Some photos of a prototype Xbox Series X have appeared online, showing not just the front of the console, but also the ports we might be able to expect on the console’s backside. Check it out:
The photos appeared online overnight courtesy of NeoGAF user CurryPanda.
Though we’ve known what it looks like since its reveal at The Game Awards, the rear of the console has been kept shrouded in mystery. The images show one USB port on the front and two on the rear, alongside HDMI 2.1, ethernet, optical audio, a figure 8 power port, and a long slot that seems to be a placeholder of some sort. There’s also a hole at the top of the machine, presumably to let developers and engineers pop it open more easily than a finalised console that you’ll buy in the shops.
A few things of note are that there’s just the one HDMI port, dropping the Xbox One feature of HDMI passthrough that lets it act as a home media centre device. It’s also a touch disappointing that there’s only three USB ports, when external storage, adapters and charging cables can very quickly fill them up, and a lack of the USB-C port form factor. Since USB-C will almost certainly be used on the controllers, as it is on the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2, it seems a little backward to only have USB-A on the console itself and not a mixture.
Of course, this is all still placeholder, with the label on the machine actually calling it ‘Xbox Product Name Placeholder’, not Xbox Series X. This sits alongside a serial number that helps add validity to the leak, as some enterprising internet person registered the console to their account. It worked.
@aarongreenberg @XboxP3 please don't ban me, but I registered that serial number to my Microsoft account just messing around. I have removed it after it actually worked. pic.twitter.com/17AKArYYPK
— Ga♏e Reaper 187 ❌®?️?? (@GameReaper187) January 22, 2020
The serial number also means that someone is going to have a very, very bad day once Microsoft figure out who the console was assigned to and who had access. Xbox Series X consoles are already out in the wild, as Phil Spencer previously tweeted in December to say that he had taken a console home and was using it as his primary device, but outside of the literal boss man of the company, everyone else is going to be NDA’d up the wazoo. The serial numbers will also be logged and easily traced.
We previously saw a glimpse of the console’s rear during AMD’s CES conference, but this turned out to be fake and a bit of a screw up by the console’s CPU and GPU provider. Instead of having sourced the imagery from Microsoft, AMD had to quickly admit that, “The Xbox Series X imagery used during the AMD CES press conference was not sourced from Microsoft and does not accurately represent the design or features of the upcoming console. They were taken from TurboSquid.com.”
Now that we’re getting a better look at the console, what do you think of the design? Is it still as oddly proportioned and controversial as many found it to be after the reveal at The Game Awards? Does it have all the ports and features that you might want?
Source: NeoGAF
kjkg
A lack of USB ports drove me insane with the PS4 and it looks like it could be the same this gen if the PS5 follows suit.
Stefan L
I think Xbox can get away with it. Xbox One doesn’t have to fuss with VR headsets and doesn’t allow USB audio devices, so if that holds true for next gen, 3 ports is enough for one or two storage devices and controller charging.
PS5 should have more ports because they’re used for more things. They should also have at least one USB-C port for PSVR2, the port being able to handle both video and data for a VR headset to work.
MrYd
As long as the PS5 (or just everything in general) doesn’t just go USB-C all the way.
I’ve got an external harddrive, the PSVR box, and charging cables for the DS4 and the move controllers. All with different connections on one end and the A type on the other. My PC also has things with both the big square B type and only recently a C type. I don’t want to be buying a whole bunch of new cables or adaptors.
Whatever Sony or MS do though, there’s not going to be enough ports. People are still going to be needing USB hubs.
Stefan L
Well, you can just get a USB-C hub. :P
I doubt anyone but Apple would have the gumption to go all USB-C.
MrYd
For some reason, probably just “because Sony”, you can’t connect an external HD to a PS4 through a hub. So if Sony did decide to go all USB-C on the PS5, at least one cable or adaptor would be required.
Also, I’ve got a hub connected to the PS4. So I’d just need a C to A cable for that.
But you’re right, nobody would be stupid enough to go all C just yet. Except Apple. And they’d probably invent something new and charge lots for a special adaptor. And then convince people it’s for their own good.
Kamokazi-UK
The Game awards render was actually a fake. One of the recent Digital Foundry videos found it on a site that actually forbids it being used without credit being used.