Xbox Series X/S 1 TB NVMe Expansion Module Will Cost £159

[watzupken]

Everyone seems to forget that Microsoft is going to sell the console at a loss, and therefore will need to recoup the money back somehow. Forcing people to pay for convenience is one such method.

Consoles can be sold for a loss because the likes of Sony and Microsoft can earn from accessories and from game sales. With more sales going the digital way, the store charges the game maker a 30% cut.

In any case, I feel Sony is going on the right path to allow user the ease to upgrade their storage. I recall the ease of changing my PS4's mechanical drive to a SSD. On the contrary, changing the mechanical drive in the Xbox One X is a big pain when it comes to installing the drive and especially so when installing the software.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Official pricing is $220...

Xbox Series X’s expansion card costs $219.99

USB external drives are still compatible, but not for next-gen games

www.polygon.com

 

[Caring1]

Official pricing is $220...

Xbox Series X’s expansion card costs $219.99

USB external drives are still compatible, but not for next-gen games

www.polygon.com

Ouch. They sure know how to hit you in the hip pocket.

 

[Franzen4Real]

Its always fun to agree on the facts at hand, but have differing opinions.

I feel like Microsoft has made a mistake, and prefer the PS5's way of doing things. But as long as we both agree on the baseline facts, I don't think there's any harm in having disagreeing opinions on the matter.

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post that I quoted, as I was agreeing with your opinion.

"I expect issues with PS5 owners who don't understand PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0, and other such details. M.2 drives will all fit in the connector, but only some of them will be fast enough to work. "

This is my thought as well. With the SSD being a core component of the over all system arch for asset streaming (opposed to earlier generations where the HDD was just for cold storage or to load from instead of an optical disc) it will be imperative to have a correctly specced NVME drive to get the intended performance/compatibility. Again, I'm talking about the mass market console consumers here, not the enthusiasts such as us. An example, walk into WalMart's video game section and randomly ask customers if they even know what an NVME drive is in the first place. I would guess a large portion do not, much less have a clue what pcie gen 3/gen 4 is, or even know where to start as far as choosing/purchasing the correct one. Then, ask them to purchase for you a particular MS or Sony branded peripheral for a given system. I would guess that before they leave the store that most could probably pull that off. This was my thinking as to why I felt MS chose correctly. They have to target the majority of their buyers.

Now with that said, as an enthusiast I DO like that Sony gives that option for sure, I am with you from that perspective. It's just that we are a small minority of the overall market. It feels like Sony may be opening a can of worms. I think they could still offer a "Sony Brand" plug n play SSD similar to Xbox, while still giving the same option to upgrade yourself. That way the people without a clue can still upgrade their system easily and to spec, no thinking involved.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post that I quoted, as I was agreeing with your opinion.

"I expect issues with PS5 owners who don't understand PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0, and other such details. M.2 drives will all fit in the connector, but only some of them will be fast enough to work. "

This is my thought as well. With the SSD being a core component of the over all system arch for asset streaming (opposed to earlier generations where the HDD was just for cold storage or to load from instead of an optical disc) it will be imperative to have a correctly specced NVME drive to get the intended performance/compatibility. Again, I'm talking about the mass market console consumers here, not the enthusiasts such as us. An example, walk into WalMart's video game section and randomly ask customers if they even know what an NVME drive is in the first place. I would guess a large portion do not, much less have a clue what pcie gen 3/gen 4 is, or even know where to start as far as choosing/purchasing the correct one. Then, ask them to purchase for you a particular MS or Sony branded peripheral for a given system. I would guess that before they leave the store that most could probably pull that off. This was my thinking as to why I felt MS chose correctly. They have to target the majority of their buyers.

Now with that said, as an enthusiast I DO like that Sony gives that option for sure, I am with you from that perspective. It's just that we are a small minority of the overall market. It feels like Sony may be opening a can of worms. I think they could still offer a "Sony Brand" plug n play SSD similar to Xbox, while still giving the same option to upgrade yourself. That way the people without a clue can still upgrade their system easily and to spec, no thinking involved.

I own a Sony Vita (though I don't really play it much anymore). I paid $100 for a 32GB Sony-branded memory stick when MicroSD cards (also being sold at Gamestop for phones / Nintendo systems) were $5 for 32GBs. I'd estimate that this was like 2013 or 2014 or so.

Sony knows what mistake they made with the Vita, and they're not making it again. Microsoft hasn't had the pleasure of dealing with this problem yet. Yeah, MicroSD cards could be "lower class" and too slow for the Vita or a Phone, or whatever, or maybe you want quality control. There's lots of good reasons to think this is a good idea.

Unfortunately, any "specialized" memory device is going to become exorbitantly expensive. There's no reason for the various memory producers to make XBox-branded SKUs, when they'd rather make a single M.2 form factor that works in the Laptop, Server, Desktop, AND PS5 market.

