11 Best Game Consoles | Which Console Earns Its Shelf Space

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A full Series X in used skin — for anyone who wants current-gen power without brand-new pricing.

If you have been waiting for the price on a current-gen Xbox to soften, this renewed bundle is the shortcut. You get the 1 TB Series X console plus a 4-foot 48 Gbps Premium HDMI cable rated for 8K (48 Gbps describes how much data the cable can push per second — that headroom is what lets 8K and HDR signals travel cleanly over the cord). The console’s own 8K resolution output sits alongside the 1 TB of storage, so you get the top-end Series X experience without the sealed-box sticker shock.

What buyers report most is the surprise of the condition. “Works like a dream and it’s hard to tell from new, even though it was supposedly just ‘acceptable,'” reads one of the top write-ups, and others echo that the console arrives well-packaged and running like new — one notes the easiest setup they could have asked for. Several mention that they would buy refurbished from the same seller again, and the practical reason is straightforward: same performance, less outlay, and you can put the difference into games.

Renewed stock varies. Cosmetically you may open the box to find a blemish or two — “had some dings/scratches on it but it runs fine” is a fair summary of the worst you should expect. There’s also a set of owners who would rather have a brand-new sealed unit and are happy to wait, so decide up front which side of that line you sit on.

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Full next-gen frame rates in a shell you can move between rooms without a second thought.

For a console this small, the NewXbox Series S packs the genuine Series S internals: custom Zen 2 CPU at up to 3.4 GHz with SMT (a feature that lets each core juggle two tasks at once), custom RDNA 2 graphics rated at 4 TFLOPS (a measure of raw graphics throughput), 10 GB of GDDR6 memory, and 512 GB of custom NVMe SSD storage. Gaming resolution tops out at 1440p with performance targeted at up to 120 FPS, and Auto Low Latency Mode, HDMI Variable Refresh Rate and AMD FreeSync are all on hand to keep fast games smooth on a compatible TV.

The design is what owners lead with. It’s comfortably smaller than the previous generation, and one parent reports it’s easy to travel with in a bag — which is not something you can say about most current-gen machines. Reliability records are mostly clean, with the console being described as very functional and easy to set up, though a minority have hit units that didn’t work at all — the sort of thing you sort out through the return window if it happens.

Two honest notes. First, 512 GB is stored as a custom NVMe SSD, and large titles fill it faster than you’d expect — plan for the expansion card eventually. Second, there’s no disc drive here at all, so every game is a download. If your shelf already holds a stack of discs, that’s a meaningful difference versus the Series X picks in this list.

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The Series S that gets almost everything right — 120 FPS, Quick Resume, and a deep digital backlog.

The standout number on this Series S is its backward compatibility: four generations of digital games — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Original Xbox — all run on this one console. That’s the widest library any machine in this guide can claim, and it’s paired with the 512 GB custom NVMe SSD and Velocity Architecture that keep load times short and let worlds stream in without a stutter. Gaming is fast and responsive at up to 120 FPS.

Quick Resume is the feature buyers underrate until they use it. You can hop from one game to another and pick up exactly where you left off without sitting through title screens. The bundle also includes an Xbox Wireless Controller with textured grips, a hybrid D-pad and a dedicated Share button — a real upgrade over a plain stock pad.

Reliability is what shows up most in the feedback here — over and over it gets described as dependable and easy to set up, with a compact build that travels well. That said, storage is where the honest tension sits. Owners split on the 512 GB: for some it’s plenty, others find large titles fill it fast and add an expansion card early. That’s an ordinary Series S reality, not a defect, but worth deciding about before you buy.

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The Series S that keeps finding a home with grandparents, teens and family game nights.

The X Box Series S is another all-digital Series S — same core recipe, familiar fit. Inside you get a custom Zen 2 CPU with up to eight cores at 3.4 GHz with SMT, custom RDNA 2 graphics at 4 TFLOPS, 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, and 512 GB of internal custom NVMe SSD storage. Gaming runs at 1440p, with Auto Low Latency Mode, HDMI Variable Refresh Rate and AMD FreeSync available to keep motion clean on compatible screens.

