Xbox One S All Digital review

The Xbox One has been through plenty of changes and updates since its launch. But one thing has always remained the same — until now.

Say goodbye to all those discs with the Xbox One S All Digital console. Picture: Supplied

The Xbox One is Microsoft’s current generation gaming console and has gone through plenty of changes and updates since its launch in 2013.

But until now one thing has remained the same — there’s always been a drive for you to play physical discs.

Until now.

The latest iteration is the Xbox One S All Digital version, which takes advantage of improved internet in many parts of the world to offer a 100 per cent digital/online approach to gaming.

As the name suggests, this is an Xbox One S (the less powerful version of the flagship Xbox One X), without a CD/DVD/Blu-ray/whatever disc games you use drive. It does, however, feature 4K graphics, wi-fi connectivity, wireless Xbox controller and a 1TB hard drive and is, in all other respects, a standard Xbox One S.

Finished in white, it’s a sleek and attractive design — the only inputs on the front are a power button and a USB port, while the rear has HDMI ports to connect to a TV along with a power cord plug, two USB ports, an optical audio input and a LAN connection.

While losing the optical drive might seem like an interesting design choice, if you’re one of the lucky people with decent internet in this country (and admittedly I am), then the all-digital offering has some attraction.

To be honest, I can’t recall if I’ve ever actually put a game disc in my Xbox One X — every game I can recall playing on it has been a digital download from the Xbox Store or via Xbox Game Pass (which I highly recommend you get a subscription to; it’s fantastic value).

On that note, the One S All Digital console also comes with three games — Sea of Thieves, Minecraft and Forza Horizon 3 — all of which are lots of fun but also available for free via Xbox Game Pass so not really an incentive unless you’re really strapped for cash.

While the One S isn’t as powerful as the One X, it can still do 4K graphics and the like, but since most people still have a 1080p HDTV, the performance loss isn’t noticeable at all, and for the casual to average gamer, it’s a perfectly decent choice.

The major criticism is the lack of an optical drive means you can’t go to your local pawnbroker or used games seller and stock up on cheap second-hand games, but given how many games are on the Xbox Game Pass (more than 170 at last count and climbing), that’s not a massive issue — plus you can buy games off the Xbox Store too if you want non-Microsoft games at release.

Xbox One S All Digital version takes advantage of improved internet in many parts of the world.

It also can’t play Blu-ray discs either, which is another ding against the unit depending on what your internet is like and what video services you have access to.

The challenge, however, is the $349 price tag is not massively cheaper than the standard Xbox One S, which has an RRP of about $399 new with an included game and even less if someone’s got a deal going or you find a second-hand one.

It’s also worth noting the unit has USB connectivity, so users can back up saved data and other files to an external hard drive as well, so the unit does have some external input options in that regard.

The change fits with Microsoft’s philosophy to make gaming accessible to as many people as possible — when I spoke with Xbox head Phil Spencer in 2017, ahead of the launch of the Xbox One X console, he said Xbox gamers were a diverse group from all parts of the world. He spoke about knowing gamers who still had Xbox One consoles hooked up to old CRT televisions or were gaming in small spaces where there wasn’t much room for a console and accessories.

There’s also a lot of people out there who don’t have a smart TV, so for those audiences this all-digital console could be an appealing way to have streaming video and the like along with access to some games without investing as heavily.

In that vein, the Xbox One S All Digital console is the sort of thing I might buy and set up at my parents’ place as an entertainment centre for streaming video and music services as well as giving my kids the ability to play their favourite games when visiting their grandparents.

I can also see it appealing to people who like the minimalist style in their homes and want something sleek that will complement their decor without needing additional space for physical discs to accompany it.

From those perspectives, the Xbox One S All Digital console does have a place, even though I personally wouldn’t make it my primary gaming console or home entertainment device.

Ultimately, if you live somewhere with poor internet, this isn’t going to be a sensible purchase. If, however, you do have decent internet then it might be worth looking into, particularly as a secondary or off-site console, especially if you can find it on sale.

Originally published as Xbox One S All Digital review