Microsoft Drops Xbox One Price To $249 Ahead Of Xbox One S Launch

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By Seth Colaner
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A week before the launch of the Xbox One S, Microsoft has lowered the price of the original Xbox One console, again. This time around, you can buy the 500 GB version of the console for $249.

The price drop also extends to the company’s Xbox One bundles. This includes the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and the Special Edition Quantum Break(which has the white variant of the console) bundles. The strategy is also another way for newcomers to try out out some the console’s marquee titles with the Name Your Game bundle. You can choose from one of four titles -- Gears of War 4, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Rare Replay -- and package it with your new Xbox One.

Microsoft didn't put a stop date to the deal; it said that the new price would stay “while supplies last.” However, the arrival of the Xbox One S might make the $249 price tag permanent. The company set the price of the new console’s 1 TB and 500 GB variants to $349 and $299, respectively, so it makes sense that the original 500 GB version will stay at its new price of $249.

Seth Colaner
4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Martell1977
    I just bought one from Best Buy. I usually avoid BB but they have a sale on controllers and getting $30 off the price of the controller is great. I'm thinking of using a 1tb 2.5" HDD I have laying around to upgrade it right out of the box.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    18331804 said:
    I just bought one from Best Buy. I usually avoid BB but they have a sale on controllers and getting $30 off the price of the controller is great. I'm thinking of using a 1tb 2.5" HDD I have laying around to upgrade it right out of the box.

    I strongly recommend you just plug in an external USB drive. An external drive is vastly easier to "install", doesn't risk voiding a warranty, and is potentially a lot faster. Boot times are instant anyway with default super low power standby except for the occasional update/reboot. Plug in an external drive with a 7200RPM 3.5" drive and install all your games to it, boom better load times vs a typical 2.5" drive. Personally I'd go with a decent brand empty aluminum shell and slap in a WD Black, but that's just me.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    XB1 is probably the last console I'll ever own. There used to be advantages to having a console like this for gaming and home entertainment, but I can't get past the sub-par gaming graphics any longer. I also need other devices to run alongside the XB1 because there aren't apps for everything on the XB1 like there are on the Roku. With the original Xbox, I had everything in one device, but as more internet services have emerged and have not made apps available for the XB1, this is no longer the case.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    18333255 said:
    18331804 said:
    I just bought one from Best Buy. I usually avoid BB but they have a sale on controllers and getting $30 off the price of the controller is great. I'm thinking of using a 1tb 2.5" HDD I have laying around to upgrade it right out of the box.

    I strongly recommend you just plug in an external USB drive. An external drive is vastly easier to "install", doesn't risk voiding a warranty, and is potentially a lot faster. Boot times are instant anyway with default super low power standby except for the occasional update/reboot. Plug in an external drive with a 7200RPM 3.5" drive and install all your games to it, boom better load times vs a typical 2.5" drive. Personally I'd go with a decent brand empty aluminum shell and slap in a WD Black, but that's just me.
    This is very true. I picked up a Toshiba (I would never buy this brand for my PCs mind you, but this is for the XB1) 5TB USB 3.0 7200RPM external drive on sale for around $120 from microcenter a couple of years ago and the games load faster from this external device than from the internal XB1 drive. I told someone I work with about it and he got one as well and saw the difference in performance. As far as reliability, both of our drives continue to run to date.
    Reply