Cheaper Xbox Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards Appear to be on the Way - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 April 2023 / 9,246 Views
Microsoft decided to go with proprietary expansion cards for the Xbox Series X|S consoles, while Sony went with the standard M.2 SSD slot for the PlayStation 5.
The expansion cards for the Xbox Series X|S have been more expensive than standard SSDs found in PCs with the Seagate 1TB model launching at $219.99, while the 500 GB card was priced at $139.99 and the 2TB card was priced at $399.99.
It now appears cheaper expansion cards are on the way as a listing on Best Buy that has been pulled, but was reported by The Verge. The new expansion card listed was 1TB and from Western Digital. It was priced at $179.99, which is $40 cheaper than the Seagate 1TB expansion card.
Despite the cheaper price this is still more expensive than a standard 1TB SSD, which are often found below $100.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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$180 for 1TB is still far too expensive. SSD prices have dropped a lot over the last 2 years. You can get a 1TB PS5 compatible SSD for half of that.
This ultimately will have a domino effect. Seagate will then have to either price match or drop their price below WD's and then add more continuous support from other third-party manufacturers to further drop prices. This is why it was so important to have a more open market on these storage cards. I love the concept. Who doesn't a love a plug-n-play solution? But there had to be competition from the start at the consoles launch.
About damn time, but still expensive.
Yes, but some competition in that space will likely bring a price down a little bit more.
Yep, that is expected.
Positive step in the right direction but prices are still too high. I am hoping that by the end of the generation these will have gotten cheap enough that having multiple of them will not be price prohibitive.
I'm hoping the same thing. At launch, 2.5 years ago now, the Xbox Series expansion cards were reasonably priced compared to what else was out there. The problem was that prices went down elsewhere, but the Xbox cards stayed the same in price.
That's starting to change, and hopefully it not only gets better but it keeps up with the overall market.
Still far too expensive.
The form factor and convenience was the right approach.
Locking themselves into an expensive agreement with Seagate was the fundamental issue... It's also Seagate.
Personally happy with a 16Tb external HDD, most games are happy to run directly off there, those that dont, I can transfer them to main storage on a per-needs basis.
...Now if only Microsoft would allow us to use drives larger than 16Tb.
We can call it the Seagate-gate
I have over 800 titles... From OG Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X.
Honestly... I bought a 20TB HDD to last me a few extra years, but even partitioned it won't be detected on the Xbox due to it's 16TB per-HDD hard limit... So looks like I will need to suck it up and just get a second 16TB drive when the time comes.
Good because this is one area where Xbox bet on the wrong horse. It's the Vita memory card problem.
I prefer the simplicity of these cards. Its just like the 360, plug and play. I hate the idea of opening my consoles and manually doing it, especially if you have kids.
I wish more companies follow suit aswell as have more brand options to lower the cost.
Of course you do. If MS went the PS5 route you'd agree with that decision
Nope, never liked opening my console to change a drive. Its inconvenient. You can turn my comment into a console war comment all you like, does not change my views. If MS went the PS5 route, I would dislike it. I buy a console for the simplicity and conveniences. I barely open my PC up anymore. Imagine having to open up the console every time you want to change your hard drive? No thanks.
You can plug extended storage on the external port. But god forbid you needing to remove one cover and use a screwdriver, to complex. No surprise MS is having troubles with the tools =p
I don't like using externals and I don't want to use a screwdriver for something that should be a simple plug and play device. I never liked it. If you enjoy opening up your consoles to change parts, go for it. I prefer not to.
I guess you also doesn't want to open your drawer to pick your clothes.
What?
I fyou can't use a screw driver to do the most basic of things then you should not own any electronics. Man I hope you don't drive a car.
I studied car mechanics and was a apprentice in my early 20s. Id probably know more about it than you. Thanks for your concern however i am perfectly fine behind a wheel mate. Knowing how and cbf is the reality here.
If you dont like the solution dont buy them. But dont hate on others who prefer it.
