Last week a small handful of lucky journalists and streamers got to get their Xbox Series X on, and for the most part, the early impressions were positive, with testers reporting great loading times, improved performance for backward compatible games, and little to no fan noise.
That said, as folks have continued to live with their new consoles, a few have reported something less flattering – apparently the Xbox Series X has a tendency to get rather warm. Here’s what CNET video editor-at-large and Giant Beatcast member Jeff Bakalar had to say about the matter (thanks to Video Games Chronicle for the transcription)…
Here’s what’s crazy…[the Xbox Series X] was just plugged in in standby mode behind me and you guys, the entire thing is a little toasty. It seems like in the way like a lot of the other consoles were doing stuff while you were not using them, it seems like this thing might be doing something while you’re not using it, to the point where it needs to exhaust heat.
At one point, Bakalar also pulls the storage expansion out of the XSX and finds it warm to the touch, although he’s obviously playing things up a bit. So, what’s the deal? Are we going to be toasting marshmallows over the Xbox Series X’s vents? Probably not – Xbox marketing guru Aaron Greenberg has responded to the latest hot reports, and according to him, Microsoft has done tests and found the Xbox Series X isn’t significantly toastier than the Xbox One X.
The console will output system heat out of the exhaust, just as any other console will. Our engineering team confirmed the heat leaving the console is not significantly different than Xbox One X. This matches my experience at home quiet, fast & impressive power for the size.
— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼♂️❎ (@aarongreenberg) October 8, 2020
While I haven’t gone hands on with an Xbox Series X, I suspect its heat venting may simply be more noticeable because of its vertical smokestack-like design. Traditionally, consoles have just been tucked away in TV stands and only vent heat out the back, so most of us don’t actually take note of how hot they can get. So, hopefully much ado about nothing, although we won’t know for sure how the machine holds up heat-wise until more players get their hands on it.
The Xbox Series X and S launch on November 10.
