Xbox One: Unboxed
by Jarred Walton on August 8, 2013 2:35 PM EST
We’ve already discussed the hardware of the Xbox One (or Xbone as Brian likes to call it) and compared it with the PlayStation 4, so all that’s left is the official launch, a bunch of day one unboxing videos from excited early adopters, and then the games (and hopefully no RRoD). Oh, wait—scratch that second one off the list, because Microsoft has beat them all to the punch with their very own unboxing video, three months ahead of the official launch. Xbox’s Major Nelson does the honors, and you get a thorough rundown of the contents. In order of unboxing, we get:
- New and improved Kinect sensor, with a wider field-of-view
- Mono headset with inline audio controls
- Xbox One controller
- 4K rated HDMI cable
- Manual, paperwork, and a sticker (woohoo!)
- Power cord and power brick
- “Liquid black” (aka glossy) Xbox One console
There’s nothing particularly unexpected in there, other than perhaps getting a headset for both the Day One and standard releases. Major Nelson also goes over the I/O ports. On the left side are a single USB 3.0 port and a binding button (for setting up your controllers). On the rear you get HDMI Out, S/PDIF, HDMI In (for cable/satellite pass-through), two more USB 3.0 ports, the Kinect socket (note that Kinect can function as an IR Blaster), an IR Blaster port, Gigabit Ethernet, and even a Kensington security lock—the power connector is at the left of the rear. There are also some changes to the controller, with Day One 2013 printed on the first controllers.
We’ve covered the other features previously, but just to recap, the Xbox One comes with an 8-core AMD Jaguar CPU, 12CU/768 SP AMD GCN GPU, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, Blu-ray drive, and dual-band 802.11n WiFi. I’m guessing it’s a 2x2:2 MIMO implementation, but there’s no official word on this yet. Sadly, there won’t be any 802.11ac for the initial models it looks like. All this, for a not insignificant $499 MSRP come November 2013.
Source: Xbox YouTube Channel
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althaz - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I've experienced LOTS of problems. Different devices tend to be fussier about what they'll work with too (in my experience Samsung and Panasonic stuff seems to be the least fussy, but that's only my experience). It's always better to buy the correct cable (just don't ever spend more than $10 for a <5m cable).That said, if you're only using it for normal 1080p over a 10' distance, it's not LIKELY to matter at all (longer cables and 4k or 3D tends to be where you run into issues).
althaz - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
As somebody who used to sell HDMI cables, $40 cables typically cost the store about $2-4 (the premium $129 cables cost $9-14).Yes that means 1000% is at the lower end of the HDMI markup scale - really expensive cables tend to be marked up less percentage-wise, although some $600 cables only cost about $30 (usually it's more like $100), but obviously much more dollar-value wise.
The reason stores do this is it's not unusualy to sell a $6000 TV and only make $20 profit on it (after rebates form the manufacturer). Add-ons are where the money is :).
Logan500 - Saturday, August 10, 2013 - link
"Premium" HDMI cables are a total scam. While there are different HDMI cable certification levels, even the highest-rated cables cost little more to make than the lowest-rated. Monster Cable is probably the worst offender in this area. There is absolutely no reason to pay $100 or more for some "magic" cable.If anyone wants to discover the plain truth about cables, just look at what the professionals buy and where they purchase them. The Audio Video Society (AVS) represents the cream of the crop in professional audio video engineers and installers. Take a look at their online forum and you will see that they almost unanimously purchase their cables from Monoprice.com. Even the best HDMI cables on Monoprice only run $2 to $4 each in average lengths. There is no reason to ever pay more than that.
Ortanon - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
This is something I'm praying the PS4 (finally) gets right. I couldn't care less about an HDMI cable, but I personally think the always-included headset on the 360 was a big deal in the PSN vs XBL adoption rate story. XBL just subjectively feels like a better social gaming situation to people, I think.ATimson - Sunday, August 11, 2013 - link
The lack of party chat on PS3 was also a big problem. I think Sony said that's coming in the PS4; if so, that'll be another notch against Microsoft.JeffFlanagan - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
With Kinect on the 360, you no longer need a headset to talk to the people you're gaming with, so I'm not sure why they would include one. Having your friends basically on speakerphone instead of via headset is a big improvement.blacks329 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
@JeffFlanagan It's already annoying hearing tweens dropping F bombs and racial slurs ... I don't need my family to hear that too. So I would aruge there is still a need for a dedicated headset.JeffFlanagan - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Play with a better quality of people. If you don't game with morons, that's not a problem.B3an - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Retarded comment. You cant control who you play with in public matches. It's also much easier to hear people with a headset.JarredWalton - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Not everyone wants the whole house to hear what's being said.