The 'Carbon Black' Xbox Series S Is Out Today, Here's Your First Real-Life Look

I like the all black look much better. Plus, the increased storage is awesome. Owning the original series s, the storage is one of my only gripes.

I understand they wanted to distinguish the Series S visually, but it looks so much sleeker in black. Very tempted to grab an S now for my office.

I think anyone would be best paying the extra get the series x if they can afford to be honest

@Dan1283 i 100% agree but lots of people can’t afford it and it’s way harder to find still than the S. Or people have PS5’s and they want a cheap S to play a handful of Xbox exclusives. I have a Series X in my Media room on a 65inch LG Oled with the surround sound setup etc etc. but sometimes the wife and kid want to use that room and setup for a movie. So i was thinking of adding another Xbox to the 55 inch Lg Oled in the downstairs living room for me. It would be nice to just throw a S down there and have it be less visible and of course it will see way less play time. But the issue i have is i bought TV’s that are power hungry. I have up to date tech in the house and feel like the S is just to underpowered to make the money spent on one seem worth it. I would probably return it within a day and be happy to give extra money for the X.

@HonestHick I agree.

The S was a dubious proposition back in 2020 imo.

And now less than 3 years on, we have a situation where even the Series X can't run some games at 60fps, Sony are bringing out a PS5 Pro next year with something near 20 TFLOPs, and PCs are moving incrementally ahead as they do.

I can't see a place for the underpowered S right now let alone in a year's time.

But is this Series S capable of running a game with the specs of a Nintendo Switch game? That would be the true, real improvement over the white Series S.

@Dan1283 EXACTLY!!! Better investment in EVERY way possible.

@HonestHick like you say the s is good mostly for the price of it and it's the cheapest way play current gen games but the series x is future proof going forward and we are starting to see inferior versions of games on series s buy it's still a great option either way just for me the series x is always better

@HonestHick Totally understand what you are saying and I get it. But in reality Series S (now) is $349. The Series X (if no price increase) is $499. For goodness sake if spending that much already, drop the other $150 just to be able play a game without dealing with the crap. Plus, I truly believe at some point in this gen Microsoft will have come to a point and start to separate from the Series S. It is absolutely holding back Xbox this gen.

@GuyinPA75 I fully agree and in the next year or so we will see a difference and Microsoft will have drop series s I can't honestly see series s running hellblade 2

For me, I like the white one more

Like some here have said you're better off saving for a bit more and buying a Series X to be more future proof, I'm sure some here are already starting to see the warning signs with the S better to be safe

@Pranwell I agree wholeheartedly. I know 8K is barely a thing yet, but they do sell the TV’s currently in the marketplace. It’s hard to buy a TV right now that isn’t 4K. So unless MS thinks people are buying Series S’s for 1080P and 1440P monitors, i just don’t see where it fits. As for the PS5 Pro and its power, i am personally afraid of that thing, hear me out first. Not only cause i think it will be a huge marketing advantage over the lesser S/X models. But because of people like me. People like me have some but limited amount of interest in a gaming PC. I am fortunate enough that i could afford a great build if i wanted to. But i am an Apple user and prefer consoles and own all 3. I don’t want the driver issue and troubleshooting issues when i just want to sit down and play. Consoles just work. I am not a PC user so i would guess i would be ignorant as the day is long in fixing the issues myself in a timely manner to enjoy my play session. But i like power, i like performance. So PRO consoles in 3-4 years is a plus for me. I can trade in my old base PS5 in this case and get almost double performance in the PRO. That fits a need of being power hungry and having a device that i can just turn on and know it will work. The issue i have is i wish it was Xbox doing the PRO model as i play all my games there cause i love the controller. The only thing stopping me from using my PS consoles of past and present is i dislike Sony controllers for a multitude of reasons. So it’s going to be hard to look at my Series X running 30FPS and Sony’s Pro running 60. Sorry for the rant, but this is going to be a hot topic of debate in 2024.

@Dan1283 Agreed, Series X is far far better for a little more coin. I really like the look of it as well in my setup. I am 270 hours in on Diablo 4 and it runs a smooth frame rate and looks great on a Oled TV with all the blacks and shadows. Can’t say enough good about the X. At some point this year i will grab another X for downstairs 😊

@GuyinPA75 i agree with spend the extra and get the X. But i am also in my mid 30’s and have enough money in my career that I can and $150 isn’t a big deal. For mom’s on a Christmas budget buying their 14 year old a Xbox, $150 might mean something different, so i can really say and Phil has said before he want’s console gaming affordable for those that want to join in on the fun. However i disagree they will discontinue the S. That would for one upset millions of gamers that bought one and now it’s just no longer supported. They will never buy another Xbox and surely go to PS and two the S is powerful enough to run most next gen games, just not well enough for power hungry gamers like us. The most played games are Fortnite, madden, FIFA and those all run good enough on the S for casuals. I won’t be surprised if we see lots of 1080P 30fps by the end of the gen on Series S. Even 900P for SF. But it will make it to the end cause it’s a PR nightmare for MS if it doesn’t.

It looks nice yes.

But it’s the wrong 3rd sku.

It really really should have been a discless X that was announced instead. MS has missed a trick. This ‘S’ is in no man’s land price wise. Not really budget as it’s close to the X and Ps5 but weaker.

I think MS should do a Xbox Series X digital for £400/$450. It would be the smartest way to get players onto a slightly more expensive console and get them into digital only.

They should drop the Series S in 512GB and the give the Carbon Black 1TB version a new price of £250/$299.

I brought a Series X yesterday after after having the Series S since launch. It served me well but as we hit the midpoint of this gen I felt it was time I upgraded.

@Dan1283 Yepperoni. You nailed it.

Already own two Series Xs. If I were to buy another, would be an X for sure. Not an S.

$500 vs $350.

$150 difference is not enough of a savings for a 67% slower GPU, 5.3% slower CPU, and 37.5% less RAM. Of which the high speed RAM is 60% slower while the low speed RAM is a whopping 84% slower.

@Darylb88 I think a series x digital edition without the disk drive would be a great idea because most people have an xbox because of gamepass £399.99 it would sell well

@HonestHick Not a rant at all, you're right. I'm in a similar boat, I'd almost certainly buy a PS5 Pro to have the most powerful (console) tech, same as you.

But what if a random game I really want is 'free' on Gamepass for my Series X but runs far better on the PS5 Pro? Then I either get annoyed at having to play an inferior version, or get annoyed at having to spend money for a game that is right there on Gamepass.

First world problems, of course.

@Pranwell first world problems yes. But a problem a giant rich tech company shouldn’t have. You gave a great example. That’s going to be tough. PS5 is rumored to be 20 TFLOPS. That’s double the PS5. So that should have very little issue hitting 60fps.

It's beautiful, I want it so much! Was planning to get my hands on one during an exchange I intended to do in Japan next year, but since it had to be postponed to 2025 I'll have to stick with my white Series S for quite some time yet...

It's just another Series S, but black. Nothing interesting.

Already have a Series S which I absolutely love. If I invest in another Xbox it will be the X

That's great and all, but what about a white Series X? 😜

Should have been this way from the start. Black consoles just look better. in a media centre.