What this console is really built for is a shared TV. Parents and grandparents show up over and over in the feedback — playing with grandchildren, buying for a teen, or picking a birthday gift that lands. Setup gets called simple and easy, and the machine is generally described as functional from the first press of the power button, which is exactly what a casual household needs. One owner, buying in good faith, admitted to a bit of initial scepticism and ended up completely happy with the unit.

512 GB is the honest number, and heavy players will fill it within a year or two. Families using it casually will almost never hit that wall. If you’re buying it for a heavy player, price in an expansion card alongside the console.

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The upgrade that finally gets the Switch to 4K on your TV without giving up the handheld mode.

Switch 2 takes what worked about the original and rebuilds it with modern parts. The screen is now a 7.9” LCD touch display with HDR support (HDR stands for High Dynamic Range — it means darker blacks and brighter highlights) and support for up to 120 fps, and the dock pushes 4K when you connect it to a compatible TV. Internal storage jumps to 256 GB, expandable with microSD Express cards (sold separately). The Joy-Con 2 controllers attach magnetically and add mouse-style controls, and GameChat lets you voice chat, share your game screen and video chat as you play.

Owners describe it as a genuine step up, not a repackage — smoother frame rates, tighter load times, sharper handheld picture. The larger screen gets specific credit for making handheld mode far more enjoyable than before, and the Joy-Cons are noted for attaching and detaching without the drift worries that haunted the last generation. It still plays physical and digital Nintendo Switch games, so an existing library carries forward.

The trade-off is battery life. It lands in the middle of the pack for that, and owners are less uniform on it than on every other measure — some get comfortable sessions, others wish it went further. It’s also light for a console at 150 g in the handheld body, which makes long sessions easy on the wrists. If you play mostly docked with a plug nearby, the battery concern barely registers.

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All the PS5 power in the slimmer chassis — without a disc slot to pay for.

The Digital Edition of the PS5 keeps the slim redesign’s benefits and drops the optical drive. Inside, you get 825 GB of onboard storage paired with an ultra-high-speed SSD, plus ray tracing — the visual technique that simulates individual light rays to produce believable shadows and reflections in supported games. Resolution tops out at 4K, and connectivity covers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, HDMI, USB and Ethernet, so there’s a wired path to the router if wireless is unreliable in your room.

Setup and performance come through clearly in the feedback. Games are reported to run smoothly, and the graphics are compared to high-budget blockbuster movies. The integrated SSD also keeps the interface snappy; the storage trade — 825 GB against the PS5’s listed 1 TB — is acceptable if you plan to add an NVMe drive, and owners using it as their daily driver report the slim model solves the original’s bulk and sloppy cooling feel.

The controller gets a mixed read from owners. Some love it, others find it takes adjusting to — nothing broken, just personality. If you play mostly solo, the single-included pad is fine; if you regularly invite someone over, you’ll want a second DualSense sooner rather than later.

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The PS5 that plays discs — and gives you 1TB of fast storage while it does it.

If you want a PS5 that plays discs, this is the standard-bearer for that feature — and the comparisons with the Digital Edition in this same guide are the clearest way to see what you’re paying for. You get 1 TB of storage instead of the digital-only 825 GB offered by the slimmer Digital Edition above, plus an actual disc drive so you can play physical games, trade them in, or spin a 4K Blu-Ray. The bundle includes the DualSense Wireless Controller, two horizontal stand feet, an HDMI cable, an AC power cord, a USB cable, printed materials and ASTRO’s PLAYROOM pre-installed. Vertical stand sold separately.

The experience people describe is a clear generation jump: blazing-fast load times compared to the PS4, ray tracing, and consistently smooth frame rates. The DualSense controller gets specific credit for its adaptive triggers and haptic feedback — the trigger tension physically changes depending on the game. Backward compatibility with most PS4 games is confirmed again and again, and the library of exclusives keeps growing.

