The Xbox Series X design looks far better in person, and it's seriously quiet too - vasquezthaders

The Xbox Series X design looks far improve in person, and it's seriously quiet too

(Image credit: Future)

The Xbox Serial X looks better in person than it does in pictures. I've had the pre-launch console set up in my lounge for the better part of a week at present and my appreciation for its industrial design has lone grownup over that time. When Microsoft primary unveiled the Xbox Series X design back in December of 2019, the monolithic slab of plastic cut an imposing figure. Certainly, it exuded a oppressive sense of power and confidence, but that isn't necessarily the vibe my wee living room is nerve-racking to set.

And and then the oppugn of whether I'd want something as large as the Xbox Series X positioned at a lower place my television for the next tenner had been something of an incontestible dubiousness. As it should materialise, the answer has been to not position it below anything. Only a ogre would place the Xbox Series X horizontally in their home.

Xbox Series X design impressions

This is the first gear Xbox console that looks decidedly better when positioned in a vertical preference. Maybe that's because IT's specifically premeditated to tower over your other devices. The Xbox logo adorning the power release in the circus tent left corner sits askew if the system isn't standing, and the plastic stand basifixed to the bottom of the console cannot personify removed. Peerless side does come equipped with small rubber feet should you decide to put down it pop, but the console quickly begins to resemble the sort of retiring shameful vault you'd expect to get hold hiding treasures in a vapid looter-taw.

Another way Microsoft is encouraging you to keep the Xbox Series X vertically arranged is with respect to the discharge array adorning the top of the console table. The underside of the venting holes have been painted with a muted green, something that is obscure at a distance but appears to radiate and pulse the finisher you move towards the console. It's a discriminating touch, one that helps to bring a midget flair to the curvature at the north-end of the system – a necessity, conferred the complicated cooling solution Microsoft has been forced to employ to keep this powerhouse running cool and hushed.

Xbox Series X design — Just looking at the size of this thing when it's along its root. (Image credit: Future day)

"I can say with some confidence that the Xbox Series X is the quietest Xbox cabinet I've ever experienced"

I've been in the Xbox ecosystem for quite some clip now. Over the last 18 long time, I've been favourable enough to stimulate either owned (or been in closely proximity to) just about every major loop of Xbox hardware. I'm telling you this simply and so that I crapper say the following with some confidence: the Xbox Series X is the quietest Xbox console I've always experienced. That's caveated with the understanding that I'm yet to play any Optimised for Xbox Series X games, which I'm anticipating will beryllium made available in the orgasm weeks and possible get-up-and-go the system more to a great extent than a standard backward compatible title. Otherwise, the console table stayed surprisingly soundless through multi-60 minutes sessions of Yakuza 0 and Ruby-red Dead Redemption 2, and in some (regretfully) long evenings with Squall of Duty: Warzone over the weekend. The only meter the Xbox Series X successful a noticeable sound was during the installation of Titanfall 2 from magnetic disk, as the 4K UHD Blu-Ray Optical Drive whirred into life in religious service of back compatibility – forcible media, who needs it?

Given the tech Microsoft has pushed into this sleek clad box – AMD's Zen 2 CPU, the RDNA 2 GPU outputting 12 TFLOPs, a customized 1TB NVME SSD, among another components that I won't bore you with by itemisation – I'm impressed to see it running game so quietly and apace. We'll get into the performance of the Xbox Serial publication X and the new Xbox Series X comptroller at a later appointment, American Samoa for now I want to stay focused on the design of the console itself. If there's anything to criticize the Xbox Serial X design for so far, it'll be the matte-black finish. It's extremely sensitive to embellishments, straight-grained if handled with the care and attention that a $499/£450 piece of technology deserves. I've barely stirred the thing since porta it up and it's already picked up a fewer drag Simon Marks and scratches, and let's not even talk about the fingerprint impressions that covered the thing.

Unpretentious, confident, and powerful

While I could sit here and lamentation the lack of HDMI-IN (sparsely used on my Xbox One X, but used all the same) and the remotion of the S/PDIF optical audio out port (R.I.P. my soundbar), I'm genuinely openmouthed by just how quickly I've suit accustomed to the towering structure that is the Xbox Series X. It is a obese, superior gimmick that reflects the power within and the ensuant pricing necessary to to catch on into your domicile.

If you look spinal column over the years, the Xbox consoles have ever looked a littler boisterous at launch and have got inhabited down through subsequent revision. The original Xbox looked like a powerful miniature, sexual climax equipped with a control too few could ever reasonably enwrap their work force around. The Xbox 360 was a monstrous behemoth, with the eventual svelte variant slotting more comfortably into the living elbow room. The Xbox One looked like a bulky set-top box from a bygone era, although Microsoft's half-generation refresh in the Xbox One X was immoderate less imposing... if not a little uninspired. What of the Xbox Serial publication X then?

The Xbox Series X is big. It's a freaking monster compared to the Xbox Series S – there's no denying that – but it's also attractive in its own pocket-size way. It has a form-factor in that I've quickly grown to appreciate, one that I suspect is concealing the power to change the style we play in the years to semen.

In the coming weeks, GamesRadar+ will be exploring the Xbox Serial X in detail . Our early impressions of the Xbox Series X invention is just the beginning, so atomic number 4 surely to check back daily for more.

Chaff West is Features Editor of GamesRadar+. With over 10 years experience in both online and print fourth estate, Jolly has written for a phone number of gaming, amusement, euphony, and tech publications, including 3D Artist, Edge, gamesTM, iCreate, Bronze Hammer, Play, Retro Gamer, and SFX. He holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Feature Writing, has appeared on the BBC and ITV to provide expert gossip, written for Pedant books, edited a book for Hachette, and worked as the Assistant Producer of the Future Games Show. In his spare time, Josh plays bass guitar and video games. Years ago, he was in movies and TV shows that you've decidedly seen but will never be competent to spot him in.