Xbox Series S 1 TB Carbon Black Model Out Now

[T0@st]

September is shaping up to be one of the hottest months of the year for Xbox players, with a ton of new releases, including some of the year's most anticipated games, several of which will be available with Game Pass on day one (Starfield, Lies of P, Payday 3 - just to name a few). Plus, with the release of the 1 TB Xbox Series S in Carbon Black on September 1 and Xbox Game Pass Core launching on September 14 you will have even more options on what to play and where to play it.

Xbox Series S - 1 TB
With the release of so many new games this month, it's a great time to join Xbox or upgrade your console, so you can enjoy games that only run on Xbox Series X|S and PC like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and more. Plus, September 1 marks the release of the new Xbox Series S - 1 TB, which was announced earlier this year at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023. This console features the same next-gen speed and performance of our 512 GB Series S, now with double the storage so you can download even more of your favorite games to your console where they'll be ready to play when you are. Xbox is always exploring ways to use less new materials and reduce waste - our new 1 TB Series S incorporates Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resins, mirroring the practice established in 2021 with our white Series S in a new color. The bold Carbon Black color is the same sleek, modern matte finish as Xbox Series X and the Xbox Wireless Controller. Make the most of every gaming minute with features like Quick Resume, lightning-fast load times, and support for gameplay of up to 120 FPS.




The Carbon Black Xbox Series S - 1 TB joins our family of devices, including the original 512 GB Series S and 1 TB Xbox Series X, now available in every market where the devices are sold and available at xbox.com and microsoftstore.com, plus other participating retailers..

We know you're here for the games, and September's lineup features dozens of titles spanning most genres, so there truly is something for everyone to enjoy wherever you play. Here's a list featuring some of the must-play games releasing on Xbox this September and a few details about each to help you decide which game to jump into first.



Back in black, the Xbox Series S - 1 TB is available today. On Xbox Series S, enjoy more dynamic and vibrant worlds, sensationally smooth framerates at up to 120 FPS, lightning fast load times, and add Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (membership sold separately) to play new Xbox games on day one.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Guwapo77]

They should have launched with this color before people realized just how bad this console really was...

 

[Arkz]

They should have launched with this color before people realized just how bad this console really was...

Why is it bad? It's a cheap box for 1080p games. Seems appealing to many.

 

[ilyon]

No RTX, no DLSS3 with FG... Not a single useful option on these consoles...

 

[Lionheart]

They should have launched with this color before people realized just how bad this console really was...

How is it bad? It's a budget current gen console aimed at price to performance.

No RTX, no DLSS3 with FG... Not a single useful option on these consoles...

Wow it's like it's running on AMD hardware or something..... I lost braincells reading this garbage.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

No RTX, no DLSS3 with FG... Not a single useful option on these consoles...

IT uses AMD hardware. And still most people gaming on the PC have PCs that perform like utter garbage compared to the XBOX or the PS5. In reality PC gaming is pretty low end stuff for the vast majority of people gaming on a PC when you stack it up to a console.

 

[Broken Processor]

No RTX, no DLSS3 with FG... Not a single useful option on these consoles...

I feel dumber having read your post. Thanks...

 

[Ruru]

They should have launched with this color before people realized just how bad this console really was...

Bad? A great console for 1080p TV owners.

No RTX, no DLSS3 with FG... Not a single useful option on these consoles...

Weird, I don't have those either and I have Zen2/RDNA2 hardware just like these consoles have.

 

[quiq]

Bad? A great console for 1080p TV owners.

Weird, I don't have those either and I have Zen2/RDNA2 hardware just like these consoles have.

i have a 4k tv and really enjoy it

no need to pay twice the price to play fifa

 

[Guwapo77]

Why is it bad? It's a cheap box for 1080p games. Seems appealing to many.

Why is it bad? Are you kidding me? That underpowered trash box that devs are beating their heads on the wall to create games for... Gimmick consoles like the S is why they can't catch up to PS5 (and their inability to provide original games on it). 1080p TVs? The X plays perfectly well on a 1080p TV. Let me guess, 1080p TV owners will never upgrade their TV.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Why is it bad? Are you kidding me? That underpowered trash box that devs are beating their heads on the wall to create games for... Gimmick consoles like the S is why they can't catch up to PS5 (and their inability to provide original games on it). 1080p TVs? The X plays perfectly well on a 1080p TV. Let me guess, 1080p TV owners will never upgrade their TV.

