Xbox One S Review – Much smaller and slightly more powerful
At E3, less than two months ago, Microsoft officially unveiled the Xbox One S. That the manufacturer would sooner or later release a modified version of the game console was no surprise; the console was negatively impressed by its size upon its introduction. The Xbox One is big and unwieldy, and it also has a large external power supply. The device cannot stand vertically and has a number of other user inconveniences. For example, the on/off button is not a physical button, but a touchpad that is activated at the slightest touch. No matter how many times we accidentally turned on the console when dusting… So there was actually room for a smarter designed device with a number of reasonable upgrades since the introduction of the console.
Microsoft is now putting the Xbox One S in that space. During E3 it was already known that the device indeed looks a lot more ‘slick’ than the original. Smaller, a built-in power supply, and possibly the possibility to be placed vertically. In addition, the new device can play UHD video, for example via Netflix, but also from Blu-ray discs in Ultra HD. This makes the Xbox One S the cheapest Blu-ray player with Ultra HD on the market in one fell swoop. To what extent UHD Blu-ray will really play a significant role is still a discussion in itself, but the fact that the Xbox One S offers the option is nice.
In addition to UHD, the Xbox One S supports HDR playback. This applies to both games and video material and for both the material will have to be adapted to take advantage of it. Users must also have a TV that supports HDR playback. At the moment there are no games with HDR available, but at least Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 and Scalebound will receive support for the technique. However, it is not yet clear whether HDR will be implemented in Xbox games by many developers. Just like with films, the technique makes it possible to display specific parts of the image extra brightly. Microsoft has chosen to support the HDR10 standard, which is part of the Ultra HD Blu-ray specification.
Other instantly noticeable minor improvements include the much clearer location of the sync button on the front of the console. The Xbox One S also has a USB port on the front instead of on the side, making it easier to plug in a USB stick or external HDD if the Xbox is concealed in a piece of furniture.
The Xbox One S on sale now has a 2TB internal hard drive, of which about 1.6TB is really available if you’re just starting to use the console. According to Microsoft, the white 2TB version is a ‘limited edition’, so available in a limited edition. At the end of August, cheaper versions will follow, with HDDs of 1TB and 500GB. In October there will also be a special Gears of War version, which will have a 2TB HDD, just like the launch model.
Also striking, but not necessarily an improvement: the Xbox One S no longer has a specific connection for Kinect. If you want to use your Kinect set, you must have a special adapter . Anyone who already had an Xbox One and is now switching can receive that adapter for free. Consumers who did not have an Xbox One can order the adapter. The official version should cost about forty euros, but there are also versions that are a lot cheaper.
Yet not everything is completely new. The Xbox One S uses the same software as the normal Xbox One, which means that the same newly released update will be downloaded immediately as soon as you use the Xbox One S. From then on, everything in the user interface is the same as with the normal Xbox One. In the use of the console there are no noticeable differences.
Improved controller
Microsoft hasn’t just tweaked the console itself; the Xbox One S also comes with a revamped controller. In terms of size and placement of the buttons, the controller is unchanged, but the texture of the plastic has been adjusted, making it slightly more grippy.
The new controller works with the Xbox One S using the same wireless protocol as the original controller, but has also added Bluetooth support. This allows the controller to pair directly with Windows 10 devices, without the need for the old Xbox One controller accessory. Of course, the device in question must be equipped with Bluetooth or a Bluetooth dongle. It works with PCs, laptops and tablets as well as smartphones running Windows 10.
Windows 10 recognizes a maximum of one controller via a direct Bluetooth connection. If you want to connect more than one controller to your PC, you still need the Xbox Wireless Adapter. It is possible to use the new controller in combination with the old Xbox One and the existing controllers also work with the Xbox One S.
More efficient hardware
The Xbox One S is not a completely new console, but a so-called revision with more efficient hardware. Such hardware revisions are common in the console world; predecessor Xbox 360 , for example, received eight revisions in the ten years that the console was in production. In most cases, a hardware revision does not lead to noticeable differences in performance, because the specifications remain the same and only the production method changes to a smaller process. This in turn results in lower energy consumption and lower production costs. It is slightly different with the Xbox One S, because this time there is a small difference in the speed of the chips.
The heart of the Xbox One S is still a semi-custom system on a chip from AMD. The big difference is that the soc is now made on a 16nm finfet process and is therefore a lot smaller and more economical than the original 28nm chip of the Xbox One. The processor has eight Jaguar cores at a speed of 1.75 GHz and the GPU has twelve compute units . However, the graphics part of the chip has been given a slightly higher clock speed of 914MHz. A difference of 7.1 percent compared to the GPU in the Xbox One, which runs at 853MHz. The higher clock speed also results in a slightly higher bandwidth of the esram , which can now transfer 219GB/s.
| Xbox One S | Xbox One | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1.75GHz AMD Jaguar octa-core | 1.75GHz AMD Jaguar octa-core |
| GPU | 12 Cus (768 Stream Processors) | 12 Cus (768 Stream Processors) |
| Production process | 16nm finfet | 28nm |
| GPU clock speed | 914MHz | 853MHz |
| Performance | 1.4 teraflops | 1.31 teraflops |
| Esram bandwidth | 219GB/s | 204GB/s |
According to Microsoft, the speed increase was made to give developers a little more computing power, which can be used to add HDR support to games without sacrificing performance. However, some games that do not support HDR also benefit from the faster chip. For some games, the extra processing power results in a slightly higher frame rate when the game is played on the Xbox One S. In an interview with Digital Foundry , Xbox CEO Albert Penello emphasizes that the performance differences are small and can only be measured in games that use a dynamic resolution or have an unlocked frame rate.
