Xbox Series X|S Are Designed To 'Blend In With The Environment'

@Justifier i've tried to get used to it, i really have. the PS5 is one of the ugliest consoles i've ever seen. it's TERRIBLE lol

PS5 design is not only terrible, it’s huge size doesn’t convince me Sony is delivering good hardware. There were rumours they had cooling issues. Compared to its huge and terrible design, these rumours may be true.

I completely get what they were going for and I think the nailed it. Regardless of the "fridge memes that were poking fun at the Xbox Series X, I think they made a good design decision, and I was happy with the look from the get go. It will be a simple, good looking, powerful console on my tv shelf.

I really like the look of the X. It’ll look nice next to or under my tv. Not as big a fan of the S since it’s white but it still looks better than a PS5. That thing looks awful, especially laying flat.

@armondo36 it would look a lot better in black, but even then the actually shape of it is not good.

I'm going to rest my Series X next to the subwoofer beside my TV. Then again, my kids may destroy the disc drive (one of them did that with my X1, already).

I have a love-hate relationship with the PS5 Design. It's unique and the front looks nice. But the other sides look ugly and the thing is huge. It's a miracle that it can fit on my dresser.

Well considering Mr. Spencer hid the Series S on his book shelf; I think they did a good job.

I love the look of the Series X.

I’m not a fan of the big black dot on the Series S. It should have Xbox’s trademark X on it.

And the PS5 is a huge, hideous behemoth that looks like it’s trying too hard. It looks even worse laying on it’s side.

Wow, the SeS is soooo tiny! UwU!

@armondo36 @Justifier PS5 may be obnoxiously ugly..... but I still find it more charming than the PS4 "Eraser" that looks like a half finished scrap project from a 3D printer made out of recycled milk bottles. The plastic they used is so cheap it always looks used, with uneven coloring like someone tried to clean it with ammonia, even when you buy new.

Compared to that PS5 is modern art.

@NEStalgia

I liked the look of the original PlayStation & the PS3 slim.

Other than that, I have never liked the look of any PS console. But the PS5 takes the cake for me. Just a hideous monster piece of tech. 😂

Love both the Xbox designs, MS nailed it this time around for sure. I do like the PS5 design as well, much more interesting than any PS before it, and glad it's a bit different and not trying to do the same kind of thing as Xbox. The only thing is that I'm not a fan of the PS5 when it's lying horizontally, looks much better standing upright like a gaudy PC tower.

“Blend in with the environment” if they blend in then the current consoles blend in too

As a designer myself, I am so envious of what the Microsoft team pulled off with these consoles. They are easily my favorite consoles ever made from a design stand point. The philosophies that went into designing these consoles are the complete opposite of the PlayStation 5...I can't stand to look at that thing.

@KelticDevil I agree with you there. I never really liked any of the PlayStation designs besides the PS4 Slim, maybe. Then again, I never really liked any console design that much until pretty recently. The Series S and X, and Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite, are my favorites.

@Jslade

I am kind of the same. Xbox’s console designs have never super impressed me or disappointed me until the Series X. I love the look of it. I’m excited to have in sitting next to my TV.

I like most of Nintendo’s designs over the years. Except for the Gamecube that looks like a purple lunch box. Lol.

The ugly look of the PS5 went some distance on moving me to start the generation on Xbox for the first time, the one X is my first Xbox after 25 years of PS. The Xbox design is really good for function. One large fan pulling a lot of air through a tunnel with little impedance. I also think it looks great. Good modern minimalist design at its best.

The PS5 on the other hand, to my eyes, looks like a dyson reject screaming "Look at me, Look at me" Its style over substance. I'm sure they have a reasonable cooling solution in there but it's far from optimal.

It also helped the the X was the more powerful of the two by some way, when it comes to boost vs base clock speeds gaming is a marathon not a sprint. If your game is over a minute long that is

I love how they are unassuming. It's what I want in my electronics. Either be unassuming and blend in or be toy-like and fun, which is what the Switch is. I have to put in effort to find PC cases I don't despise thanks to all the dumb lights. I'm not 15 anymore, I do not find those things cool like I once did.

In the context of article the hand could have been turned around. The PS5 is large and the disk drive model looks even worse my bet is that Series X is still quieter. The series S is so small and X is a tower of power.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like you should be able to say to your Series S 'Hey Cortana/Alexa/Google, play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata' and expect to hear the music coming out of it....

LOL

@TooBarFoo What makes you so sure they have a reasonable cooling solution? The last Playstation that had a reasonable cooling solution was PS1, because it didn't need any cooling solution at all.

@BAMozzy LOL yeah. I can't believe just how small that thing is. It really looks like a mini-console. X360 Mini, plays 30 top XBox360 games and comes with 2 wired controllers! Or an Ouya. It doesn't look like it should be able to house a powerhouse significantly more performant than an X1X......but it does.

And then we contrast that to the other white console this generation....

@KelticDevil That's because PS1 was a modification of the Nintendo-designed Nintendo Play Station, which was itself a variation on the Super Famicom.

PS4 and PS2 remind me of each other. Both are generic looking "project box" type setups that always look like unfinished prototype with the same cheap, rough plastic. No design went into them at all, I think. Yet those were the two cheap, successful consoles.

PS3 Phat was actually pretty. It was huge. It was expensive, but it was actually a very pretty looking console. Probably the prettiest console I've owned short of X1X. PS3 slim was ok, but the fit & finish felt so cheap, again, compared to the Phat.

PS5....it's just..... They tried so hard to be abstract art. It's pretentious and over-designed. Yet also looks to be the cheapest possible build with the same junk materials as 2 and 4 (unlike the overbuilt PS3 Phat that was impeccably solid.) It looks like a PS3 Phat tried to breed with a launch X360 and that's the best that was possible, 14 years later....

But it's still prettier than the cheap, unfinished project box of 2 and 4.

@NEStalgia Yep, My PS4 Pro/jet engine was the reason I bought my first Xbox, One X. When I first saw the PS5 design I said thats it, no more PlayStation, another rocket engine. But then we found out about the size. With the GPU being overclocked to an inch of its life I'm presuming the size is all cooling. Generally, the larger the fan and cooler the less noise. But who knows. I don't think we have seen a PS5 in real life let alone heard one

@TooBarFoo Hah, yeah. People will tell you to just open the Pro and clean the fan! So simple! The PS4 Pro even has a snap-on top so you can open it up easier and clean it. Ever see the fan? It's like 8mm thick with a dozen blades. No wonder any trace of dust requires it to spin up like a drill, that thing can't displace much air even if immaculate! Why would they design it that way?!

I agree, I think 5, with that bulk, has to have a bigger fan and quieter cooling solution (of course they refuse to show us........) But it's still amazing their only solution to their problem was to just increase the case size by massive proportions. Cerny's a smart guy. I don't know how he's so hampered in these designs, while the XBox team comes up with these fantastic designs that are so simple it's hard to imagine how everyone else doesn't do it.

Meanwhile Nintendo puts a fan in a handheld and a solid piece of copper joining it all for $100 less than Sony.

Yeah, about that... Lol

@TooBarFoo I’ll be honest it’s the same for me. The PS5 in white is so ugly I kinda don’t want it sitting on my TV stand being an eyesore lol. The X being more powerful AND looking better has led me to get it first too. Not had an Xbox since the 360, bought my first Xbox game in 7 years yesterday and I can’t wait to get my hands on it

Xbox pope did several limited edition designs for the ps5 that looked very cool,and several different Xbox series x consoles that look amazing,I’m hoping for a good looking limited edition before I commit myself to one system or the other,I far prefer Xbox consoles though for performance