Look, the console wars have changed. It used to be about which box had the most "bits" or the loudest marketing. Now, it's basically a choice between raw, unadulterated power and "is this good enough for my living room?" If you’ve been looking at the Xbox Series X and Series S, you already know the specs are miles apart, but the actual experience is a bit more nuanced than a spreadsheet suggests.
I’ve spent thousands of hours across both machines since they launched. Honestly, the Series S is the most misunderstood piece of hardware Microsoft has ever released. People call it a "potato" or a "bottleneck" for developers, but then you see it running Forza Horizon 5 or Cyberpunk 2077 and you realize the little white box is punching way above its weight class.
The Reality of Power vs. Portability
The Xbox Series X is a beast. There's no other way to put it. You get that 12-teraflop GPU, a massive 4K Blu-ray drive, and enough cooling to keep a small apartment warm in the winter. It’s built for the person who owns a 75-inch OLED and refuses to see a single pixel out of place. If you’re playing on a high-end screen, the Series X is the only logical choice because it hits that native 4K target consistently.
But then there's the Xbox Series S.
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It’s tiny. Like, "fit it in a backpack and take it to a hotel" tiny. It lacks a disc drive, which is a dealbreaker for some, but in an era where Game Pass is the primary way people consume games, that's becoming less of a crisis. The Series S targets 1440p, though, in reality, many intensive titles like Alan Wake 2 or Starfield often scale down to 1080p or even lower to maintain a steady framerate. Is it noticeable? On a 27-inch monitor, barely. On a massive TV? Yeah, you'll see some softness.
What the Specs Don't Tell You
Marketing teams love to scream about Teraflops. It sounds cool. In practice, the biggest difference you actually feel day-to-day isn't the resolution—it's the storage. The Series X comes with a 1TB or 2TB internal SSD. The original Series S launched with a measly 512GB, which is basically three "Call of Duty" updates and a copy of "Halo." Microsoft eventually fixed this with the Carbon Black 1TB Series S, but if you’re buying the base model, you’re going to be deleting games constantly.
Velocity Architecture is the real hero here. Both consoles use it. This means load times are virtually identical. Whether you’re booting up Elden Ring on the $500 machine or the $300 one, you're waiting the same ten seconds. Quick Resume works exactly the same on both, too. You can jump between five different games right where you left off. It’s the kind of feature that makes it hard to ever go back to older consoles.
Why Developers Are Grumbling
You’ve probably seen the headlines. Some developers, like the folks over at Larian Studios during the Baldur’s Gate 3 launch, hit some snags with the Series S. The issue isn't the CPU—the Series S actually has a processor nearly as fast as the Series X. The problem is the RAM.
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- Series X: 16GB of GDDR6 memory.
- Series S: 10GB of GDDR6 memory.
That 6GB gap is huge when you’re trying to run split-screen co-op in a massive, reactive world. It forces developers to optimize more aggressively. Some say this holds the generation back. Others, like the engine teams at ID Software, argue that scalability is just part of the job. For you, the player, this just means some features might be missing on the cheaper console. If you want the "complete" version of every game with every bell and whistle, the Series X is your only lane.
The Hidden Costs of Going Cheap
The Xbox Series S is a gateway drug. It’s cheap to get in the door, but it can get expensive fast. Since there’s no disc drive, you are locked into the Xbox Digital Store. You can’t borrow a game from a friend. You can’t buy a used copy from a bin at a local shop. You are at the mercy of Microsoft's weekly sales.
Then there’s the expansion card. If you run out of space and want to buy the official Seagate or Western Digital expansion plug, you’re looking at $100 to $150. At that point, you’ve spent nearly as much as if you’d just bought a Series X in the first place. It’s a bit of a trap if you aren't careful with your library management.
Which One Should You Actually Buy?
It comes down to your "gaming personality."
If you are a "one game at a time" player who mostly plays FIFA, Madden, or Fortnite, the Xbox Series S is actually the smarter buy. You save $200, it looks sleek on a shelf, and it plays those games perfectly at 60 or even 120 frames per second. It’s the ultimate secondary console. Maybe you have a PS5 in the living room and you want a Series S in the bedroom for some quick Game Pass sessions? Perfect.
However, if you are a "hardcore" gamer—someone who counts frames, wants 4K HDR10, and collects physical media—the Series X is the only way to go. The 4K Blu-ray player alone is worth a chunk of the price difference if you’re a movie buff. Plus, the Series X is far more "future-proof." As we get deeper into this console cycle, the gap between the two is only going to widen as games get more demanding.
Practical Steps for Your Setup
Before you drop the cash, do these three things:
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- Check your TV: If you don't have a 4K TV with HDMI 2.1 support (for 120Hz gaming), the Series X's biggest advantages are literally invisible to you. Stick with the S and save your money for a better screen later.
- Audit your library: Look at your shelf. If you have a stack of Xbox One or 360 discs, the Series S will not play them. Period. You’ll have to re-buy them digitally.
- Measure your space: The Series X is a chunky monolith. It needs airflow. If you’re shoving a console into a tight TV stand, the Series S is much easier to keep cool.
Ultimately, the Xbox Series S exists to lower the barrier to entry, while the Xbox Series X exists to set the ceiling. Both run the same library of thousands of games. Both give you access to the best subscription service in gaming. Choose the one that fits your screen and your storage habits, and don't let the spec-sheet elitists tell you that 1080p is "unplayable." It's not. It's just different.