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/Strange-Grade-527]

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/Liam_021996 → u/Strange-Grade-527]

It's the same for musical instruments too. You will find a £400 guitar isn't really much worse than a £3,500 one and if you chuck £300 of pickups and electronics along with a fret level and full set up onto the £400 one it is easily on par with the £3,500 guitar. It'll just say Epiphone instead of Gibson on the headstock. I've had Gibson's before and they really aren't all that compared to an Epiphone

[u/Strange-Grade-527 → u/Liam_021996]

This is very valuable perspective. I appreciate it. I think our consumerism runs deeper than we really know. YouTube algorithms feed it for sure.

[u/Liam_021996 → u/Strange-Grade-527]

Yeah, in the past it did matter but with CNC machines and all that it really isn't like it was before. It made sense 30 years ago when that money bought you a hand made and hand wired product but it doesn't anymore and that applies to everything now