They'd never catch up to the PS5 because the Xbox died the day Don Mattrick stepped on stage to unveil the Xbox One. He personally put Xbox on its knees and executed it, a clean shot to the back of the head. It was left on stage to putrefy - cleaning that mess is the task that was given to Phil Spencer and he's been trying to do so ever since.

Absolutely nothing about that fateful event was redeemable, not today and certainly not 10 years ago, with the entire talk of forcing the console to have Kinect (now dead) enabled at all times, single-use activation codes for retail games (in order to kill the used game market), always-online requirement to use the system, the VCR design, etc. - even the 360 diehards absolutely hated Microsoft's initial concept for the One.

In the interim, after Sony's majestic marketing win during the PS4 unveil, they've grown ever more aggressive, dirty, and corporate about their games publishing. PlayStation fans are like mindless zombies who will accept any slop that has Sony's blessing, and they've managed to assert their brand to the point a lot of people simply think "PS5" when you talk video games. They even look dismayed when I tell them I prefer the Xbox, and the reality is, I'm a PC gamer at heart. I tolerate the Xbox, that's about it - while I vilify the PlayStation.

 

[Arkz]

Why is it bad? Are you kidding me? That underpowered trash box that devs are beating their heads on the wall to create games for... Gimmick consoles like the S is why they can't catch up to PS5 (and their inability to provide original games on it). 1080p TVs? The X plays perfectly well on a 1080p TV. Let me guess, 1080p TV owners will never upgrade their TV.

It's exactly as powered as it should be for the price point. And it works well as a 1080p box. Millions have bought it who don't care about 4k. Vast majority of devs have no issue at all and the game basically runs the same as the series X version but in lower res. It's only the odd game with issues like BG3, and even then it's just the split screen. They're cheap as hell for a ready to go system with a massive library on gamepass. I understand the appeal for people looking for something cheap and basic.

Calling this a gimmick is like calling any 1080p/1440p graphics card a gimmick. It's just dumb. And it being weaker doesn't stop people making original games at all. Again, that's dumb.

 

[Guwapo77]

They'd never catch up to the PS5 because the Xbox died the day Don Mattrick stepped on stage to unveil the Xbox One. He personally put Xbox on its knees and executed it, a clean shot to the back of the head. It was left on stage to putrefy - cleaning that mess is the task that was given to Phil Spencer and he's been trying to do so ever since.

Absolutely nothing about that fateful event was redeemable, not today and certainly not 10 years ago, with the entire talk of forcing the console to have Kinect (now dead) enabled at all times, single-use activation codes for retail games (in order to kill the used game market), always-online requirement to use the system, the VCR design, etc. - even the 360 diehards absolutely hated Microsoft's initial concept for the One.

In the interim, after Sony's majestic marketing win during the PS4 unveil, they've grown ever more aggressive, dirty, and corporate about their games publishing. PlayStation fans are like mindless zombies who will accept any slop that has Sony's blessing, and they've managed to assert their brand to the point a lot of people simply think "PS5" when you talk video games. They even look dismayed when I tell them I prefer the Xbox, and the reality is, I'm a PC gamer at heart. I tolerate the Xbox, that's about it - while I vilify the PlayStation.

Nobody is on top forever. Microsoft's Xbox had the best chance at the start of this generation to capture Sony. The only reason they failed and continue to fail is because of their lack of first party games. Hardware isn't the issue when it comes to the Series X. Console history shows that accessories do not sell systems, either the system has good games or it doesn't...its really that simple. MS is trying to turn the console segment into the PC segment with the super weak Series S. Triple A games are having to be upscaled from 720p in order to work. Why release a system barely stronger than the previous generation (actually weaker than the PS4 Pro, 1/3rd the power of Series X) and demand developers to make games for it or they can't make it for the Series X. Playstation does not have these problems as its the same system, just one with a disc and one without.

It's exactly as powered as it should be for the price point. And it works well as a 1080p box. Millions have bought it who don't care about 4k. Vast majority of devs have no issue at all and the game basically runs the same as the series X version but in lower res. It's only the odd game with issues like BG3, and even then it's just the split screen. They're cheap as hell for a ready to go system with a massive library on gamepass. I understand the appeal for people looking for something cheap and basic.

Calling this a gimmick is like calling any 1080p/1440p graphics card a gimmick. It's just dumb. And it being weaker doesn't stop people making original games at all. Again, that's dumb.

