Xbox One X review: one for the 4K diehards

With its stunning visuals, the Xbox One X is the closest thing to a good PC gaming experience in console form. But is it worth a 100 upgrade?

Four years after the launch of the original machine, Microsoft's Xbox One family is now finally complete. Although the Xbox One X has been hailed as the most powerful console ever made, it very much remains an Xbox One derivative, running all the same games and working with all the accessories with no Xbox One X exclusives. What you get is improved audio-visual performance - rather like the difference between playing a PC game on a regular mid-range home computer versus a high-end gaming monster.

Greater power hasn't meant a giant form factor though - this might be one of the least conspicuous consoles in history. Reverting to black after the refreshing "robot white" colouring of the Xbox One S, it's a truly minimalist slab of modern consumer electronics design taking up less space than any previous Xbox iteration. Microsoft claims to have employed cutting-edge engineering techniques to achieve its sleek form factor, including a vapour chamber cooling system, which has led to an impressively quiet machine. During gameplay, there's little more than a gentle hum coming from the unit - comparing well with the PlayStation 4 Pro and previous Xbox machines.