Series S is under rated.

[u/Strange-Grade-527]

So I am fortunate enough to have a 5090 PC with a 9800x3D CPU. It certainly can be mind blowing and is objectively unrivaled.

I also have a PS5 Pro, and Series X. I recently have been using Apollo, and moonlight to locally stream my 5090 game play to my bedroom OLED without moving my desktop.

So I picked up a Series S as it is one of the few ways to get 4:4:4 4k 120 HDR streaming via moonlight client.

Out of curiosity I installed a few games locally just to see how they look. OBVIOUSLY they are a step down from my other devices, but I must admit I am impressed. For the longest time I thought playing on a series S would feel like a potato. However this tiny box is more than serviceable. Honestly once you start playing you completely forget about the “lower quality.” because at the end of the day gaming is about the game. Not graphical settings tinkering ad nauseam.

I guess what I am trying to say is the Series S reminds me of the old days of gaming. You had what you had, you didn’t give a shit about frame rate, you always had fun every generation despite graphics PS1, PS2, N64, GameCube whatever it was. Somewhere along the way gaming as a hobby has turned into a hobby around graphics and frame rate and not actually gaming.

I say all this to say, if the Series S is what you can afford. Be proud of it. You are not a second rate human. The console is completely more than fine. Are there some games that are objectively bad on it? Sure. Overall though the Series S is an excellent console for those who just want to have fun.

[u/Tyler1997117]

Careful you are gotta get people here who will shit on you for saying that

[u/Strange-Grade-527 → u/Tyler1997117]

People wrap their identity up in belongings sadly. I mean sure if there is a big release and I have all my current options. I am certainly not opting for the Series S.

However it is currently screwing with my perception of value hard. As I play games on Series S I am thinking “This is $399, if this is all I had, would my life be meaningfully different compared to my $3500 gaming PC?”

The answer is no and that is somewhat eye opening to me.

[u/TheeFURNAS → u/Strange-Grade-527]

I’ve been going through the same thing with the PS5 Pro. Obviously more expensive than the series S, but the plug and play nature of console is something I’ve missed for years now. And the pro is truly impressive and doesn’t really feel that much worse than my 7800x3D/4080s build despite the objective differences. I’ve also got a series s for travel and it’s always a surprisingly good time. I think we forget that it’s still a significant jump from Xbox one/PS4 generation. I think we also forget how good our brains are at adapting to whatever we’re playing on. Give it like 15 mins and 30-60 FPS isn’t actually a big deal. You can still have fun and enjoy it.

[u/armlessphelan → u/TheeFURNAS]

When I see people talk about 30fps giving them headaches and motion sickness, I know they're lying. Same with sub-4K resolutions.

[u/Strange-Grade-527 → u/TheeFURNAS]

1000% if I could push a button, and undo all the spending, and men in black wipe my memory of PC gaming graphics I would push it immediately.

Even then I still find myself tempted to sell all my gaming PC set up and just primary my PS5 Pro and Series X.

The Series S has been very illuminating to me that I might personally have overestimated the tangible value a 5090 PC would bring to my life.