The Microsoft Xbox One S is a very welcome upgrade to Microsoft's game console and all-round entertainment system. 40% smaller, and with an internal power supply, it's a much nicer-looking box.

As you would expect for a system that is whiter than Santa's beard, the Xbox One S comes in a slick, minamilist, white box. Open said box and you are presented with a series of smaller white boxes, as well as the system itself, which is covered in - yep, you guessed it - a white sleeve.

4K Ultra HD playback; Slicker and slimmer console

Only 1.6TB of 2TB HDD usable

Update 8/4/16: Several spec teardown reports have uncovered slight difference in the graphical hardware performance of Xbox One S. Specifically, Xbox One S has a small GPU clock increase of 914 MHz from 853 MHz and an ESRAM bandwidth increase of 219 GB/s from 204 GB/s.

The Xbox One S is a slick looking game console that's 40 percent smaller than the original and ditches the infamously gigantic power brick; It can display 4K video from streaming services and Ultra HD Blu-rays, and supports HDR contrast on video and games.

4K, Ultra HD Blu-ray and HDR settings only work with newer TVs, and may require some trial and error; The updated controller feels cheaper than its predecessor; Project Scorpio, the more powerful Xbox One successor, arrives in late 2017

Microsoft has redesigned the Xbox One into a slimmer, sleeker, whiter package. The Xbox One S is the same game system as the original Xbox One at heart, but the $399.99 console adds Ultra HD Blu-ray disc support, pumps up the hard drive to a full 2TB (bundles with 500GB and 1TB drives are available...

Ultra HD Blu-ray playback; Smaller footprint; Increased storage options; Redesigned gamepad features a headset jack

4K video streaming not yet available; Games aren't upconverted to 4K; No Kinect

The Xbox One S is a sexy, slick game console and Ultra HD Blu-ray player. The compact, quiet, and capable hardware makes for a natural companion for 4K HDR TVs beyond the media players already on the market.

There's no way to talk about the Xbox One S without talking about the console it's replacing, the Xbox One. So I will just start by saying the really obvious thing: the Xbox One S is what the original Xbox One should have been.

Looks great; Smaller; 4K and HDR support

No SSD option; Might be better to wait for Project Scorpio

It's tricky whether to recommend the Xbox One S. On the one hand, if you're already an Xbox One owner, it doesn't offer many new features above the original - especially if you don't have a 4K or HDR TV.

The best console you can buy, but for how long?

You favourite games in pin-sharp detail; The cheapest 4K Blu-ray player you can buy; Sleek new design; sans power brick

PS4 still has the better exclusives; Controller not rechargeable as standard

Everyone loves a 'slim' hardware revision - and generally speaking, it's second-gen console revisions that tends to be the most successful (third-gen models can sometimes take the cost-cutting too far ).

All images: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo There were very few complaints when the original Xbox One was announced, and it failed to do 4K. In 2013 nobody really cared about HD's successor. Not unless they'd spent thousands of dollars on one of the few 4K TV sets available at the time.