The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s flagship console operating as its most potent option. While the Series S aims to smooth 1440p performance and takes a disc-less approach, the $500 Series X focuses on fast, 4K gameplay.
We may have a brief respite from some of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it console restocks if you’re hunting for the Xbox Series X.
The flagship Xbox has never been immensely challenging to get as a PlayStation 5, but it sometimes flirted with being readily available.
We have one of those pauses where a couple of retailers have the Xbox Series X available to order without much fuss. Costco members can obtain it in a bundle with an additional controller for $549.99, and anyone can freely contact the standalone console for $499.99 immediately from Microsoft.
A few of us headed into errors relating to Checkout at Microsoft but could work around it by using another browser or opening an Incognito window. Be sure to try additional options if, at first, you see a “You have contacted the max quantity for a product “message when clicking the big green button.
You’ll notice a shipping estimate once you get it in your cart and ready for checkout. My estimated delivery date from Microsoft is June 16, while Costco’s listing indicates a shorter lead time of about a week.
Both Microsoft and Costco have had many instants where the consoles popped up with limited availability and immediately sold out, but these listings are currently holding.
Costco’s bundle offering, of course, leads to a more inflexible audience since you keep to be a Costco member and be willing to spend an additional $50 for a second black controller. Likewise, Microsoft offers bundled accessory options of your choosing, but you’re not forced to buy them.
The Xbox Series X is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. They were both emitted on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation of the Xbox console family, following the Xbox One. Along with Sony’s PlayStation 5, released in November 2020, the Xbox Series X and Series S are elements of the ninth generation of video game consoles.
Rumors regarding the consoles first appeared in early 2019, with the line as a total codenamed “Scarlett” and consisting of high-end and lower-end standards codenamed “Anaconda” as well as “Lockhart,” respectively.
Internally, Microsoft had been delighted with the two-console strategy for the Xbox One and planned a similar system for the fourth generation Xbox, with the mark for the high-end model to at least dual the performance of the Xbox One X.
The high-end model was first knocked during E3 2019 under the label “Project Scarlett,” while its name and layout as Xbox Series X was revealed during The Game Awards later in December. Finally, in September 2020, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox Series S’s lower-end model.
The Xbox Series X holds higher-end hardware and supports higher display resolutions (up to 8K resolution), increased frame rates, and real-time ray tracing; it also has a high-speed solid-state drive (SSD) to decrease loading times.
The less expensive Xbox Series S employs the same CPU, but a less potent GPU has smaller memory and internal storage and lacks an optical drive. Both consoles are designed to support essentially all Xbox One games, controllers, and accessories, including those games from older Xbox consoles supported by Xbox One’s backward compatibility.
At launch, Microsoft positioned their first-party games and several third-party games to be available for both Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One to help transition between generations. In addition, it provides the “Smart Delivery” distribution framework to freely provide further optimizations of an Xbox One game for either the Xbox Series X or Series S.
The consoles are also compatible with the gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass, as well as the cloud game-streaming platform Xbox Cloud Gaming.