Xbox One S All-Digital Edition vs. Sony PlayStation 4: Which is a better value?

Xbox One S All-Digital Edition

The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is an affordable and accessible option for people who want to get into digital gaming, and it's also fantastic for high-quality video streaming. However, when it comes to gaming, it falls behind in terms of exclusives and performance.

Xbox One S All-Digital Edition

Cheaper and discless

Xbox Game Pass available
4K video streaming and HDR games
Backwards compatibility (digital)
More storage
Less expensive
No disc drive
Fewer exclusive games
Worse GPU

PlayStation 4

Sony's original PlayStation 4 is a great console that offers strong performance in games. In addition, the system has a disc drive, as well as a large library of exclusives. However, it can't stream video in 4K, and PlayStation Now pales in comparison to Xbox Game Pass.

PlayStation 4

Stronger and pricier

More exclusive games
Better GPU
Has a disc drive
No 4K video streaming
Less storage
More expensive
PlayStation Now is disappointing.

Both the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition and the PlayStation 4 are great consoles, and the decision of which one you should buy will ultimately rest on your needs. If you're on a budget, prefer digital gaming, have a large library of digital Xbox 360 games, or want to stream 4K movies, the Xbox One S All-Digital is your best bet. However, if you want a disc drive, better gaming performance, and a larger selection of exclusive titles to choose from, then the PlayStation 4 is for you.

Xbox One SAD vs. PS4: Specs and features

When it comes to hardware specs, the PlayStation 4 is overall a stronger console than the Xbox One S All-Digital and offers better gaming performance. While the Xbox One S All-Digital does have a slightly better processor, the PlayStation 4's graphics hardware wins Sony the day in this regard. In addition, the PlayStation 4 also has a disc drive, meaning that you'll be able to opt for physical games or movies if you want, which you can't do with the Xbox One S All-Digital.

However, the Xbox One S All-Digital wins out in terms of storage space, coming with 500GB more than the original PS4. Considering how large some games can be, the difference is huge.

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Header Cell - Column 0 Xbox One S All-DigitalPlayStation 4
Graphics1.23 TF GPU1.84 TF GPU
ProcessorJaguar 8-core @ 1.75 GHzJaguar 8-core @ 1.6 GHz
Memory8GB DDR3 RAM8 GB GDDR5
Storage1TB500GB
Disc driveNoYes

Software is where the Xbox One S All-Digital starts to win some real points over its PlayStation 4 competition. For starters, the console is capable of streaming video in 4K, which the PlayStation 4 simply can't do. Also, if you own digital Xbox 360 games, they will be available to download and play again for free on your Xbox One S All-Digital thanks to Xbox's backwards compatibility focus.

There's also Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service that offers tons of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games for download and play for $10 a month. Sony's PlayStation Now service is a lot less advanced in comparison, charging customers $20 per month and forcing them to stream its PlayStation 3 titles, instead of downloading them as you can for PlayStation 2 and 4 ones. Sony does score points over Microsoft with its exclusives library, though, which is much larger and arguably of a higher quality than what the Xbox One has to offer.

Xbox One SAD vs. PS4: Which is a better value?

Both the Xbox One S All-Digital and the PlayStation 4 are great gaming consoles, and ultimately neither one is objectively better then the other. Rather, your own specific needs will determine which one is the most valuable for you. If you want to save some money, love digital gaming, and want to stream 4K movies, the Xbox One S All-Digital will be the best console for you. However, if you want a box that has stronger overall hardware and more exclusives to enjoy, the PlayStation 4 is the perfect choice.

Brendan Lowry