The Xbox One X Gets Geared Up For 4K

FOR Immersive 4K HDR image; bitstream audio support

AGAINST No 4K pass-through; audio and picture are bettered

Microsoft claims the Xbox One X, complete with its brand new Scorpio Engine, is 40 per cent more powerful than any other games console on the market.

But with great power comes great responsibility, especially as it has to deliver 4K gaming, Blu-ray playback and video streaming with enough panache to justify the asking price. So, is the Xbox One X the 4K superhero we’ve been waiting for?

Microsoft says the One X is its smallest console ever – but, at nearly 4kg, it’s also heavy. The cooling vents are on either side of the One X, as opposed to on top, so you could in theory stack something on it if space is tight. The X can be positioned upright, either with or without the aid of the optional stand.

Tech top trumps

If this were a game of Tech Specs Top Trumps, the One X would prevail over its closest rival, Sony's PS4 Pro. Microsoft’s console boasts a six teraflop graphics processor (compared with 4.2), a custom eight-core computer processor, 12GB of RAM (compared with 8GB) and 326GB/sec memory bandwidth.

It also uses a liquid-cooled system instead of a conventional fan set-up, which means it’s quiet even when pushed hard. Microsoft says there has been a 50 per cent increase in hard-drive speed compared with the One S, which translates into fast loading times, handy for asset-rich games.

Around the back of the Xbox One X, you’ll see an HDMI 2.0b output alongside an HDMI 1.4b input. It’s a little disappointing that Microsoft didn’t take the opportunity to tweak the console’s input so you could pass-through 4K content from a set-top box, or a streamer such as the Amazon Fire TV 4K.

But much of our fondness for the console isn’t down to the new hardware. Microsoft’s recent Xbox One dashboard update has seen the user interface overhauled, and it’s a welcome change. The new layout is a big improvement on the previous version.