Xbox Series S + Game Pass Ultimate (3 Months Subscription)
Next-gen performance in the smallest Xbox ever
Go all digital with Xbox Series S and enjoy next-gen gaming at a great value.
Play more, wait less
Make the most of every gaming minute with Quick Resume, lightning-fast load times, and gameplay up to 120 FPS powered by Xbox Velocity Architecture.
Great for entertainment
Stream 4K video on Disney+, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Microsoft Movies & TV, and more.
Thousands of games to play
Enjoy digital games from four generations of Xbox, with hundreds of optimised titles that look and play better than ever.
Xbox Family Settings app
Set screen time, update content restrictions, manage spending, and stay on top of incoming friend requests.
Discover your next favourite game
When you add Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (membership sold separately), you get online multiplayer to play with friends and an instant library of 100+ high-quality games, including day one releases from Xbox Game Studios like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Minecraft Dungeons.
Meet the new Xbox Wireless Controller
Experience the modernised Xbox Wireless Controller, designed for enhanced comfort during gameplay. Stay on target with textured grip and seamlessly capture and share content.
Accessories
Use most of your Xbox One accessories-including controllers, headsets, and more on Xbox Series S.
*Important Information: Use with digital games only; console does not play physical discs.
120 FPS: Requires supported content and display; use on Xbox Series S as content becomes available.
Xbox Game Pass: Game catalogue varies over time (xbox.com/gamepass). See xbox.com/gamepass and ea.com/ ea-play/terms and ea.com/ea-play for details.
4K streaming: with select apps, see xbox.com. Some apps require app provider-specific subscriptions and/or other requirements.
Dolby: Dolby Vision HDR on Xbox requires a compatible display. Dolby Atmos for Headphones requires an additional purchase from Microsoft Store.
Halo Infinite: coming 8th December 2021.
Forza Horizon 5: coming 9th November 2021.
Xbox Family Settings app: Child account must be logged into the Microsoft account with Xbox profile used in the family for settings to apply. Xbox Family Settings app requires iOS 10 or higher or Android 5 or higher.
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Series S
I’m a Series X user, however I bought this for the living room as a ‘Game Pass’ machine, and I have to say I am very impressed. If you don’t care about 4k visuals and don’t use discs, then this is a perfect little xbox, in a great form factor and at a perfect price. Highly recommended.
Great item
I already have a ps4 pro, and I wanted to change to a Xbox, so I bought the Xbox series s, and I was amazed with the difference. (It’s my first Xbox I have had). I thought that the ps4 pro was good, but this Xbox series s, is great, it is faster, better display, better sound.
Great product and excellent quality
Just super excited to be having fun with my new Xbox
Very good
The Xbox is very good performance for the price and I have no issues with i
Better than an Expensive PS5 or the Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series S is a small console that looks beautiful, portable, as well as at least two hundred pounds less than the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Although you still cannot get those consoles they have become redundant due to not being able to getting it on demand, incredibly expensive to get games as well, and having the worst designs in console history. The Xbox Series S can use game pass (which I rarely use), but the store has deals reducing gaming prices by a significant amount owning the games without paying a subscription to the game pass instead using it for gold live. I never had any problems with virtual downloading games to a console or buying videos virtually as well, so this works for me. However, it might not work for people who want something physical instead. For me though a lovely little console.
Fantastic
Great gift for my other half for Christmas. Thank you. Highly recommended.
Very fast console
Very good and fast console
Cute as well
Good value for money
Does the job at a reasonable price
Excellent wee console for the money but a disc drive would have been nice.
Can’t go wrong at the price but a lack of disc drive and a relatively low amount of storage are things to consider. One of these paired with game pass is a good way to enjoy a lot of decent games at a fairly low price… Relatively speaking.
Works amazingly
Works great if you want a new Xbox get the series S
Stand Alone
Love the Xbox and loving the new size as it doesn’t take up as much room.
