Microsoft announced the Xbox One S at their E3 show last month. The new, slightly smaller Xbox One was announced to have a retail price point starting at $299, but Microsoft wants to jack that price up a bit. The Xbox One S is getting limited quantities of its launch day edition for $399, featuring a 2TB hard drive to store all your games on. The best part of today's news for fans looking forward to the Xbox One S is that the mid-generation hardware revision will be available on August 2.
The company also plans to have all console pre-orders on your doorstep by August 2 as well, meaning Xbox fans that pre-ordered the moment the system was announced at E3 shouldn't have to wait for UPS or FedEx. The Xbox One S is 40% smaller than the original, bulkier Xbox One and features a new, wireless controller that can communicate with the system using Bluetooth. This controller can be purchased as a standalone item for $59.99 once the Xbox One S releases on August 2, but Bluetooth support for the new controller requires the Windows 10 Anniversary update, which is also due to be pushed out to PCs and Xbox One systems on August 2.
If you plan to use the Xbox One S as an entertainment system, the console supports 4K resolutions for movies and TV shows with HDR. HDR support also extends to gaming, so your favorite Xbox One games will have a better contrast between light and dark compared to the original hardware.
In addition to the 2TB launch day edition of the Xbox One S for $399, Microsoft also plans to make 500GB and 1TB versions of the system available for $299 and $349, respectively. When August 2 rolls around, the $399 2TB version will be the only Xbox One S system available, so fans looking to take advantage of the new hardware revision without spending so much money will have to wait around a while. Although Microsoft plans to share a release schedule for the cheaper Xbox One S systems in the future, no plans have been shared at this time.
I'm gonna see about getting the 500, the main thing I like is the stupid power brick is finally gone and it's almost half the size of the current one. I'm gonna continue using the external HDD I have now so I don't need the 2 tera model. Unless they are putting 7200 RPM drives into it, which I really doubt.