The Xbox external cards are hot-swappable. That's largely irrelevant to some people, and absolutely mission critical to others. Am I capable of using a screwdriver to install it? Yes. But then it's stuck there. What if you have an Xbox in your livingroom and your bedroom? Or one at home, and another in the staffroom at work? Or want to take it to a friend's/relative's house?
Anyone with multiple Xboxes in their lives might find the ability to pull it out of one Xbox and plug it into another to be a game-changing feature.
As a bonus, they were available at launch for Xbox, whereas the expansion port working at all was about a 9 month wait for PS5.
The Xbox option is superior for me. It was even reasonably priced at launch. They just need to become reasonably priced again, and to stay that way.
The hot swappable have its use, although I would bet very few people really make use of it, and downloads are fast enough that I wouldn't bother downloading the full game instead of bringing my stick to a friends house. And in my case even extended storage isn't something I look into anymore since I usually play one or two games at a time, so the other 8 games or so that are downloaded are just a cue line not something that bother me deleting to put another one that I want to play first. But regarding the need of removing couple screws it is undeniable that some make it like a very hard stuff to do.
The screws aren't the concern, IMO. My fear would be someone failing to read the directions, and not installing one with a heat sink.
That is an understandable concern, but them you are also a very reasonable person.
Well, thank you. You are two. We're kind of "frenemies", since we like different systems but also respect each other's opinions, LOL.
Its not weather or not its hard. Its unnecessary. Its 2023 and people are expected to open up their console to place internal parts in it?
Plenty of things can go wrong, look at how many people have scratched their console taking off the plates? There is also room for error installing it.
I wouldnt let a 10 year old open up my console.
The swappable method is so much better. Only issue is price which will adjust over time.
Yeah, and there was a better design on PS4/PS4Pro, from what I understand, where significant disassembly was not required.
PS3 and PS4 you remove a "small door" that have the screws, for PS5 you have to remove the covers (which is made to do it because you are expected to remove it periodically to do the cleaning) before having access to where the SSD is.
The PS3 and PS4 method sounds more appealing to me. Since when do people do periodic cleaning on a game console? It's not necessarily a bad idea actually, but it's definitely unconventional.
So you preffer internal batteries that you only need to plug on the cable instead of having to remove covers to replace batteries right?
And if you are a parent damn right you are supposed to do this kind of stuff to your children, my father thought me how to open and clean my controllers when I was between 6 and 10, still do it when some faults that look like dirty inside of the controller shows up. Doing it since Genesis control until DS4 and passing through PSP and PSVita.
Batteries changes are extremly simple and dont require a screwdriver or tool to replace. Would you prefer having to unscrew the back of a controller to change batteries? Or a simple cover that flips out for easy access?
Again its 2023, simple clips and access is what we should be asking for, not tools to dismantle a machine.
Also you are comparing cleaning and maintenance to inserting internal parts. Very different scenarios.
In fairness, if the maintenance and the upgrades are done the same way, I think it makes sense to mention them in the same breath.
I like Sony's system of using off-the-shelf components.
I like Microsoft's system of it being not only tools-free, but hot-swappable.
Neither is perfect, IMO. But if I had to choose, I'd choose the hot-swappability over any other consideration.
I may regret that if supplies of the drives dry up later in life! :) But I think the odds are against that, if there are millions of them out there, and especially if the next batch of Xboxes uses the same interface. Time will tell, I suppose.
Difference is when cleaning and maintenance you are expected to open up the console. When simple plugging out and plugging in a HD shouldnt require the same amount of attention
Personally, I would have fewer problems with an internal battery, if it was meant to be user serviceable (as in, a flap that could be unclipped without tools).
Though I still prefer rechargeable AAs due to their ubiquity (I need them for other devices anyway), and the ability to have a pre-charged pair at the ready. I'm old enough (50 years old this year) that AA rechargeables will likely remain available for the rest of my life. Not sure about the batteries in a PlayStation controller, in contrast.
Agreed that parents should be supervising and/or doing things for/with their children.