However find it difficult to get headphones or gaming headsets to pair which is irritating.
Absolutely perfect love my new xbox
Definitely would buy fans for it it does heat up quick
Good value.
Got this nearly a year ago and haven’t ever regretted it. It’s a good start to next gen gaming that offerers a lot of the same features as the series x with 120fps gaming hdr support and a ssd.
It’s great!
Quiet, portable, good performance.
“Quick resume” is amazing, I can save a lot of time.
Finally, it is really cheap. What should I ask it for more?
Perfect ps5 companio
I wanted an xbox to compliment my ps5 without forking out on the series x. This has blown me away. Fantastic console. Runs gamepass so I have access to a variety of games including the xbox exclusives. Very happy with this
First x box
This is our first ever x-box. The last consoles we owned were an original PlayStation and a wii… so unlike some reviews can’t compare to anything gone before.
Purchased to play forza horizon. Currently working through 4. Will then play 5.
Took a while to download and install updates. Once game installed is very easy to quick start and pick up where you left off. The ability to turn on the console simply by turning on the wireless controller is great… no getting up.
We love it and as we’re only really into these two games think it will suit our needs for a long time.
The controller it comes with is fine but we bought the forza design one and the rubber grips really are a lot comfier.
Great games machine
Only ever had PlayStation from PlayStation 1 through to 4 And psvr , but then got quest 1 which went to grandchildren when I got to quest 2 so gave up on playing in front of tv because vr so imersive ,but looking through games consoles on Amazon this caught my eye so after checking some reviews I brought it ,only had it just over a week but so far love it great size and with game pass so many great games to play and graphics on some games brilliant once you have downloaded games which took a while but my wi fi not great you can move from game to game without hardly any wait time and straight back to where you left off .Was going to try for PlayStation 5 but glad I didn’t bother this my new favourite game machine for price you can’t go wrong
Brilliant value for money
Excellent product, couple this up with a Gamepass subscription to meet all your gaming needs box is so small it’s difficult to believe how many features it has, outstanding value
It works
Frankly internal box was damaged.. outer box was not .. relieved it works
Great console
Arrived a day late but that’s probably a fault of Amazon. The console is great, having played exclusively on switch until now, the graphics on this bad boy look great! No disc drive so if you have game pass this is a must buy, although be weary of the storage space. Because if you’re planning on buying this as well as the storage expansion you might as well buy the series X because it has that amount of storage anyway and it had superior graphics. But if you’re okay with deleting and reinstalling games as you play them, are on a budget, use game pass ultimate and don’t mind about graphics or don’t have a 4K TV, then this console is the perfect fit!
Just brilliant. If you are wondering, it is a huge step forward from the old XBox One.
Now I am no hardcore gamer – apparently if I was I should buy the PS5 – if I could find one!!
What I am is a parent who likes to play games with his lad once in a while without requiring a second PC setup.
The XBox Series S has been extensively reviewed just about everywhere so I will keep it simple and say, for the money (249 at time of writing) it is amazing.
If you have a previous version of the Xbox with Xbox Live, then all those games will be available to you on the new one.
As you know, this does not have a disc drive, so alas, any games you own physical copies of will be less than useful.
We stopped buying discs a while back and all the digital purchases previously made were available. They just needed downloading on to this machine.
One thing to remember is that 500gb of onboard memory is not as much as you might think.
Buying the official memory expansion pack is comically expensive (don’t do it) but using a good external SSD works very well. I use a Samsung 1TB (1,000gb) external drive (reviewed separately) and it is a perfect means of getting a good level of storage for your games.
The interface is standard Microsoft XBox so everything is completely familiar.
If you connect this to a nice 4k TV then the results are just beautiful No other way to describe it!
In summary, if you have the XBox One and have wondered about upgrading, then the answer is – Just Do It (as I believe another company says!).