You're probably one of those who bought this system and will defend it with your all your soul. Countless devs have already stated they despise porting games to the Series S because of how much they have to work to crap their Triple A title into the 8GB of RAM and the slower clock frequencies. There is nothing wrong with Gamepass and that is NOT the issue.

Calling anything that plays @ 1080p/1440p a gimmick is dumb? Lets not get into name calling, mmk? I didn't call you stupid for having your thoughts on this outdated system. Let's move forward shall we? As I mentioned earlier, this system is a hair weaker than the PS4 Pro and the PS4 Pro was well over it's time. Each and every console generation has seen a leap in complexity of the games and its visuals while increasing fidelity at higher resolutions. The Series S uses upscaling to hit 1080p and is not a true 1080p system when it comes to demanding titles. If you want native 1080p gaming you need a PS5 or Series X to achieve that. To the best of my knowledge, neither of those systems have internally rendered any game below 1080p before upscaling them to 1440p or 2160p resolutions. So the real 1080p champs are the PS5 and Series X as you'll receive native rendering. The PS5 only costs $399 for the digital edition. The Series S (essentially a PS4 Pro in 2023 (release date 2020)) is $299. Its like buying a 7800XT in 2023 when you could have bought a 6800XT (ignoring the price difference from the GPU shortage)...different architecture while having the relatively the same performance.

 

[trsttte]

As I mentioned earlier, this system is a hair weaker than the PS4 Pro and the PS4 Pro was well over it's time. Each and every console generation has seen a leap in complexity of the games and its visuals while increasing fidelity at higher resolutions. The Series S uses upscaling to hit 1080p and is not a true 1080p system when it comes to demanding titles. If you want native 1080p gaming you need a PS5 or Series X to achieve that. To the best of my knowledge, neither of those systems have internally rendered any game below 1080p before upscaling them to 1440p or 2160p resolutions. So the real 1080p champs are the PS5 and Series X as you'll receive native rendering. The PS5 only costs $399 for the digital edition. The Series S (essentially a PS4 Pro in 2023 (release date 2020)) is $299. Its like buying a 7800XT in 2023 when you could have bought a 6800XT (ignoring the price difference from the GPU shortage)...different architecture while having the relatively the same performance.

For casual players and gramma buying something for the kids the Series S was a nice strategy. We've all seen the allegations from developers but they're just that, in the click economy I find it just as likely websites are stirring things up to drive traffic. You're talking native render this and upscale that but majority of console players only care about "start console and play game"

In raw performance numbers not only is the Series S weaker than the PS4 Pro, it's weaker than the previous xbox flagship, the Xbox One X (sidebar: xbox naming is fucking terrible) but that doesn't tell the hole story: those consoles were mindlessly targeting 4k without enough resources do so, the series s uses much faster ssd storage and the jaguar cpu architecture used in the previous generation was dogshit. In practise the Series S is a big improvement over both of them even if the raw numbers fail to show it. The cpu is much much faster, it just doesn't have the compute units to render higher resolutions and show better flops in a spec sheet.

Now, did it work? I don't know, Microsoft published numbers recently but it doesn't discriminate Series X and S sales, but the Series series is selling better than the Xbox One sold over it's tenure and they claim 48% of series S sales have been to players new to Xbox which to me seems favorable. Them launching a refreshed model with higher storage may also suggest that it's not doing too bad, otherwise why bother? (it could also be a necessity to sweaten the deal but who knows - they're launching it at a higher price of 350$ which is bold against the ps5 digital 399$ so it must be working)

In my opinion it was a nice strategy given they are still unable to release and market a game that convinces someone to buy their product. They've bought countless publishers but haven't been able to release anything that competes with AAA Playstation titles so having a product with a considerably lower barrier of entry is important. I'd never buy a Series X but I could see myself buying a Series S on a "what the hell, why not" moment and I think that's translating to the better sales numbers of this generation.

 

[ViperXZ]

This is a weak console, nobody should buy this, only hampers your gaming experience. Sony did it right, all consoles the same, the smaller one misses the BD drive and fine it is.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Why is it bad? It's a cheap box for 1080p games. Seems appealing to many.

Because the hardware is so weak. It can BARELY run 1080p. Games like jedi can hit as low as single digit framerate. Games that run at a solid 30 FPS on series X run low 20s with stutter on the S. And its not getting any better, the S has so little RAM and hamstrung hardware that it doesnt get any of the eye candy from the quality modes either.