This is the heaviest PS5 in the roundup at 4.81 kg, so give some thought to where it will live before it arrives — the slim body is lighter than the original model, but it is still a big piece of hardware. Noise levels draw a mixed read, with some finding it very quiet and others noting it more than dialled-in silent. Neither should stop you if the disc drive is the reason you’re here.

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A full-strength Series X in renewed condition — for buyers chasing 4K without the brand-new sticker.

For anyone eyeing the flagship Xbox but not wanting to pay new prices, this renewed 1 TB Series X Digital Edition is a sensible bridge. You get 1 TB of internal storage, 4K output, and the same underlying platform as a factory-new Series X — just brought back to working condition by a refurbisher rather than shipped sealed. It runs latest-gen games, current updates, and the modern Xbox interface without compromise on the software side.

What owners mention most is that it feels like new. “Looks and works like new, also came with original packaging,” reads one of the standout write-ups, and others describe it as indistinguishable from a new unit in practice. Owners flag the Xbox as running latest-gen titles smoothly, with one calling out that it plays modern releases without a hitch, and the overall condition gets consistent praise. Given that new Series X units sell at a premium, this is the most efficient route to a full 1 TB of Series X storage on the Xbox platform.

Value for money draws a split reaction. Buyers who land a clean unit call it a great deal; buyers who expected more cosmetic polish or want sealed-retail pricing find the renewed route less compelling. The controller and console may show signs of prior handling, and there’s no sealed factory box. Neither is a defect — it’s just the trade you make for the savings.

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The full-fat Series X: 4K, ray tracing and a 4K Blu-Ray drive in one chassis.

This is the specification-heavy Series X, and the numbers reflect that. Inside you get AMD’s Zen 2 CPU paired with RDNA 2 graphics chips (both are the processing and graphics platforms that make current-gen gameplay possible), DirectX ray tracing for accurate lighting and reflections, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, 1 TB of custom NVMe SSD storage, True 4K gaming, performance targeted at up to 120 FPS, HDR support up to 8K, and a 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive for physical movies and discs. HDMI features include Auto Low Latency Mode, HDMI Variable Refresh Rate and AMD FreeSync.

What gets called out most is how quickly games load and how clean the unit tends to arrive. Owners consistently describe the console as reliable, well-packaged and ready to play the moment it’s unboxed, and the included Carbon Black controller is the full-fat wireless pad. The 4K Blu-Ray drive also doubles as a movie player — a reason to care about the disc slot even if most of your game library is digital.

The one honest gripe: at least a few customers note the bundled HDMI cable didn’t work from the start and had to be swapped for a spare. It’s not the console itself — the console arrives fine — but it’s worth keeping a spare cable in a drawer for the first setup. At 9.8 pounds it’s the heaviest Xbox on this list, so plan for a solid shelf.

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The 2 TB PS5 Pro, twin controllers included — the most hardware Sony puts in one box.

PS5 Pro is the console you buy when the shelf has to run the best version of everything. Inside is 2 TB of SSD storage, which is more than any other PlayStation in this guide — the 1 TB PS5 slim above and the 825 GB Digital Edition both come up short by comparison. Output reaches up to 8K through Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), an AI-boosted upscaling tech that sharpens the picture on a 4K TV, and advanced ray tracing can run alongside it at 60 fps or up to 120 fps in compatible games. Wireless has been upgraded too, with support for IEEE 802.11be (the newest high-bandwidth Wi-Fi standard) for lower latency and steadier connections on a compatible router.

Beyond the visuals, the Pro brings Game Boost across a combined 8,500+ backward-compatible PS4 titles — meaning long-time PlayStation owners don’t start over. The bundle ships with two DualSense controllers (one White, one Chroma Pearl) plus a dual controller charger, which is a genuinely useful pair-up if your household hosts game nights or a second player regularly drops in.

The honest note is that the Pro’s fan base is smaller than the standard PS5’s — a niche product aimed at players who want every frame and every pixel. Because it’s digital-only, you cannot play discs; and one owner’s fair complaint is that they assumed it took discs and switched to downloading games or adding a separate disc reader. The performance gains over a standard PS5 are best appreciated on a 4K 120Hz TV — on an older display you’ll see less of what the Pro is doing.