If you picked up an Xbox One X, you had to drop $500 for Microsoft’s new powerful console. But if there’s still room in your budget, you may want to consider the right gear to complement your experience. And we rounded up a the essentials and a few smaller accessories for Xbox One users. Those with an Xbox One S aren’t excluded from this list!
In the video above and the text below, we show off what you should get your hands on to get the most out of your console.
Contents
Xbox One Elite Controller
The Xbox One Elite Controller is possibly the best gamepad out there. It’s wireless, has four programmable paddles that come in handy for shooters, a crispy eight-way directional pad, and the smoothest analog sticks of any controller. You get options as well; the thumbsticks can be plucked out and replaced with an extended stick or ones with convex grips, and you can swap in a traditional four-way d-pad. You even get a neat carrying case to hold everything in place. Keep in mind that it requires two AA batteries or the play and charge kit. It’s quite pricey at around $150, but you’ll be getting your money’s worth.
Turtle Beach Stealth 600 or Stealth 700 Headset
Good audio is paramount to round out the high-fidelity experience that the Xbox One X offers. And we recommend Turtle Beach’s Stealth 600 or Stealth 700 headset. Both offer clean and bold audio with a few different equalization presets. Mic quality is good enough to be understood clearly on the other end. Comfort is just as important and these rest easy on your head. The 600 model has sports mesh earcups while the 700 has a plushy leather-like finish. Both headsets also connect to Xbox One systems wirelessly without a dongle or adapter; just sync up the headset to your console and you’re good.
The Stealth 600 goes for $100, while the Stealth 700 is $150, but you do get a more substantial build and active noise-cancelling.
Seagate Game Drive (2TB or 4TB)
1TB isn’t a ton of space these days, and that’s how much storage is built into the Xbox One X. Thankfully, we can use an external drive, because you’re going need one. 4K assets are huge and those Xbox One X enhancement patches will take up space. And if you’re downloading games, you’ll fill up that internal 1TB drive quickly.
The officially licensed Seagate Game Drive Xbox comes in either 2TB or 4TB. You can find the 2TB version for around $90, but if you can shell out a few more bucks, we’d recommend the 4TB version which can be found for about $130. These drives connect through USB 3.0 for relatively fast data transfer and game loading.
Xbox Live Gold Membership
The last of what we’d consider the essentials is an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Without one, you’d be missing out on some big perks on the platform like playing online multiplayer games and the monthly Games with Gold promotion. Multiplayer is a core component of the Xbox ecosystem; 12-player races in Forza Motorsport 7, raiding in Destiny 2, or big team battles in Halo 5: Guardians. In addition to the free games every month, Gold will also give you access to special sale prices for games on the Marketplace.
A one-year subscription costs $60 and a three-month period is $25, but there are plenty of reasons that justify the membership.
Plug And Charge Battery Pack
As for a few smaller things you might be interested in, a rechargeable battery pack is nice to pair with the Elite controller. Since the controller takes AA batteries, you can avoid that altogether with a rechargeable battery pack. The play and charge kit goes for $25.
PDP Talon Media Remote
The Xbox One is still a great media device especially being able to playback 4K Blu-ray discs and a media remote could come in handy. You can navigate through everything with a controller, but if you’re constantly using your Xbox for video streaming apps (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Crunchyroll) and pulling up TV shows, videos, and movies, a remote would be much more convenient. PDP’s Talon remote goes for $20, which is what we’re recommending.
Nyko Type Pad
In the rare case that you communicate a bunch through Xbox Live using text messages, a little keyboard attachment would be useful. We have Nyko’s Type Pad and it’s currently available for $13. It just snaps into the bottom of the controller.
4K HDR TV
There are two simple things you need from a television if you’re looking to pair one with the Xbox One X: 4K and HDR. Not all 4K TVs do HDR, so be aware when TV shopping. HDR truly changes the way games look when implemented properly and you definitely don’t want to leave it on the table. HDR makes colors much richer, creates a better contrast between light and dark, and makes light sources more vibrant.
A few 50-inch options from Samsung and Sony are currently on sale for around $600 to $700, and a few 55-inch options from LG and Samsung are well under $1000. Prices will of course vary. If you really want ball out, look to 4K HDR OLED TVs. They’re the best displays you can possibly get your hands on, but you’re looking between $1600 to $2000 for one.
[“Source-gamespot”]