The relatively largest differences can be observed in games that have an unlocked frame rate and attempt to run at 60fps, such as Project Cars. The difference can be up to eleven percent in favor of the Xbox One S.
We went looking for these differences, but it turned out not to be easy to actually make them visible. In Project Cars we tried different combinations of car, track and weather conditions, but only one combination showed a clear difference. It involved a 35-car race in severe weather conditions on the Azure circuit. In that situation, we let the AI drive a lap and saved that lap as a replay. This allowed us to run an identical round on both Xbox consoles and analyze the performance afterwards with our own software.
You can see the result in the video below. At the start of the race, the graph shows that the Xbox One S performs slightly better, with smaller dips in the graph, but soon both consoles run at a stable 60fps and no differences are visible anymore.
In addition, most Xbox One games aim for a constant frame rate of 30fps and the performance difference is less. Digital Foundry previously concluded that games such as Hitman, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Batman Arkham Knight, which run at 30fps, do have a difference. On both the old and new Xbox One, the games suffer from tearing in some cases , but this is less the case with the Xbox One S.
In practice, the differences in some games are measurable and subtly visible if you put the new console next to the old one, but in our opinion the difference is so small that it is not worthwhile for current owners of the Xbox One to buy a new model. to buy because of the performance improvements.
Consumption and heat development
Because the Xbox One S features a new soc made in a smaller process, it consumes less energy and generates less heat. To get a good idea of the consumption and heat development, we placed the Xbox One and the One S side by side, playing a loop of our Project Cars benchmark on both with vsync turned off. Because the frame rate is not limited by vsync, this game knows how to load the consoles to the maximum. The Xbox One S consumes 74 watts, which is no less than 35 percent less than the old Xbox One, which consumed 114 watts.
We shot thermal images with our Flir camera during the test. Both consoles are loaded equally. The photos show the Xbox One on the left and the new One S model on the right. Especially at the top, the new Xbox appears to be less warm. If we place the consoles vertically, we measure over 58 degrees at the ‘top’ with the Xbox One at the hottest point and about 50 degrees with the One S. The middle photo shows a measurement of the ‘bottom’ of the consoles in vertical position. In addition, the S model seems to be slightly warmer, but that is probably due to the thinner housing. The third photo shows both consoles from above, lying on the floor, and also shows the top of the Xbox One S getting less hot. The thermal images also make it clear that the integrated power supply hardly leads to extra heat development in the console. The power supply is not like onehotspot visible on the thermal images.
sound production
The original Xbox One was already known for its low noise production and the arrival of the Xbox One S has not changed that. In our sound test, in which we measure from a distance of eight inches while running Project Cars, the sound pressure of the Xbox One and the new S model appears to be almost identical. Despite the smaller size and smaller chip , the One S has a large cooling block with a 120mm fan, just like the original Xbox One.
The Xbox One S offers a number of useful improvements over the original model. The more efficient hardware enables a more compact size and significantly reduces power consumption. The sound production is virtually unchanged and that means that the new Xbox also makes little noise. Additionally, the Xbox One S performs slightly better in some games, but the difference isn’t so great that it’s worth upgrading.
Those who already have an Xbox One can therefore leave the One S for what it is. The new console is only an interesting option if you are looking for a UHD Blu-ray player. Current console owners are better off waiting another year, because Project Scorpio will be released at the end of 2017; a completely new Xbox model, which should enable gaming in 4k resolution and in virtual reality. Competitor Sony will also present a faster version of the PlayStation 4 in September, although it is not yet clear when this ‘PS 4.5’ will be released.
For gamers who do not yet have a console and are in the market for an Xbox, there is another obstacle: the price of 399 euros. That is considerably more expensive than the old Xbox One, the 1TB version of which is currently for sale at many providers for around 300 euros including one or two games. The new model may offer a larger HDD, but the storage of the old model can also be expanded with a cheap, external USB HDD. At the end of August, 500GB and 1TB versions of the Xbox One S will appear for 299 and 349 euros respectively. Those prices are also well above the promotional prices for which the old model is now leaving.
If you’re purely about games and don’t have an HDR TV, then the original Xbox One offers a similar experience and currently better value for money. However, you will have to make more space in your TV cabinet and have to accept the higher power consumption.