Xbox One Slim

[Rangers]

well the removed the external brick which makes me mad. I hope they don't remove the aa batteries cause I love those.

No external brick is great in my book. Two bulky Xbox bricks (one 360, one XBO) coming off my entertainment center sucks. I've never had a power supply fail as far as that goes so no concern there, and these consoles are cheap enough to be borderline disposable if one did malfunction (or warranty). Hell to emphasize the disposable part part of me is already kicking around buying this just to have the new model+2tB, and last gen I think I ended up upgrading through about 3 versions of 360 mostly voluntarily.

Removing AA batteries (not sure that's really an option) would be a disaster for me, as I just buy the bulk AA's cheap they have nowdays (50 for 12 bucks and such) and use them, no fussing with rechargeable baloney/wires/nonsense. My couch is out of range of recharging cords anyway.

 

[Jay]

2TB would be a mistake if it means they can't hit $300.
this is only only one advert, nothing to say there isn't a 1TB version though.

Sony's slim turned into the neo, and I'm sure they don't mind as ps4 is selling well and isn't exactly large or anything.

for them slim only makes sense if it's cost reduction on bom

 

[Arnold Beckenbauer]

It might be possible to instead integrate a DisplayPort 1.2 (present in all AMD GPUs since the HD 6xxx series) - HDMI 2.0 converter chip on the motherboard.
Some Skylake motherboards supposedly do this using the MegaChips MCDP2800 while supporting HDCP 2.2 (although I don't know if this relies on some specific feature of the Skylake display engine):
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/845270/geforce-900-series/gpus-with-hdcp-2-2-support/

But does it have enough power for 4K UHD HDR HVEC video?

 

[Rangers]

I see ekim on GAF says there will be 1TB SKU also. So maybe something like 1TB+1game=299, 2TB+more games bundle=349 seems likely. Basically the same as now where the 1TB bundles are priced premium. It may take them a while to reveal/filter down the 1TB model.

 

[fehu]

Sooooo... there's no more hope for a not ugly design?

 

[Rikimaru]

Sooooo... there's no more hope for a not ugly design?

The only good design Xbox consoles had was an original 360 done by a contractor.

With One S they could not even copy PS2 right.

 

[Rangers]

Everybody called the Wii (plain square box) the most beautiful console ever *shrug* #hypocrisy

 

[Rikimaru]

Everybody called the Wii (plain square box) the most beautiful console ever *shrug* #hypocrisy

I have not heard this. Wii designer thought "I mean, it's only rectangular! (laughs)". But Wii stand changed design perception. And size of Wii helped a lot.

Fortunately, our young designers came up with the stand. By combining this with the Wii itself, we realised that we could achieve a number of new expressions, even if Wii itself is simply rectangular in appearance.
Iwata

The way that Wii is perceived would be very different if it wasn't for the stand, right?

Ashida
Yes. The console alone can be placed either upright or on its side. By combining it with the stand however, it presents itself in an entirely new manner, with the Wii fitting snugly into the stand. To tell you the truth, the combined Wii and stand design was finalised only a few weeks before the device was presented at E3.

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/wii_console/0/1

 

[djskribbles]

Personally this is the only Xbox system that I've liked as far as physical appearance. To me it's on par with the white PS4.

 

[Rangers]

XBO has never looked "pretty" to me if we're discussing aesthetics. Not ugly either. It's a serviceable somewhat boring box that's it.

This is just the same but smaller and white.

The internal PSU and 2TB storage has got me really liking this. Already considering selling my current model and getting this once it's out. But really yeah white could be a problem until the inevitable black version.

Thing is my 500 gee bee drive has been annoyingly cramped for a while, been mulling HDD options, but spending 60-100 on an external with this around the corner seems silly.

Although I was considering an external model that offered fast performance (a 1Tb hybrid) over raw storage, which this wont offer.

 

[AlNom]

What's in the booooooooox.

 

[djskribbles]

XBO has never looked "pretty" to me if we're discussing aesthetics. Not ugly either. It's a serviceable somewhat boring box that's it.

This is just the same but smaller and white.

The internal PSU and 2TB storage has got me really liking this. Already considering selling my current model and getting this once it's out. But really yeah white could be a problem until the inevitable black version.

Thing is my 500 gee bee drive has been annoyingly cramped for a while, been mulling HDD options, but spending 60-100 on an external with this around the corner seems silly.

Although I was considering an external model that offered fast performance (a 1Tb hybrid) over raw storage, which this wont offer.

Not quite. They got rid of the beveled edges and went with sharp clean lines. It makes it look sleeker and more modern IMO. It looks more like a boxy PS4 now.

But yeah, the size helps a lot... the OG XB1 was pretty big.

 

[Arnold Beckenbauer]

Big is better.

 

[kalelovil]

But does it have enough power for 4K UHD HDR HVEC video?

There is no fixed-function HEVC decoder present, that was only added in the GCN3 Fiji architecture. It may still be possible to get the GPU to aid decoding however.

Microsoft did add support for Netflix HEVC-encoded videos, but those would be using a far lower bitrate than 4K content. I don't know if Microsoft is relying completely on the CPUs to run HEVC, or has some GPGPU code assistance.

(I do think its more likely the 'S' is using a die-shrunk APU, allowing them a chance to update the UVD decoding hardware. But there are alternatives.)

 

[davygee]

Looking at all the rumours and the sample reveal. I seriously doubt the One S will have a 4K BR drive as it would esculate costs to a ridiculous level, but it will have ability to stream 4K. Other reports is that it will come in 2 sizes, 1TB and 2TB. To me this suggests that MS will want 3 main SKUs on the market up until the reveal of Scorpio next year. So there will probably be the current 500Gb model, the S model 1TB and S model 2TB. I expect them to remove the Elite at some point. Price-wise, I think they will introduce a pricecut for the current 500Gb model to $249. The 1TB S model will come in at the $299 level and the 2TB S model will take the $349 price-point. This will be their last big push for XBOX One, before they focus on the Scorpio. They will announce that the current One in it's current form is discontinued, so once all models are sold, the standard price for the One will be $299 again with the S model.

I fully expect Sony to reduce the PS4 to $299 as well and call the 1TB model the base model.

 

[Jay]

@davygee and at that point ms continues to fall behind, or even falls behind faster.

this is my problem with just a slim, it either needs to be substantially cheaper, or add additional power, be upgradable, something, I don't think hdr and 4k streaming is enough.

slims worked before, but the consoles were considered to be successful anyway, was just making them 'nicer'

 

[upnorthsox]

The 1TB S model will come in at the $299 level and the 2TB S model will take the $349 price-point

Or it could be $349 and $399, thus why they returned to the $349 price for the OG One which can now be clearance priced at $299 and that way they can also maintain their price level for a Scorpio launch.

 

[mpg1]

https://twitter.com/Nerd_Leaks/status/742317862593822720

Supposedly it will "start" at $299....which means there is probably a 1TB model as well.

 

[Rikimaru]

UHD drive costs same as usual blu-ray. BDXL was defined in 2010.

 

[Globalisateur]

UHD player at 299$ if true is a really really good thing. Good for Microsoft and good for competition. Curious to see how Sony will react.