It's like gaming on a 8400GS back in the day. It was a "fine" display adapter, so long as you played solitaire.

 

[trsttte]

Because the hardware is so weak. It can BARELY run 1080p. Games like jedi can hit as low as single digit framerate. Games that run at a solid 30 FPS on series X run low 20s with stutter on the S. And its not getting any better, the S has so little RAM and hamstrung hardware that it doesnt get any of the eye candy from the quality modes either.

It's like gaming on a 8400GS back in the day. It was a "fine" display adapter, so long as you played solitaire.

That's a huge exageration. The Series S has 8gb of vram (+2gb slower mainly for system stuff) and a gpu more or less equivalent to what ended up as the 6500xt - which isn't saying much but it's still plenty on an entry console.

Consoles never get most of the eye candy anyway, be it Series S, Series X or PS5. Most games are still being released on previous gen consoles - not just the pro versions either, the now ancient and slow original PS4 and Xbox One, including Jedi Survivor btw - if those can run the games, the Series S has a much easier time doing so with the extra memory, ssd and modern CPU (jaguar was bad)

Stop being so elitist, maybe it's not good enough for you and you bought a Series X/PC/PS5 instead, it's still plenty for a lot.

 

[chrcoluk]

This is a weak console, nobody should buy this, only hampers your gaming experience. Sony did it right, all consoles the same, the smaller one misses the BD drive and fine it is.

Very happy with my Series S purchase, was a good price.

Similar to how I prefer the steam deck to the rog ally, lower spec yes, much better price also yes.

 

[Arkz]

Because the hardware is so weak. It can BARELY run 1080p. Games like jedi can hit as low as single digit framerate. Games that run at a solid 30 FPS on series X run low 20s with stutter on the S. And its not getting any better, the S has so little RAM and hamstrung hardware that it doesnt get any of the eye candy from the quality modes either.

It's like gaming on a 8400GS back in the day. It was a "fine" display adapter, so long as you played solitaire.

It's the random odd game with issues, and they usually have issues on the series X too. Plenty of devs can get lots out of it no problem. And given how cheap they pop up at it's still a great deal for a cheap gamepass machine, certainly far cheaper than a similar PC.

Nobody is on top forever. Microsoft's Xbox had the best chance at the start of this generation to capture Sony. The only reason they failed and continue to fail is because of their lack of first party games. Hardware isn't the issue when it comes to the Series X. Console history shows that accessories do not sell systems, either the system has good games or it doesn't...its really that simple. MS is trying to turn the console segment into the PC segment with the super weak Series S. Triple A games are having to be upscaled from 720p in order to work. Why release a system barely stronger than the previous generation (actually weaker than the PS4 Pro, 1/3rd the power of Series X) and demand developers to make games for it or they can't make it for the Series X. Playstation does not have these problems as its the same system, just one with a disc and one without.


You're probably one of those who bought this system and will defend it with your all your soul. Countless devs have already stated they despise porting games to the Series S because of how much they have to work to crap their Triple A title into the 8GB of RAM and the slower clock frequencies. There is nothing wrong with Gamepass and that is NOT the issue.

Calling anything that plays @ 1080p/1440p a gimmick is dumb? Lets not get into name calling, mmk? I didn't call you stupid for having your thoughts on this outdated system. Let's move forward shall we? As I mentioned earlier, this system is a hair weaker than the PS4 Pro and the PS4 Pro was well over it's time. Each and every console generation has seen a leap in complexity of the games and its visuals while increasing fidelity at higher resolutions. The Series S uses upscaling to hit 1080p and is not a true 1080p system when it comes to demanding titles. If you want native 1080p gaming you need a PS5 or Series X to achieve that. To the best of my knowledge, neither of those systems have internally rendered any game below 1080p before upscaling them to 1440p or 2160p resolutions. So the real 1080p champs are the PS5 and Series X as you'll receive native rendering. The PS5 only costs $399 for the digital edition. The Series S (essentially a PS4 Pro in 2023 (release date 2020)) is $299. Its like buying a 7800XT in 2023 when you could have bought a 6800XT (ignoring the price difference from the GPU shortage)...different architecture while having the relatively the same performance.

Nope, don't own one. I have the Halo Series X, but rarely use it, only got it cause I liked the look of it and figured it would be good for old X360 and X1 BC games that aren't on PC.

