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.
If you’re still frantically hitting “refresh” on your browser hoping to find an Xbox Series S for sale, allow me to paraphrase Corporal Hicks when he told Ripley to ease up on the accelerator in the movie Aliens: Sorry, you’re just grinding metal. Microsoft debuted the Xbox Series S back on Nov. 10, and it sold out more or less instantly. It has continued to sell out right away whenever a retailer has managed to restock, including Best Buy’s underwhelming restock just this week.
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The Xbox Series S isn’t just a powerful update to Microsoft’s console franchise, it’s the smarter of the two new consoles to buy. Priced at just $300, it’s the 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 has only half as much storage (500GB versus 1TB) — but that’s expandable with add-on drives, and Microsoft autoloads less ambitious textures to accommodate the difference. Our advice is that if you don’t have a 4K TV this is the better console to buy, because it’s more affordable and doesn’t write a lot of checks your TV can’t cash.
Keep checking this page because we will update this article when we know about an impending inventory drop at one of these retailers.
Xbox Series S: Check inventory restock
Here is Walmart’s Xbox Series S order page. The retailer occasionally notifies customers about inventory drops via Twitter.
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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 on Newegg’s site to buy an Xbox Series S.
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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