I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on an Xbox Series S as they are freely available but, have been hesitant due to the lack of a disc drive, small HDD and only 1440p. I mostly want it as a compliment to my PC and to play console games with my friend. I wonder whether the high availability is due to the fact that a lot of people are the same as me and not willing to pull the trigger waiting for Series X to be available again. Have MS misjudged the demand for a 'lite' version of their console? Even though it's a £200 difference here in the UK? Any thoughts?

Take this for what it’s worth. I used a XBox Series S for a while before I was able to get a Series X and I thought the S was very cool. It’s fast, games look good, and it’s a nice compact little guy. I think it depends upon how tight money is for you whether it’s worth pulling the trigger. You might end up like me and find an available Series X right after getting an S.

Whether or not the S is right for you is a personal decision and it's impossible for anyone to answer it, especially given that you don't actually say what your concerns are in a way that other people can address (yes it has no disc drive, a small hard drive, and games won't run natively in 4K though they will be upscaled to match that resolution.) You know what those issues mean for you personally.

Whether Microsoft misjudged the market is a more objective question, and I think the answer is not necessarily. When the X and S launched Phil Spencer said that he believed the X would be more popular at launch and then the S would be more popular for later adopters, who tend to be less concerned with specs and more focused on value.

So the fact that the X is still selling out but the S is more easily available seems to match that observation.

Now you could argue they should have made more Xs and fewer Ss, but really that just comes down to that they should have made more Xs (since the S isn't failing to sell its allotment, it's just not instantly selling out) and that's a function of chip constraints that nobody really saw coming or knew how to handle.

So whether Microsoft misjudged the market with the S/X strategy can't be determined yet because we haven't gotten past the period where they knew the X would be more popular.

I was pretty much in the same situation decided to get one when I saw one sitting on an Argos shelf when I was picking up a new kettle. I only really wanted a controller but paying the extra £200 to get a next gen console seemed like a deal and a deal it was, I'm very happy with it. Its a massive upgrade over the last gen consoles in all aspects.

For starters the sheer speed on the damn thing make we wonder how I coped before and man going from PC to TV and keeping 60 FPS is something I didn't know I needed. Plus I'm really maxing out my Game Pass Ultimate sub right now and a quick resume is god send when you play multiple local multiplayer games with children around.

So yeah its a quality companion device especially if you have Game Pass Ultimate.

I've been happy with my Series S and recommend it especially if you like older games like I do. I never had a Xbox One so there are a lot of games there to play, and I dabble with Xbox 360 and OG Xbox from time to time too. I wouldn't recommend it for any current-gen games, being that there barely is any. By the time there are worthwhile new games to play, there is probably already a better version of the Series X on the market, whether that means a full half-step console or at least one with a bigger hard drive.

You should know that you can use any USB 3.0 hard drive with the Series S, and older games can even be played from the external drive. I don't see any reason why you would buy the expensive Microsoft-licensed expansion drive at this point.

It's hard to speculate about the sales numbers when Microsoft doesn't want to tell them. No doubt Microsoft would prefer to sell the Series X more than the S, but from my point of view, the Series S represents good value, the X doesn't.

Its a good deal, it's very cheap and will support all the next gen games, like a mini game pass machine.

Backwards compatibility (with OG/360) is the only reason I'd get a new Xbox, so the S is a no-go. I imagine I'm not the only one in this boat.

I own a Xbox One S and considered buying a Series S, but I am more than willing to pay more just for that disc drive. While I don't buy many physical games other than Nintendo 1st title properties, I still buy movies and have a 4k TV so that disc drive to me is absolutely worth it. My only real intensive is that it would be significantly more quiet, but at this point I can't justify that price when my One S is working perfectly fine and there isn't a whole lot to play right now and I have a massive back catalog. Ask me in about a year from now and I likely will be getting a Series X myself. That all said, the Series S is real tempting, but I just do not have the time for many games anymore.

I assume backwards compatibility with your existing physical library, because you can buy old games from the Xbox online store and they work just fine on the S. They're not that expensive either, though there are a few titles that seemingly never go on sale...

@apewins: You also don't have to rebuy titles or DLC you already owned digitally. I played the copy of Hexic HD that I got for free with my 360 on my Series console and I thought that was cool.

@apewins:

Yeah all my Xbox games are physical. To be honest, most of them probably aren't even playable on the newer consoles, and my OG box and 360 still work fine, so I'm not in any rush to get a series X.

I've owned an Series S since day 1. I love it. It's truly next gen and will see me through the next handful of years I'm sure.

However, I'm on a 1080p TV with no interest in upgrading to 4K so resolution means nothing to me.

I have a 1gb SSD usb 3 as additional space which is fine for back compat stuff. Transfer between the internal and external drives is quick. Quick resume is a phenomenal feature.

I'd recommend it, providing your not dead set on cutting edge resolution. Of course a series X is better, but if you go for an S, you won't feel your a second class citizen outside of resolution on a 4K TV.

Really comes down to your pretences, but it feels next gen to me.