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post that I quoted, as I was agreeing with your opinion.

Ah, I see. Well, I was stating that as a "lesser of two evils" thing. Sure, some people will have some issues if they take a screwdriver to their PS5 and start throwing parts into it. But the benefits are superior. The damage to the brand would be great when the XBox-specific memory stick prices go out-of-sync with the general M.2 prices.

 

[kayjay010101]

I own a Sony Vita (though I don't really play it much anymore). I paid $100 for a 32GB Sony-branded memory stick when MicroSD cards (also being sold at Gamestop for phones / Nintendo systems) were $5 for 32GBs. I'd estimate that this was like 2013 or 2014 or so.

To be fair this is a ~2x doubling situation ($100 for 1TB is common, Xbox is charging $220), while the MicroSD situation was ~20x. That's a whole magnitude more overpriced. Not really directly comparable.

 

[dragontamer5788]

To be fair this is a ~2x doubling situation ($100 for 1TB is common, Xbox is charging $220), while the MicroSD situation was ~20x. That's a whole magnitude more overpriced. Not really directly comparable.

IIRC: The Vita started out at a similar price to premium high-speed MicroSD cards. (I mean, it was always more expensive, but there was a time when it looked "reasonable")

But guess what? MicroSD cards got cheaper over time. Vita memory cards didn't.

 

[QUANTUMPHYSICS]

@QUANTUMPHYSICS you are not accounting for drive speed. Both PS5 and XBSS/X are counting on pretty fast SSDs. The moment they allow user to use any drive they want, there are going to be a bunch of people installing whatever the cheapest bigger drive is, probably with horrible performance. If Sony/MS add a speed test, they get lambasted for walling the garden anyway. Sony is doing something similar with allowing 3rd party drives and we will have a chance to see how it goes.

If they let speeds slide, people will complain about load times, stuttering, texture pop-in and the like. The moment some Dev decides to use the spec drive as minimum and rely on that for asset streaming, that will be a horrible experience with a slower drive.

Not saying that the expensive expansion is good but I can see where they are coming from both technically and for marketing.

You have no testing and you're going based solely on what you heard.

 

[striker-763]

with all the limitation that Microsoft has added with the Series X i have just about decided to stick with PC. Cant use my surround sound headphones (with Optical input) (or a USB with Dolby Digital), cant use hard drives that are clearly fast enough to play games with just there software wont let it play from USB... my write / speed from my array is 1100/1400mbs, xbox one had no issues using external hardrives from USB 3.0 with a RAID array.
they took out the Optical, no HDMI IN, you never remove features from customers. you always give them more. Wont let you play games on a monitor that will allow 120hz because it is over HDMI... why didnt you put a display port on the Xbox,... i know ive gotten off topic sorry... i could go on and on...

 

[kayjay010101]

with all the limitation that Microsoft has added with the Series X i have just about decided to stick with PC. Cant use my surround sound headphones (with Optical input) (or a USB with Dolby Digital), cant use hard drives that are clearly fast enough to play games with just there software wont let it play from USB... my write / speed from my array is 1100/1400mbs, xbox one had no issues using external hardrives from USB 3.0 with a RAID array.
they took out the Optical, no HDMI IN, you never remove features from customers. you always give them more. Wont let you play games on a monitor that will allow 120hz because it is over HDMI... why didnt you put a display port on the Xbox,... i know ive gotten off topic sorry... i could go on and on...

Hard drives should be able to run XBox One games, just not "optimized for series X" titles. People have tested this and it does indeed work. Microsoft even recommends this to be able to store as many next-gen games on the small 1TB internal drive.
The lack of the toslink port is regrettable and Microsoft have mentioned this prior to launch as well. Their plans originally had the port in mind but it simply was too expensive.
HDMI in is a feature not many people used, but I agree it's a regrettable removal. It was nice.
The fact that your monitor has 120Hz but not over HDMI is not Microsoft's problem, it's your monitor (or cable's?) problem. The feature works just fine over HDMI to TVs (and certain monitors) that support it. (How else could they advertise 120Hz support when that's the only output and supposedly not possible over HDMI? Wouldn't that be straight up lying?) No single games console has ever had DP because the vast majority of console users will use a TV, not a monitor. It's simply added cost that isn't worth it for the few that benefit from it.

 

[striker-763]

thanks for the reply... my monitor is capable of 120hz over HDMI it works at 1080p 120hz with the xbox but not at 4k. xbox doesnt like something with 4k for some reason... software in the xbox..... thats my whole point here. It works with the PS5 At 4k 120hz. just not with an xbox. ive tried several different cables with the xbox makes no difference also tried it on a 120hz tv that i know is capable of it and it still doesn't work... something in this xbox is the problem... PS5 has no issue using the same cables and hardware that i have