I’m upgrading my Xbox One on Black Friday
It’s that time of the year. Black Friday soon descends upon us, an annual celebration of modern-day capitalism, and some pretty damn good deals too. The late-November holiday shopping spree brings a wave of nationwide price cuts, including some welcome savings on Xbox One hardware, games, and accessories. That presents the ideal opportunity to upgrade my living room console to Xbox One X, finally converting my household to 4K.
You might ask: Matt, isn’t the next-generation Xbox Project Scarlett just around the corner? It looks likely, currently scheduled for late 2020, with the promise of up to 8K and 120Hz outputs during its E3 reveal. But that’s looking to be a costly flagship, and if you’re looking to hop onto Project Scarlett at launch, there’s a high chance you’re already on board with the two-year-old Xbox One X.
Even with Xbox Project Scarlett on the horizon, the Xbox One X stows impressive 4K potenital.Source: Windows Central
But as this Xbox console generation wraps, it’s a different story to the Xbox 360 to Xbox One transition. Microsoft remains an advocate for cross-generational compatibility, keeping Project Scarlett up close with the full Xbox One family. That includes full backward compatibility with existing Xbox One titles while extending to upcoming experiences like Halo Infinite for the foreseeable future. And with the Xbox One X’s graphical prowess, an upgrade this Black Friday appears more reasonable than generations past.
The Xbox One X currently leads Microsoft’s hardware, delivering up to 4K resolution across a vast library of “Enhanced” games. That brings stark improvements over the baseline Xbox One and Xbox One S setups, often struggling to achieve 1080p and a fluid 60 frames-per-second (FPS) framerate. Those improvements help the Xbox One X shine on the latest 4K TVs, but still ensures the maximum resolution on lower-resolution TVs via supersampling. And as the Xbox One S falls out of favor, ambitious next-generation games will steadily struggle on entry-level devices, making that upgrade more justifiable.
We’re yet to know the full extent of Xbox One savings on Black Friday, although Microsoft has already committed to a $350 starting price at the Microsoft Store. That’s a $150 cut on the recommended retail price (RRP) for Xbox One X and only a $50 premium on the Xbox One S 2016 launch price. Third-party retailers may sweeten the deal with further cuts, so keep an eye out for your options as the end to November nears.
Our pick
Xbox One X 1TB Console
Get upgraded to 4K Xbox gaming
Microsoft’s flagship Xbox One X console packs the best of Xbox, hitting 4K resolution and HDR colors across hundreds of titles. It’s the most powerful console on the market, guaranteed to impress.