I've owned an Series S since day 1. I love it. It's truly next gen and will see me through the next handful of years I'm sure.

However, I'm on a 1080p TV with no interest in upgrading to 4K so resolution means nothing to me.

I have a 1gb SSD usb 3 as additional space which is fine for back compat stuff. Transfer between the internal and external drives is quick. Quick resume is a phenomenal feature.

I'd recommend it, providing your not dead set on cutting edge resolution. Of course a series X is better, but if you go for an S, you won't feel your a second class citizen outside of resolution on a 4K TV.

Really comes down to your preferences, but it feels next gen to me.

Series S is great. I have no complaints. I love how small it is, and it runs silently. It's still a significant upgrade on the PS4 Pro in terms of performance. The upscaled 4K looks as good as the native 4K on the Pro to me. It's a perfect Game Pass machine.

When you look at availability, you have to consider who the Series S is for. It's not really for the early adopters. It's for the people who casually get a console when they see that their Madden looks completely different on a colleagues TV and then hear that they should get a new console, after the thing has been out for 2 years; it's for the 10 year old children who don't have older siblings and it's for the PS5 core-gamers who are curious for a certain Xbox eclusive title.

Expect the Series S to sell better than the X in lifetime, but only getting into really catching up to the Series X after about 3 years into this gen.

Personally I almost exclusively play on PC these days after having had a PS4 and XBO from day 1 last gen, but I got a Series S for the 1080p TV in the living room, just because that SSD is amazing and I want to get the most out of my Game Pass subscription while being tired how slow my OG XBO was.
Because I don't play many major releases on the S, the hard drive space has been super ok for me. That is both major drawbacks of the Series S (the resolution and the space) rendered irrelevant for me. The only thing that stings a little is when I see PS4/XBO gen game running at 900p on the Series S, but I haven't played one of those on it yet.

I was lucky enough to get a PS5 and a Series S on their prospective launch days. I prefer Sony exclusives and this was actually my first Xbox. We have a OLED and a smaller 1080p tv in the living room. It's hooked up to the 1080p tv but I have a HDMI switch and occasionally play it on the OLED. We only play game pass games and have really enjoyed having it. That service is totally worth it and I think it's a nice little system for the price.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I actually think that you have given me a good steer and I will most likely pick one up for game pass and stick to Xbox exclusives on the PC.

Cheers!!!

I can only offer you my own experience with the S and X. Like others have said it's a speedy little box but you will feel the storage space constraints real quick unless you want to keep lost of your library in an external HDD and constantly moving files around. The thing isn't always 1440p, 1080p is more common. Some games with little overhead power requirements can even hit 4k but not often.

Now here are the main reasons why I switched to a Series X. I recently got a CX OLED which pushed me towards having a stronger console to take full advantage of that TV. Sure my PC can spin circles around these new boxes but I already have a nice high refresh monitor for it that I primarily like to play FPS games with. Consoles still hold some convenience for couch play but the Series X and PS5 have the added the benefit of getting you a high end PC gaming experience for the foreseeable future (i.e. for the next 2 yrs).

If you're not playing on a fancy 4k TV you should be fine with a Series S but you will always feel the constraints of that tiny storage space. I probably will eventually get an S again for the other TVs in my house once they start selling 1TB options.

One last thing to add about the X is that if you're coming from PC gaming and want high framerate in more games then the X will almost always deliver that over the S

I know I'm a bit late to this party, and it sounds like your mind is made up, but I'll throw my hat in the ring for support for the Series S.

For reference, I own a Series X, Series S, PS5 and Gaming PC. Some might call that crazy but I game a lot and I also do the occasional freelance game review so I like to have most/all platforms.

FWIW, I use my Series S a lot, and I like it quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, if the TV isn't being used, I'll gladly pop on the Series X or PS5 to get some glorious 4k gaming in, but that's not always a possibility. My wife and daughter obviously like using the TV as well so there's times I'm left with nothing more than my desk and monitors to do some gaming. As a result, I've found myself using the Series S a lot and I've been quite please with it. Some games do look a bit blurry on performance mode (Dirt 5 and Yakuza LAD for instance), but others still look great even in 60+ fps modes. And if you're okay with 30 fps then the Series S is even better as then you'll get some really clean looking visuals at the sacrifice of high framerate gaming (a tradeoff I'm usually not willing to live with personally).

The biggest downside is absolutely the internal storage space. I hooked up an external 500gb SSD which has certainly helped with this painpoint but it's still less than ideal. This is especially true since the Series S is my primary multiplayer/co-op machine with my buddies. My friends like bouncing between various games depending on the night/mood which makes it difficult when I can only store 6-10 games at once. Gigabit internet alleviates some of this pain, but I'd recommend a Series X or external storage expansion if that's something you think will bother you.

TLDR: A surprisingly, competent little machine with annoyingly little storage space to match. Despite that, I still use it regularly and don't have any complaints.

Seems like a thing to buy if you're ok buying another box in 3 years or if it's like your secondary or tertiary system to cover your bases.