With just under a week to go until the release of the updated Xbox One, I will give you the very numerous reasons as to why I am actually buying one. 

First off, there is two versions being released on November 7th, the one you see above and the one you see below. The only real difference between the two is a few aesthetics prints on the console and controller and a vertical stand for the Scorpio. So limited at best!

But, with the same price tag, I would be remiss to pass up this super cool, super awesome edition!! So it will be a Scorpio edition for me on November 7th, or whenever I actually have time to go pick it up.

OK, let’s talk specs!

In the CPU corner there is not too much of a boost between the PS4 pro and the XboneX, with clock speeds of 2.13 and 2.3GHz respectively. But it is in the graphics processor where the difference really stands. To give you the full spec breakdown, the Pro runs a 4.12 TFLOPS, 218 GB/s, 8GB GDDR5, whereas the XboneX runs at a whopping 6 TFLOPS, 326GB/s, 12GB GDDR5.

CPU – All current consoles from Sony and Microsoft are all based on the AMD 8-core Jaguar processor.

The Xbox One, One S and One X, all had speeds of 1.75GHz, 1.75GHz and 2.3GHz respectively.

The Playstation 4, Slim and Pro all had speeds of 1.6GHz, 1.6GHz and 2.1GHz

GPU – Again both Sony and Microsoft have stayed with AMD for this generation. The really difference is in the Teraflops.

Both the origianl PS4 and XBone had 1.31 teraflops and 1.84 respectively, with no real change in the S and the Slim models.

It is in the latest iteration of both where we see some BIG jumps in the actual processing of the GPUs. The PS Pro has a whopping 4.2 Teraflops putting all others to shame…..until now. The XBoneX is packing a massive 6 Teraflops of processing.

RAM – There isn’t a big difference between RAM in any of the consoles. In fact they all have 8 GB of RAM. The XBox One and S both donning the DDR3 RAM whereas the PS4, Slim and Pro all went with the faster DDR5 RAM.

That is about to be put to shame now. Microsoft pushing up to the DDR5 RAM and pushing the size to 12GB.

Lastly – Optical Drive. 

The original Xbox One and all iterations of the PS4 contained a simple Blu-Ray player.

Both the One S and X are packing a 4K/HDR Blu-Ray player. In particular, this puts the S as one of the cheapest 4K Blu Ray player on the market. Only recently have we had cheaper options released to the public.

To break that into layman terms, the XboneX will be capable of running games at a higher resolution. This will mark the first time since the release of this generation of console, the PS4 and Xbox One, that the Xbox has packed more of a punch.

What difference will it actually make to the gamer? To be honest, probably not much! Are you going to see a massive difference between the S(the previous iteration of Xbox) and the X? Yes, if you have them side by side! But nothing will immerse you in a game more than good story telling and awesome sound. Yes the graphics are important, don’t get me wrong, but with all the games coming out, I don’t think what they are missing is frame rate and resolution. Graphics in games these days are incredible. But, should not be the important thing in a game, that should be the story or mechanics in the game.

So why am I buying an XboneX?

This is something I have been thinking a lot about. There is no real simple answer. The short and quick answer is UHD Blu Ray player. I don’t have one so that will be handy! But I could just buy the S for that and save around 200 euros! The simple fact of the matter is this, the XboneX will be the first Microsoft console that I purchase. If I bought the XboneS, it probably would have been ONLY a UHD Blu Ray player, whereas the XboneX is one I will look to buy the multi-platform games on for the next while. Also, again a big thanks to Jason for ordering an extra at the time so I can actually get the XBoneX. Ever looking out for me, but not my wallet!

Will it be worth the money, time will tell. But I will be back in about 2 weeks to give my initial review of the system as a whole!

Are you buying the XboneX? What do you think of these half-step consoles? Let us know in the comments below!