 This is the Xbox One S. It's white, it's little, it's cute, and it's just a tiny bit more powerful than the old Xbox, the Xbox One. And let's face it, the original Xbox One had some problems. But the new One S scraps basically everything that we hated about the old Xbox and replaces it with a 4K Blu-ray player. All that's great, but should anybody really buy this thing? The Xbox One S is out now for $399 for a two terabyte model. Later this month, you'll also be able to buy a one terabyte model for $349 or a 500 gig model for $299. It will play all the same games and do all the same things as the old Xbox. But what a difference three years makes. The One S is 40% smaller, but it's actually smaller still because it doesn't need this insane, huge power brick that the old one needed. Instead, you just have this single, simple cord. The One S still needs room to breathe, though. The grill on top is a fan vent, and there are more on the sides, but whatever, it just looks so much better. This robot white collar is really nice, and you can also get an optional stand to mount it vertically. It comes with a two gigabyte model, but you gotta pay 20 bucks extra to get it for the cheaper versions. Now, there are some other differences besides the looks, so let's go through them really quick. First up is the controller. It's white, and it now supports Bluetooth, so it has a longer range, and it's easier to pair with a PC if you wanna use it there. And it also has a 3.5 millimeter headset jack for your headphones. Second, the Xbox One S supports 4K video streaming, 4K Blu-rays, and high dynamic range. Now, I wasn't actually able to test the HDR, because my TV doesn't support HDR 10 yet, so if you really care about that, you should check to make sure that your TV is compatible with HDR 10, because it's the only thing that the Xbox One S supports. I did watch some 4K Blu-rays and stream some 4K Netflix, and the difference is noticeable, but I don't know if it's enough to convince anybody that it has a current Xbox to upgrade. The other thing I should note is, even though it supports 4K video, it doesn't support 4K video games. That's not coming until next year with the next Xbox. Third, and I don't wanna make a big deal out of this, but the Xbox One S is just a little bit more powerful than the original Xbox One. Microsoft says that some games won't have to drop the resolution in order to keep up their frame rate, but I didn't notice a huge performance difference when I was testing it, and in Mirror's Edge, for example, where I die all the time, load times were about the same. Lastly, there's no Kinect. If you have a Kinect and wanna use it, you have to use this ridiculous adapter which requires its own power cord, and I wasn't able to test it. It's basically a sign that Microsoft is admitting that it doesn't care about Kinect and nobody uses it, and I kind of agree. And really, that's what I mean when I say that the Xbox One S scraps everything that we hated about the original Xbox One. You can still use it as the white-hot center of your entertainment system, but you don't have to, even if there is an IR blaster on it. But it doesn't feel like Microsoft is trying to force you into it anymore. Instead, you can just do what the Xbox is good at, play games and watch movies. The new interface on the Xbox One S is the same as the one that's rolling out on the traditional Xboxes with the summer update. It's designed to make it easier to get to games and movies, and it also adds Cortana and background music. So you can say, hey Cortana, into a headset and ask your Xbox to do stuff, and then it does that stuff. So I have to admit, I really like the Xbox One S, but every time I think about it, it puts me in this weird logic loop. Let me explain. One, if you already have an Xbox, I don't think that there's enough here to justify an upgrade. Really, you should just hang on to your big old black box. Two, don't forget, Microsoft already announced it's releasing another Xbox next year. It's called Project Scorpio, and it's going to support 4K games and virtual reality. If you've waited this long to buy an Xbox, why not wait another year? And the third thing to think about is the reason you buy any console. It's the games. Think about how much you love Halo or Forza or Gears of War. If the answer is you love them a lot, chances are you've already bought an Xbox One, which takes us right back to step one in the logic loop. There's really only one thing that breaks this logic loop. In addition to being a really good looking console, it also supports that 4K video and 4K Blu-rays, and if you've been looking for a cheap 4K Blu-ray player, the Xbox One S could be it. But I don't know that enough people care that much about 4K Blu-rays to make this thing worth the purchase. But hey, at least it finally looks good next to my TV. I wasn't able at, lalala. Pop, pop. Second, the Xbox One S supports HDR. Yeah, HDR. Second. Second, second.