I’ve been playing with the discless white Xbox Series X – here’s what it looks like
Microsoft's Xbox Series X is finally available in white after years of rumors
There are three new Xbox consoles this year, but none are really new. Instead of the leaked Xbox Brooklin complete refresh of the Series X – there are three slightly different versions of the existing Series S and Series X.
The all-digital Series S has been upgraded with 1TB of storage, and there’s two new versions of the Series X – a special edition ‘galaxy black’ version with 2TB of storage and this – a 1TB ‘robot white’ version (that’s the same amount of storage as the original black model). A white Xbox Series X was rumored for years before the reveal of this model earlier in the year.
It has another change, too, notably that the disc drive has disappeared. So like the Series S, this edition of the Series X points to a future dependent on Xbox Game Pass. Is that a bad thing? I used to think so, but Game Pass has changed my mind a little on that one. There’s a mind-boggling array of games to choose from.
The robot white finish is the same as on the Series S and older Xboxes like the Xbox One S and it would appear to suggest that a complete refresh of this generation of Xbox isn’t coming anytime soon. I do prefer it in white, largely because the original Xbox Series X seemed rather like a large black slab under your TV if you laid it on its side. I have been quite impressed how my previous-gen One S has also retained its white colour after seven years rather than yellowing; the fate of many a white device.
The insides of all the newly launched consoles are identical to their four-year-old predecessors with the exception of the amount of storage (some reports have also suggested the Series X heatsink has changed to be more efficient). And that’s going to make them seem a little aged during the coming year or two, especially when the mega-expensive PS5 Pro is launching rather soon.
UPDATE: A new teardown of the newly-launched consoles by YouTuber Austin Evans shows quite a few things have actually changed internally – quite why Microsoft didn’t tell us this is anyone’s guess. The main SoC (System on Chip)’s manufacturing process has been shrunk to 6nm. That means it’s more efficient and enables the 2024 Xbox models to consume around 10W less then the 2020 models. As rumored, there’s also a new cooler on top of the chip. It’s no longer a vapour chamber and there’s a more usual copper pipe design. The whole motherboard has actually been redesigned with a bunch of other components moved around or made smaller. Inside the all-digital model, the space where the disc drive was is just blank, with nothing replacing it. Interestingly Evans notes that the new Series X is just as noisy and chucks out just as much heat. Which leads me to wonder if the cooling system is as good as it could be…
An example of this is evident in our pictures – the Series X still uses USB-A on both front and rear with USB-C nowhere in sight. We saw from the slow adoption of USB-C into the Surface range that Microsoft tends to hold back on these things, but surely any hardware refresh of the Series X will have to come with USB-C.
We still think the cylindrical Xbox Brooklin – which was supposed to fully digital, too – could appear next year. Though surely it won’t be too many years before we get a true next-gen Xbox.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