Thanks for reading and I hope you found the review useful. 🙂
Not bad compared to the Series X
I bought the series S primarily for online game play. So far played hard whilst using a 1080p enabled monitor (although the S supports up to 1440p). There are marginal graphics details (lower quality) compared to my series X whilst in 1080p. I’ve also bought external 1TB ssd with the S so I can hold/play few games without having to re-download content all the time. So if you are on a budget and want to experience the next generation Xbox console this device is for you. Ah also it is very compact if space is an issue as well – but it can get hot (not loud) whilst mid play.
Fantastic console
Fantastic xbox console. Replaced my xbox one x with this. Although its not 4k its still head and shoulders above xbox one x, games like forza horizon 5 and halo infinite look and play fantastic on this little machine, bundle it with a game pass ultimate subscription and its a no brainer, the ssd drive is super fast if a bit on the small side, and remember its digital only so you can’t use disc based games on it. For anyone looking to get into next gen gaming without breaking the bank this the machine to go for. Enjoy!
If you haven’t got a 4k TV this will almost seem like an Xbox series X. I’m normally a playstation guy but with the availability of this console and its price point along with gamepass even I’m impressed.
It’s small, heavier than I expected which in my view is a positive because it stays put and doesn’t move around. It is nearly inaudible. It boots in seconds.
I’m trying to find a negative which is difficult given the console performs exactly how it said it would. If I have to find a gripe with the Series S I’d say that if you’ve gamed on a good graphics card, or on a Series X or PS5 you’ll see limitations in its graphical prowess.
Overall I’ll probably end up buying more of these small consoles.
Brilliant console for the price
As I have a Series X I got a Series S console for my boys to replace there old PS4 which had seen better days. What is great is I can share my Game Pass with them and we can all play at once. Which is limited to 2 consoles at once. I’ve put my old Game Drive on the Series S which I’ve put all the last gen games on to save room on the Series S
Pro’s
It’s a great console for the money. Game Pass is worth the money when you take how much the new Halo is to buy and all the other new games released each year.
Con’s
Only let down is the size of the built in memory but there are work rounds and with cloud play coming to Game Pass I can forgive them for the price.
Nephew loved it!
This was a super straightforward way to order a brand new Xbox series S! The delivery was so straight forward and we opted to pay for it over 5 months (bargain!)
Cannot fault anything about it and have a very happy little dude who lives on it now!
Great console, terrible controlle
I got the Series S, as there seemed little chance of getting the Series X. The Series S plays games very well indeed, Forza 5 looks and plays amazing. I installed Microsoft Flight Sim and it plays great. This is a great console, it appears slick, powerful and has some great games.
However there are a few limitations to consider.
The first consideration, is it does not play games in 4K, it outputs in 1440, which on my 4K TV look just fine (up-scaled to 4K), but it might be a deal breaker for you.
The second consideration, is the lack of a disk drive. If most of your games are digital, you are OK, but if all of your games are disk based, you will not play them on this console. I have 307 digital games, plus into the hundreds on Gold and Game Pass Ultimate, so I have hundreds of digital games. I have figured out that I have 12 games on disk I cannot play (many of my disk based games are on Ultimate), so not a disaster.
The third consideration is storage space. You get just over 300GB of usable storage – which is about 5 games! This can be beefed up with a 1TB XBox SSD custom drive for the Series X/S games and a portable USB3 drive for XBox One and XBox 360 and the original XBox games, you cannot use a USB drive for Series X/S games. The cost of expanding this storage is worth considering, as this will make it an expensive purchase. To buy a 4TB USB3 drive and 1TB XBox Series X/S drive, it cost me more than the purchase price of the Series S console cost me!
The final consideration and the one that I find a real pain, is the badly designed controller. The revised D pad is dreadful. Up, down and right work just fine, but left is hit or miss as to whether it will work. This can make playing games difficult and is a real down-grade from the XBox One.
In summary, a great, but limited console, with a dreadful controller.
