4k gaming.
So things like Gears of War 4
and Killer Instinct already support this.
Of course you'll need a 4k TV to appreciate that
and moreover I recommend
getting the largest TV you can afford.
And I do have to say 4k while nice,
is not as dramatic as when we went
from standard definition to full HD.
Now the second aspect is HDR
or high dynamic range.
So all that means is some aspects of your TV
will be super bright while others are super dark.
You need a special TV that supports this,
specifically HDR 10
as opposed to Dolby Vision.
Now luckily this format is really nice
and it doesn't depend on the size of your TV.
It's very dramatic.
You can have some games that support HDR
but don't support 4k and vice versa.
So you have to keep that in mind
when you're looking at games.
I will say though HDR it
looked really really impressive
but once you experience it,
it's hard to go back.
Finally the third aspect is called Xbox enhance.
It's a little bit weird.
Microsoft is saying any game
will run better on Xbox One X.
It'll just take advantage of the hardware
and just run smoother
and have better frame rates
and just look nicer through upscaling.
Now there's also another aspect to that
which is publishers can make their games
take advantage of that hardware
without going to 4k or HDR.
What that exactly means
is going to depend on each game
but I will say for the most part this is true.
Games just generally look really nice.
My play titanfall 2 for instance
which is getting updated later to 4k HDR,
it does look better running on the Xbox One X
with a higher frame rate.
There's another aspect here too
which is up to the game publisher
which is how much of the hardware
they want to leverage.
So for instance Gears of War 4 can run at 4k
or you can run at 60 frames per second
in the campaign which was not able
to be done before.
That is up to you.
You can go through a menu
and choose which experience you want.
And what's really nice about that
if you only have a full HD television
you can still run at 60 frames per second
in the campaign mode.
That gives gamers an option here.
If you don't have a 4k TV
you can still get a better gaming experience
with the Xbox One X,
something you can't do with the One S.
From my personal experience
4k gaming looks really nice,
but if I had to choose between it
or the higher framerate,
well I'm going to go for the higher framerate
at least if it's like a first-person shooter.
I hope more game publishers
will give users that option going forward as well.
And when it comes to media for instance,
Netflix or Amazon,
the One X basically performs the same as the One S.
You can still do 4k in HDR and Netflix
and it looks really nice.
I can't say there's necessarily
a performance difference in that experience
versus the One S.
Now when it comes to those games
Microsoft claims they'll be around 70 titles
at the time of the Xbox One X is launched
come November 7th.
A lot of those will be indie.
Some of those will be mid-range
and some of those are Microsoft studio titles
like Halo, Gears of War 4,
Killer Instinct and Minecraft.
Later on we can expect
Player Unknowns Battlegrounds
as well as Wolfenstein 2.
Altogether, there's a 150 titles
already announced so far
for the Xbox One X
that can leverage its power.
And while that's very impressive
I do agree with the criticism here
that there isn't a significant triple A launch title
that is coming with the Xbox One X.
That is a console exclusive.
Sony's been doing an excellent job
of getting console exclusives
and I wish Microsoft
would do a little bit more here
as I think it could really benefit the One X.
As a right now you're going to get a lot
of your previous games that will be updated to it
and leverage it support.
But there isn't anything really significant
that's launching right now.
Alright, so real talk.
What do I think of Xbox One X?
Well as a standalone console, it's really nice.
I like to design a lot.
I think it'd look great on any AV center.
And I don't see a lot of people complaining about it.
So that's excellent.
In terms of game performance
everything does really play nice on it.
Now is that worth $500?
That's going to be up to you
and it also is going to depned
on your TV and audio set up.
Obviously people who have 4k OLED TVs
at 65 inches are gonna really appreciate
what this box can do.
If however you have a 40 inch full HD TV,
well you can still get a lot of benefit there,
including higher frame rates for some games,
especially newer ones that are coming out.
Now if you like watching movies and TV on Netflix,
well the HDR support and 4k abilities are also great
but also depends on your TV as well.
And you can do a lot of that with the Xbox One S
which is $150 cheaper.
If however you were coming from the Xbox One
and you have to choose
between the One S and the One X,
I would still go for the One X.
After all it is more future-proofed
and there are some things here that are missing.
There's still no HDMI CEC support
which controls peripherals connected to the device.
Perhaps the other downside of course
is that there aren't a lot of launch titles here
and that is a bit of a downside
but what's nice is your entire game library
including stuff coming from the original Xbox 360
will be able to play on this.
I really enjoy the fact
that there's a lot of continuity here.
There's really no difference
between the Xbox One to One S and to One X
in terms of overall experience.
It's all very familiar.
What you're getting is a very powerful Xbox One S.
And that's okay.
We didn't really want
to have a new console generation.
We have to throw out all your old games
or worried about backwards compatibility.
Here I think Microsoft succeeds.
Don't forget this is a $500 console
but it does 4k gaming.
While the PC gamers
have been doing that for years,
they've always been paying a lot of money
for that experience.
The only downside I see here
is that you will eventually need to get a 4k TV.
Luckily those are dropping down in price
and I expect this holiday season
for them to come down even further.
Another downside to the One X
and all the Xbox One consoles
is there is no VR support.
Now I still find virtual reality a little bit gimmicky
or rather it hasn't found quite its niche yet.
Sony seems to be having success with its system
but not necessary convinced it's there yet.
Microsoft seems to want to have
a wireless system before they enable VR.
And I do expect something like that to happen
maybe in 2018 or 2019.
But if you're looking for an add-on
that is not here yet
and that's a bit of fortunate
considering Windows Mixed Reality just launched.
In conclusion I find the Xbox One X
to be a hit for Microsoft.
It's a solid device.
I don't have any fundamental flaws with it.
It's just held back by the lack of some triple-A titles,
something I hope to see rectified
going to 2018.
Now if you can't afford the One X,
I think the One S is still a very good alternative,
especially if you prioritize consuming media
over gaming.
If however gaming is your priority
well you can't go wrong with the Xbox One X.
So there's our quick review of the Xbox One X
which goes on sale November 7th.
Now if you want our full review
make sure you go to Windows Central.
It's Jeff Gordon has written that up
and has many more details.
If you like this video give us a thumbs up
and don't forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching.
Take care everybody.
Are we recording?
Ok sorry.
So there's our quick review of the Xbox One X
which goes on, wait yeah goes on sale
was it November 7th?