A new generation of consoles is nearly upon us, which means all-new next-gen ways to compare and contrast Microsoft and Sony’s machines. For instance, have you ever really thought about the resolution of your console’s UI? Well, it’s something you may have to take into consideration now, as it turns out there’s a fairly major difference between the Xbox Series X/S and the PS5 when it comes to menu sharpness.
Sony finally unveiled the PS5 user experience today, and in addition to an all-new layout and some cool picture-in-picture features, it’s been confirmed by the folks at Eurogamer that the UI will run at native 4K with HDR support. Meanwhile, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has let slip that the Xbox Series X’s UI will only run at 1080p…
Well, the big problem for me, more than anything, with the Xbox dash is the low resolution. I was disappointed with Xbox One X only offering 1080p UI rendering when PS4 Pro did native 4K but for 1080p UI to continue on Series X…that’s really not acceptable to me.
— John Linneman (@dark1x) October 15, 2020
Now, the resolution of a console’s UI may not seem like a big deal, but you spend a lot of cumulative time looking at those menus, and they contain a lot of small text. Also, if you’re playing a 4K game and then jump back to the 1080p Xbox UI, you’re going to notice a difference. Bottomline, be prepared for a little bit more eyestrain on the Xbox Series X/S.
Of course, there are benefits to going the 1080p route – by limiting the UI’s resolution, you reserve more RAM and processing power for games. Opting for 1080p also means Microsoft can maintain a consistent experience across all of their consoles, including the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and current-gen machines. Microsoft officially deployed their new UI on Xbox One systems yesterday, and the Xbox Series X and S will offer the same basic user experience.
Xbox Series X and S launch on November 10 and the PlayStation 5 launches on November 12 or November 19, depending on where you live. What are your thoughts on the UI resolution question? Should Microsoft have gone the 4K route or does it not really matter to you?
