Is an all-digital Xbox One in your future?
As you may have heard, Microsoft has plans to release a disc-less Xbox One in 2019. Of course, upon hearing this news I’ve seen reactions from countless people in the gaming press as well as gamers.
Some against this, while many were on board with the idea. I, myself, think that this is actually good news. More so because I rarely use my disc drive in my Xbox One S or X. Not only that, if you look at the data for gamers recent buying habits, you’ll see a trend. More and more gamers are going the digital route. Which means there’s a whole lot of others out there who rarely use their disc drives as well. A disc-less Xbox One would drop the cost of the system. Since there wouldn’t be a drive in the console, that gives Microsoft the ability to pass the savings along to the consumer. We’re talking between a $35-$50 savings since that’s how much I’ve seen replacement Bluray drives going for. Though I’m sure Microsoft gets them for much cheaper than that. Even still, a cheaper Xbox One S or even an Xbox One X works for me and I’m sure it would for you as well.
A bigger hard drive would be needed to replace the disc drive. Removing the disc drive for a completely digital Xbox One means one thing – a larger hard drive. Let’s face it, we’ve been asking both Microsoft and Sony for bigger hard drives in both their consoles. Sadly, the largest we’ve ever received was a 2TB drive and those we on limited edition consoles. While it’s really easy to swap a hard drive on the PlayStation 4, doing so on the Xbox One requires you to open the console up. A daunting task and one that voids your warranty, so we don’t recommend you doing that. With Microsoft making a digital only console, a bigger hard drive is a necessity. Perhaps a 4TB drive, since the cost of those have dropped over the years. Lastly, for that person saying “why not use an external drive”, there’s not really an issue with using them. However, shipping a new system with an external drive seems really half-baked and it could potentially send the wrong signal.
This could also allow Microsoft to increase the cooling in the Xbox One S. Compared to the advanced Xbox One X, the S could use a bit more temperate reduction and dropping the disc drive could help with air flow. Of course, I didn’t help design the system. Instead, I’m going off my experience with building PCs. Less stuff in the way in an air-flow restricted case/enclosure is always a good thing.
Those are just a few things I could think off. Of course, keep in mind that Microsoft isn’t killing off the traditional console with the disc drive, so stop worrying about that. For those who either don’t like downloading games or don’t have the bandwidth to do so, there’s nothing at stake here. Instead, you’ll have a choice now on getting one system or the other. Personally, I’d jump at a disc-less Xbox One. I barely physical games on any console anymore, unless it comes with a collectors edition. It’s not like Microsoft is going to force you to pick one or the other. This would still be 100% up to you, as it should be. In fact, I applaud the decision to do this, and now I have to wonder if and when Sony is going to follow suit.
What do you think about a disc-less Xbox One? Is this something you’d jump on or are you not willing to give up the disc drive? Let us know in the comments section.
