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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chizow - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Nice to see the headset made it into the box, I would also say the HDMI cable inclusion is a bit of a surprise, as most companies see this as an opportunity to recommend the "official" $40 version.Stimpack - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
lol, yes, most companies, but certainly not Microsoft. Their strategy certainly isn't to spare you the pennies and bleed from you the dollars.Kinro - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
They have to include the HDMI cable because there is only HDMI outputs on the console. No more AV cables for next gens.darwinosx - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Plenty of products that are HDMI only do not include an HDMI cable.abrowne1993 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Every console I've ever owned has included a means of hooking it up. The Wii U contained an HDMI cable, and so will the PS4.dirtyvu - Sunday, August 11, 2013 - link
Playstation 3 didn't come with an HDMI cable. it's not really a big point. you can buy a cable for dirt cheap.ghm3 - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
The PS3 came with AV cables to hook up, they just gave you the cheapest/lowest quality one in the box as HDMI wasn't as commonplace in 2006 as it is now. The point is that since the next gen console ONLY has via HDMI, it now comes with an HDMI cable.blacks329 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
They have to include a cable to connect your console to your TV, thankfully the lowest common denominator is now HDMI (you can be sure that both Sony and MS would have loved to give you something cheaper). Also the headset inclusion is more a response to Sony than anything.JarredWalton - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Actually, HDMI cables are likely much cheaper now than component. One cable vs. five (or three plus audio) is a big deal. Most of the $40 HDMI cables are marked up about 1000%, and you can get reasonable quality cables that work fine for well under $10. The nice thing with digital cables is that they either work or they don't, and honestly I think the 4K adoption rate is going to be slow enough that it won't matter too much if the initial cables don't work 100% of the time with 4K -- that will affect what, 1% of users, who will likely just go out and buy a better cable if they need it?It will be interesting to see how many HDMI cables that aren't 4K rated still work. Based on the HDMI page's comments, I'd say nearly all of them: "The High Speed HDMI cable is designed and tested to handle video resolutions of 1080p and beyond, including advanced display technologies such as 4K, 3D, and Deep Color. If you are using any of these technologies, or if you are connecting your 1080p display to a 1080p content source, such as a Blu-ray Disc player, this is the recommended cable. (http://www.hdmi.org/consumer/finding_right_cable.a...
Flunk - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Well, it's not as if the new HDMI cables actually have any more contacts on the connectors or wires in the cable. It's quite likely that nearly all of them will work with 4K. I've never had a problem with HDMI cable compatibility.