Edit
====
It will probably come as no surprise that the controller was actually defective (appeared to be assembled incorrectly) and the console had to be returned. Amazon were not able to swap the controller. I did contact Microsoft direct, who were willing to swap the new (defective) controller for a reconditioned one, but indicated I should really send the console back, as that was the only route to get a new controller. Upped to 4 stars, as with a working controller, it would be much improved.
The perfect console for value
After using the PS4 since 2013 I decided to upgrade to the Xbox Series S. I was worried about the memory size at first but that faded fast, you can easily fit around 10 normal sized games on the console at any one time.
The game pass makes the console so worth it when compared to the PS5, 100’s of games as well as Xbox Live for 10 a month. Switching from game to game is so smooth and loading times are unbelievably fast.
The best purchase I made this year, love this console.
Great little console
As we all know getting hold of a PS5 or Xbox Series X is still difficult to get hold of after a year. Which is just crazy. However you can still enjoy the Next Gen console with Xbox Series S. It’s a brilliant little console and runs very well loading times are great as well and best of all you get to enjoy the Xbox game pass. I have had no issues with the Xbox Series S. Only thing you will notice is its storage space which is over 500GB. However take into account console software etc your actually left with about 300GB. So to fully appreciate this console you will need an Storage expansion card etc. Apart from that it’s been a joy to use excellent budget console if you want to enjoy Next Gen gaming.
Was hesitant but love it.
I’ve been trying without success to get a ps5 or series x for the past year and was hesitant to buy this for a number of reasons but decided to take a chance. I’m loving it so far load times are super fast console itself runs quiet but gets a little hot at the vent. I’m currently playing cyberpunk on it and it’s like a different game compared to ps4 pro and it’s still to be updated for next gen. The price is excellent for the performance though would have loved slightly more storage space as you will run out very fast and need to get an external hdd or pay the ridiculous price for official ssd storage.
Got bored waiting for ps5
Never will go for another playstation again. Why bring consoles out when they can’t keep up with demand. Had all the PlayStations from day one. So I swapped to this. Easy installments with Amazon and the price is better than the series x. I have given this to my daughter and bought myself a gaming pc a few months after I bought it. Well worth the 250.
5 stars great product for a great price
Pro’s
Starts up quickly, simple (ish) to setup, easy to use, fun for the whole family, online multiplayer and game streaming excellent (so long as you have a consistent Internet connection)
Con’s
Controller is battery operated (comes with two duracell AA+ Battetries (Non Rechargeable),
Microsoft do not sell their own rechargeable battery pack for the controller meaning you have to buy a third party rechargeable battery pack.
Amazingly quick
I had been second guessing whether or not to buy the Series S or wait for the series X to come back in stock. In the bed I went for the Series S as the majority of my library comprises of digital owned games.
For the negatives. To be honest, for me personally it is only one that I’ve found so far and that’s the built in SSD size. I would highly advise anyone looking to buy this model to go for a special addition where there is usually a higher than normal size SSD. I ended up having to splash out for the additional Xbox owned 1TB SSD and so far am happy with the level of space available for games.
The pros. With the addition of the SSD hard drive the speed of the console is unreal! You turn the box on and you’re on the desktop within seconds. You load a game and you’re ready to play within seconds. The loading screens are almost nonexistent and you find yourself amazed at just how quickly you can continue playing without any stoppages. It’s fantastic!
For anyone second guessing whether to upgrade or not, trust me when I say the speed this little machine pushes out and the minimized loading times are enough of a perk to decide to go ahead. I know I did and I couldn’t be happier!
Good value
Great value for new gen gameplay but I would recommend to anyone buying to get a cooling dock as it over heats very easily.
Great little console!
Like the headline says, it’s a great little console to have in the household especially if get Game pass. I have a PC as my primary gaming device, but the series S will be a great besides it as it has Game pass and extra features (ease of use).
