This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2020, CNET’s gift picks with expert advice, reviews and recommendations for the latest tech gifts for you and your family.
The Xbox Series S was released back on Nov. 10, but you’d hardly know it from the product pages and store shelves of major retailers. This is the $300 little brother of the $500 Xbox Series X: It plays all the same games, but it’s capped at 1440p resolution (versus 4K on the Series X), lacks an optical drive and only has half as much storage (500GB versus 1TB) — but that’s expandable with add-on drives, and Microsoft autoloads less capacious textures to better optimize space. If you don’t have a 4K TV, this is the smart choice because it’s affordable and doesn’t write a lot of checks your TV can’t cash.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The Series S sold out quickly on preorder day back in September, and most of us were consigned to waiting until launch day, Nov. 10, to claim a console. If you didn’t get one then either, you have to wonder: How much inventory will there actually be this week? That’s hard to say, because Microsoft has said little about how many units it will put on sale.
This much is true: While Sony’s PS5 launch was online-only, both flavors of the Xbox were initially available both online and in-store. The Series S sold out quickly and we expect limited quantities through the rest of 2020.
While most retailers haven’t communicated to customers very clearly (or at all) about when they expect to have units for sale, a couple of stores have been more upfront. Walmart, for example, has been keeping customers informed about when it’s dropping new inventory via Twitter. The last inventory drop at Walmart happened on Wednesday (Thanksgiving Eve) and we’re waiting for Walmart’s next announcement on Twitter.
Walmart isn’t the only retailer tapping into Twitter. Antonline is doing much the same, just providing less notice. The retailer is tweeting availability at the time of drop, engaging directly with customers and gamers. An Antonline representative also said, “We have a strict one-per-customer policy and are doing many checks to get these into the hands of real gamers and not scalpers.” Here’s the retailer’s most recent tweet about a drop. As you can see, you’ll probably want to follow the retailer for the tweets to be useful:
Best Buy and GameStop are also teasing Xbox availability this week but have provided no specific details.
At least one CNET editor was able to score the Xbox Series S on Amazon earlier this month. Inventory there has since disappeared, but if you’d like to try your luck, we’ve rounded up all the major retailers currently offering the console for sale.
Here is Walmart’s Xbox Series S order page. The retailer occasionally notifies customers about inventory drops via Twitter.
Best Buy was the last retailer standing back during preorder day in September, but it’s just one of many stores now offering the Xbox Series S.
Amazon’s order page includes both versions of the next-gen console — the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
This is where to go to buy an Xbox Series S at Newegg.
If you would like to buy the new Xbox from GameStop, here is where to go.
Target has a page for the Xbox Series S, too.
Microsoft will offer the Xbox Series S for $300, or as part of the Xbox All Access plan, which includes the Series S and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and costs $25 per month for 24 months.
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Xbox Series X and Series S offer a fine-tuned, streamlined…
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