I still play my 360 and PS3. It's much easier to just find any old HDD and plug it into the PS3 than break open a 360 HDD case and put a new one in.
I agree with that. The reason to prefer an external option is if that option is hot-swappable. I don't recall if the 360 HDD was hot-swappable between Xboxes or not, it's been a while since I had to think about that, LOL.
The Xbox Series expansion cards are hot-swappable, though, which is totally irrelevant if you just have one Xbox in your life, but could be a game-changing feature if you have Xboxes in multiple rooms (or otherwise have 2+ Xboxes you regularly use). That's the feature that makes the Xbox Series option superior for some of us.
He was talking about long after the console is retired and you can't find proprietary formats you wouldn't be able to use the console while with standard parts it could be easier.
Fair enough, that is a potential issue I suppose. Good point. My hope/expectation is that future Xbox consoles will use the same drive standard which will take away that concern. But I've got to admit, I hadn't considered that eventuality.
I only picked a 1TB one up when won some money on online slots or i wouldnt still have one they are on the expensive side. i also have a 4TB USB HDD for older games, is some X-S games that will still run off the HDD i have MCC running off it or would take up like 150GB of internal space (i have Series X)
Love the concept if it were a lot cheaper/have smaller sizes. Let gamers create their own 'game cartridge', especially since the S is digital only. I would've been all over this for sure.
At launch, it was a great deal. It was available at all (it was about a 9 month wait before the PS5 expansion slot was enabled). They're hot-swappable between Xboxes. And it was competitively priced at the time. It just needs to become competitively priced again, and stay that way.
Are these new cards on par with Xbox Series X's hardware, just like the Seagate expansion cards? If these new cards can't keep up with Series X's fidelity, performance, and Quick Resume, then I have zero interest in buying one?
Lower prices is always better. Personally I’ve never needed more storage. I don’t keep my X or PS5 storage very full. No data caps, so I can just delete when I am done.
Ditto here, no data caps. But even with good internet it's a much long wait than transferring it from an HDD. And for the cost of a very inexpensive external HDD, you can shuffle them off to on-site storage, so I do that instead.
It's funny that at the start of the gen a lot of people were praising MS's method for additional storage and saying PS5's was the wrong route. A lot of flip flops on this area after 2 years in and seeing all the cheaper options for PS5 SSD storage.
A proprietary, easily-accessible option is still a better concept imo. It's the bullshit agreement MS & Seagate obviously made that tarnished that approach.
People aren't talking about this enough. After your PS5s life is long over you can just plug the SSD into a PC.
It's an issue of trade-offs, really. You're absolutely correct that proprietary will rarely or never beat off-market SSDs. But I came in fine with that expectation (to a point) for locking in a simple, universal standard. I don't want to overdramatize the off-market scenario, but even little things like installation and ensuring you get an SSD w/ a heatsink can be slightly annoying to the mass public.
But this Seagate deal has harmed MS' reputation on this front b/c now we're years into this gen and just now getting viable competition. Without it, maybe we could've had 5 different competitors iterating on this SSD template.
If costs were a bit closer I think the MS solution is vastly superior for video game consoles. It remains to be seen if prices can get down that low
‘Were’? I’m still praising it and probably other people too.. there is no flip/flops.
I mean they are pros and cons and I don’t think anyone disagree with that (the price being a cons) but my kids all have a Series S and X consoles and they can switch the storage expansions for on one console to another with a simple plug and play… why would you not praise that in the first place? The price is a bit high; I would love to have it lower for sure… but there also a lot of pros for that solution over for instance what you have to do to upgrade storage in the Play Station Five and virtually no way to unplug it and plug it in another console… not to mention that not everybody is comfortable opening their console to install it in the first place. The Xbox solution is way more user friendly, that’s another thing to praise…
At least tell the whole story. People were annoyed it took awhile to have expandable storage options on PS5, not the way it was implemented. While Xbox had expandable storage since launch. It was valid criticism.
You can get any 1TB SSD for like 60€ these days and it will works no problems on PS5. Thank God they didn't do what they did with Vita.