Highly recommend this to people with family, or a second gaming device for Game pass, ease of use. Great gift for Christmas period.
I am still at awe to the size of it, smallest console I’ve seen for a long long time.
Xbox series s
Decided to buy the Xbox series s I am glad I did,I have been using an Xbox one this series s is lightning fast ,load times are a lot quicker,
Graphics are excellent of course there is no disc drive but I don’t think I will miss that..
Once the games are installed on the internal drive as I have said load times are impressively speedy,but downloading games from the Microsoft store depends on your internet speed.
A extra expansion card for more storage would be a nice purchase but at the moment they are expensive,what I do is use my Xbox sea gate external drive 2tb for general storage and transfer the XS optimised games over to the internal ssd drive as the transer times to and from the external drives are quite quick.. hope this helps
The Series S is a superb little machine. I have my gaming PC upstairs but wanted to be able to use Game Pass in my lounge as well. This little fella fits the bill superbly.
Storage is limited but expandable via the official card, games can also be stored on an external HDD/SSD. I only tend to have half a dozen games on the go at any one time, so the storage space is fine for me.
As for performance – it’s a very capable little machine. I’m using mine on a 4K TV and games look great. Typical resolution for games is 1080p – 1440p running at 60fps. Game Pass is quite simply the best deal in gaming. You can get 12 months for the price of a single AAA game on a certain competitor. You will get ALL of Microsoft’s own games on day one, plus many more besides in Game Pass. It’s truly fantastic value. In the last 2 weeks alone I’ve been able to play the frankly amazing Forza Horizon 5 and now the new Halo Infinite multiplayer, with the campaign to come on Dec 8th.
The Series S runs whisper quiet and I actually laughed when I first opened the box- I knew it was small but it’s only when you see it in the flesh you realise how small! Think along the lines of a large box of tissues and you’re there. Loading times are vastly quicker than on previous Xboxes.
Great machine, worth every penny. Love it.
Amazing value
I had my heart set on a series X but at the moment they’re exceedingly difficult to find so I opted for a series S as stop gap, having owned this console for almost a year (and buying a 2nd unit for the bedroom) I do wonder if not being able to find a series X was a blessing in disguise!?
In a nutshell I’m more than happy with these machines and the value they offer along with gamepass is amazing!
Worth buying for Forza Horizon 5 alone imo.
Amazing value
I had my heart set on a series X but at the moment they’re exceedingly difficult to find so I opted for a series S as stop gap, having owned this console for almost a year (and buying a 2nd unit for the bedroom) I do wonder if not being able to find a series X was a blessing in disguise!?
In a nutshell I’m more than happy with these machines and the value they offer along with gamepass is amazing!
Worth buying for Forza Horizon 5 alone imo.
Small, spacious and no more big power block!
First of all, the size of the console is a massive benefit compared to the Xbox one. This console is quiet and compact. When playing a Xbox s games like likes of Destiny 2 or back for blood, you can see a difference in functionality even on a hd tv.
The only small gripe, no discs allowed but, this is because i didnt check before buying – this does not affect my view of the console though.
Comes with a controller and batteries along with two cables (the power and hdmi) which are no longer large power blocks or oversized.
It has a small slot to plug in a external hard drive (i recommend getting one) if you want loads of space in memory but overall i love this console. Eventually I would like to turn to the mini fridge but this console fits the bill at the moment and only requires two cables to work with a tv which is absolutely brilliant.
Grea
Great buy very quick delivery i am very surprised at how many games you can get with the Xbox games pass theirs so many good games i don’t know how the make the profit back enjoy the old games again and the new games with playstation their isn’t that flexibility to play old games it’s quite limited on playstation .anyway the Xbox is very good very quick loading times. Was disappointed by the delivery guy knocks on the door says i got a parcel for you and just drops it on my door step luckily it wasn’t damaged but should of taken more care than just dropping someone’s item like that they should know that their is valuable items bring shipped for delivery.