Top 5 reasons to buy an Xbox One X over the PlayStation 4 Pro
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Now that the Xbox One X is finally available for pre-order, we have decided to update this article for those looking to get the console. You can pre-order one for yourself by following the links below.
United States Preorder
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Despite it’s $499 price, there are a lot of reasons to pick up Microsoft’s Xbox One X over Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro. While PlayStation executives like Jim Ryan might call their product “the lowest common denominator”, the Xbox One X is anything but. It’s an incredibly advanced, powerful and gorgeous piece of hardware which ever gamer should consider. Here are some of the reasons why we recommend that you pick up an Xbox One X over the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Significant Power Advantage
Despite the fact that the Xbox One X was revealed a few days ago, there is already a significant list of important games which feature either better visuals or frame rates when compared to PlayStation 4 Pro. For example, Ark: Survival Evolved is targeting 1080p 60 FPS on Xbox One X but the developers decided to lock it at 1080p 30 FPS on PlayStation 4 Pro. There was a 720p 60 FPS mode on PlayStation 4 Pro but they removed it because the hardware couldn’t handle it. Apart from that, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind features advanced graphical effects on Xbox One X even at 4K but they’re missing on PlayStation 4 Pro. Even free-to-play titles run better. World of Tanks is an absolute sensation and it runs at 4K on Xbox One X but only 1800p on PlayStation 4 Pro. Even games like Minecraft run at 4K on Xbox One X but not PlayStation 4 Pro. The list goes on and on. Microsoft’s decision to include a 6 TFLOPS GPU, 12 GB GDDR5 RAM and over 300 GB/s memory bandwidth served them well. When November 7 comes, we’ll have dozens upon dozens of games which are significantly better on Xbox One X. Many games also already run at native 4K on Xbox One X and not PlayStation 4 Pro.
Design
The Xbox One X is much sleeker than the PlayStation 4 Pro and boasts the best design. The PlayStation 4 Pro’s dimensions are 12.8 x 11.6 x 2.1 inches and the Xbox One X’s dimensions are 11.8 x 9.4 x 2.4 inches. However, how much space do they occupy? If you compare the volumes, the PlayStation 4 Pro occupies 311.808 inch3 and the Xbox One X only occupies 266.208 inch3. Plus, the Xbox One X doesn’t look like a hamburger.
4K Blu-ray Drive
One of the most startling omissions from the PlayStation 4 Pro is a 4K Blu-ray player. Many gamers use their consoles as Blu-ray players and entertainment centers. If that wasn’t the case, Blu-ray, Netflix, Hulu and other video services wouldn’t be among the top-used programs on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. They also beat games in some cases. 4K Blu-ray movies offer such a substantial leap over their standard variants that you feel immersed in the worlds. It’s a truly revolutionary experience. The first time I saw a 4K Blu-ray film was mind-blowing. Only the Xbox One X offers you the best gaming experience—by running third-party games the best—and the best entertainment experience with the inclusion of a 4K Blu-ray drive.
AMD FreeSync
AMD FreeSync has to be one of the biggest leaps in display technologies in decades. It makes gameplay smoother and that’s what every gamer wants. There are also many monitors and some televisions out there which support this. FreeSync is an AMD effort to leverage industry standards like DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync to deliver dynamic refresh rates. Dynamic refresh rates synchronize the refresh rate of a compatible display to the frame rate of the GPU to reduce input lag and reduce or eliminate stuttering, juddering and tearing during gaming and video playback. Only the Xbox One X offers this. That alone is a reason why every gamer should consider an Xbox One X, forget the PlayStation 4 Pro altogether. AMD FreeSync is a killer feature. It’s importance can’t be stressed enough.
Ecosystem Advantages
Now we come to our final reason for choosing an Xbox One X over a PlayStation 4 Pro. We thought about including points like more native 4K games, liquid cooling, backward compatibility, cross-play with PC and Nintendo Switch, or even cross-buy in there but we couldn’t come to a consensus. Then we decided we should just talk about the advantages the Xbox One X ecosystem offers as a whole. Not only do more games run at native 4K on Xbox One X, but titles like Rocket League and Minecraft allow you to play with PC and Nintendo Switch owners. This is unprecedented in the gaming industry and due to Sony’s questionable decisions you can only do that on Xbox One X. Not only do you have a console which runs third-party games better, but you can play with your friends on PC or Nintendo Switch. Cross-buy on certain games like Middle-earth: Shadow or War, Forza Motorsport 7 and Resident Evil 7 allows you to take your games anywhere. For example, I regularly play Resident Evil 7 on Xbox One and then play it on the go on a Razer Blade. I only had to buy the game once and don’t have to have a compromised experience on the go like PlayStation Vita Remote Play. We all know about backward compatibility. This is the only console which offers support for games across multiple generations without having to pay a fee like PlayStation Now. We could talk about other benefits too but you get the picture. With Xbox One X not only do you get the best visuals on consoles, but you also get various added benefits which make gaming more open and social as a whole. That’s definitely a system all gamers should be part of.
While these are the reasons we believe you should purchase an Xbox One X over a PlayStation 4 Pro, there are more reasons why you should purchase an Xbox One X on its own. Microsoft has definitely addressed the complaints gamers had with the original console’s hardware. It’s a machine designed to win back third-party gamers and hopefully that’s exactly what it’ll do. Will you be picking up an Xbox One X? For what reasons? Let us know.