A few devs have complained, probably cause it actually involves putting the time in getting stuff to work well with the memory constraints. To me that's the only issue really. It should have had at least 12GB as not all games will scale down the RAM usage from 4k to 1080p. Especially since lots of Series X games don't run anywhere near 4k anyway.

It's far more powerful than the PS4 Pro. AMD already said the 4TF GPU in it is similar perf to the 6TF GPU in the One X. But aiming for 1080p instead of 4k, and the CPU is lightyears ahead of the crappy Jaguar chips in the last gen machines. Most games on it do run in at least 1080p. and there's crap loads of games in full 4k on series X too. Most of the stuff that drops the res heavily is doing so to push 120fps.

 

[ViperXZ]

Very happy with my Series S purchase, was a good price.

Similar to how I prefer the steam deck to the rog ally, lower spec yes, much better price also yes.

The issue is, it's barely cheaper than the PS5 without BD device, but that PS5 is a full performance device... your choice, I won't argue.

 

[chrcoluk]

The issue is, it's barely cheaper than the PS5 without BD device, but that PS5 is a full performance device... your choice, I won't argue.

Barely cheaper?

£390 ps5 digital
£250 xbox series S

Amazon UK prices as of 6 Sept.

For those with a budget thats quite significant.

Also at the time I got my Xbox Series S, there was severe PS5 stock issues, so had to buy a bundle of some sort as retailers were taking advantage, I paid almost £550 for my PS5.

 

[ViperXZ]

Barely cheaper?

£390 ps5 digital
£250 xbox series S

Amazon UK prices as of 6 Sept.

For those with a budget thats quite significant.

Also at the time I got my Xbox Series S, there was severe PS5 stock issues, so had to buy a bundle of some sort as retailers were taking advantage, I paid almost £550 for my PS5.

both systems aren't really expensive, the uprate is a bit higher but absolutely worth it. Aside PS5 has better games, it's simply the better console in multiple regards

 

[chrcoluk]

both systems aren't really expensive, the uprate is a bit higher but absolutely worth it. Aside PS5 has better games, it's simply the better console in multiple regards

Well you have gone off track now, you looking at it perhaps from your own personal situation, but try to put yourself into the minds of people who dont care about the higher resolution or the higher framerate but dont have as much money as you (as you have just confirmed £140 isnt much to you), then you might understand why the S exists.

If there was no S, I wouldnt have brought an Xbox series console, as I only purchased it to play old BC games, and the £250 I just about justified the expense, it was borderline. I feel happy with the purchase now, but at the time I was unsure about it.

I am not happy about my PS5 purchase as so far I have only played one game on it, and only have about 3 queued up ready to go (one's that cant play on ps4 pro), doesnt feel good value for me at the moment.

However despite this I dont go round telling people they shouldnt be buying PS5's or Series X consoles, choice is a good thing and I have never understood why elitists moan about the S existing, it doesnt affect them.

 

[ViperXZ]

Well you have gone off track now, you looking at it perhaps from your own personal situation, but try to put yourself into the minds of people who dont care about the higher resolution or the higher framerate but dont have as much money as you (as you have just confirmed £140 isnt much to you), then you might understand why the S exists.

If there was no S, I wouldnt have brought an Xbox series console, as I only purchased it to play old BC games, and the £250 I just about justified the expense, it was borderline. I feel happy with the purchase now, but at the time I was unsure about it.

I am not happy about my PS5 purchase as so far I have only played one game on it, and only have about 3 queued up ready to go (one's that cant play on ps4 pro), doesnt feel good value for me at the moment.

However despite this I dont go round telling people they shouldnt be buying PS5's or Series X consoles, choice is a good thing and I have never understood why elitists moan about the S existing, it doesnt affect them.

No no, it's fine, I'm not a elitist, I just try to educate people to invest their money on better products that have upsides that are easily worth the money. That's it

 

[trsttte]

Barely cheaper?

£390 ps5 digital
£250 xbox series S

Amazon UK prices as of 6 Sept.

For those with a budget thats quite significant.

Also at the time I got my Xbox Series S, there was severe PS5 stock issues, so had to buy a bundle of some sort as retailers were taking advantage, I paid almost £550 for my PS5.

Uk pricing seems to favour the Xbox, in the EU/US market there's still a big difference but less so at 399€/$ for the PS5 and 299€/$ for xbox (350€/$ for this 1tb version).

If xbox doesn't update their prices the PS5 can go right after their lunch with an easy 20 or 30 bucks discount bringing prices to the same ballpark and taking the Series S out of consideration