With Black Friday sales well and truly upon us and the season of Christmas shopping just around the corner, some shoppers may wonder whether now is a good time to bag a new console without spending a fortune.
As a sworn Xbox fan and gaming expert, I've test-run an Xbox Series X to determine whether its graphics quality, new design, and all of the other changes that differentiated it from its predecessor, the Xbox One, still make it worth the price of nearly £500 in 2024, several years after its initial release.
More importantly, should gamers consider grabbing their own Series X as it sports discounts this Black Friday? Let's get into it.
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The Mirror)The Xbox Series X is one of two flagships released by Microsoft in November 2020, taking over from the previous Xbox One. While Xbox did tease a new console potentially coming in the relatively near future in an episode of the official Xbox podcast earlier this year, we have yet to see a new model hitting the market, making the Xbox Series X one of the most up-to-date gaming consoles available to buy. But is it still worth shopping after four years?
Put plainly, Microsoft has always been one to beat when it comes to high-quality hardware for a low price, compared to if you tried to build a gaming PC capable of matching the Series X's performance. When you consider a graphics card like Nvidia's RTX 4070 Super, which has an MSRP of £579 on its own, it is still £100 more than the Xbox Series X's price tag.
Boasting a complete redesign from the Xbox One, the Xbox Series X has had several changes that are likely to increase the longevity of the machine. I always found the placement of the fan to be a difficulty with the Xbox One, as it was hard to keep clear if you're strapped for space, while the Series X has relocated it to the top of the cube-shaped console, making it so much easier to keep unobstructed. The Series X has also, thankfully, ditched the touch button of the Xbox One, which I noticed started to show faults after only a couple of years.
Another improvement the Series X features is backwards compatibility, which means you can use all of your games from as far back as the 360 and the Xbox One if you're like me and have kept your old discs. Other changes include Quick Resume, which lets you jump straight back into your last save from your favourite game in seconds, or hop from fighting dragons in Skyrim to fending off zombies in The Last Of Us.
With the Series X, you also gain access to the Xbox Game Pass - a subscription-based library akin to Netflix in that, for a monthly fee, you get to add hundreds of new and old games to your collection, essentially for free, with titles ranging from Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, to Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
In terms of graphical performance, the Series X uses an RDNA 2 graphics card, which can reach 4K graphics in up to 120fps, depending on the title you're playing and the screen you're using. At 4K graphics, the Series X can easily hit 60fps in graphically demanding games like The Witcher 3, but can also balance 1440p at 60fps with the assistance of Ray Tracing.
When considering that graphics cards capable of supporting the same graphical quality cost hundreds more than the Xbox Series X's typical price tag, the Xbox Series X is a bargain buy for achieving high-quality gameplay at a relatively low price.
This most recent console from Microsoft may be several years passed its initial release, but it's high quality performance is not only impressive but comparible to some of the newest graphics cards on the market. Plus, Microsoft have always tried to match Sony's flagship consoles, ensuring that the latest Xbox is price-matched to the latest PlayStation.
Is it worth waiting for Microsoft to announce a new console? Potentially, if you're keen to have the latest and greatest in the realm of gaming consoles. But, a new console would mean a new price tag, which will likely be nearing that of the PS5 Pro - around the £700 mark - especially if you want to buy it on its initial release.
But, with that being said, the Xbox Series X is by no means old or out of the running as one of the best gaming consoles on the market, and it is still up for grabs for the mid-range MSRP of £479.99.
However, thanks to Black Friday sales getting underway, you can currently grab the Xbox Series X in Amazon's sale for less, as it has its price axed down to £459. Or, for those shopping for a bargain bundle, Very is offering this Xbox Series X 1TB with Forza Horizon 5 for the reduced price of £504 in this Black Friday sale. Or shop it at Microsoft's own store for it's full price of £479.99.
With more deals likely to start popping up as we near Black Friday itself, and Cyber Monday, any gamers looking to grab a great console without spending a fortune, should look no further than this flagship. Or, if you've already ditched all of your old discs and play solely digital games, the Xbox Series S is currently on sale for £294.98 in this Amazon sale.
Meanwhile PlayStation have not long released its PS5 Pro console, which you can grab here for £689, or if you want to bag a disc tray too you can grab this bundle from Very at £789. Check out our PS5 Pro coverage here.
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