The Xbox Series X is already a pretty quick console, thanks to its speedy SSD, but it still lags behind the PS5. In fact, the SSD inside Sony’s console is almost twice as fast as Microsoft’s, giving it a major speed advantage. There is a little good news for Xbox owners, though, since the console is getting a speed upgrade.
Gamers on the Xbox Insider Program started noticing that the latest build seemed to be shortening boot times. That upgrade has now been confirmed by Josh Munsee, Director of Xbox Integrated Marketing.
Can confirm - worked with @harrisonhoffman and @jakerose27 to create a shorter boot up animation (~4s) from the original boot up animation (~9s), helping to reduce the overall startup time.July 23, 2022
Previously the Series X’s boot animation took nine seconds to complete. The latest Insider build more than halved that and brought the figure down to four seconds.
Granted, this isn’t the most extravagant upgrade in the world, but it’s the kind of thing that Series X owners will appreciate. Halving the length of the boot animation means the Series X is more in line with the likes of the PS5 and Nintendo Switch.
It also shows that Microsoft can and will make upgrades in order to enhance the Xbox experience. Though whether any speed-centric upgrades can be applied elsewhere is still unclear.
The shorter boot animation won’t affect people who keep their consoles on standby mode. That mode is fantastic for loading up the console quickly, and jumping back into whatever game you were playing.
But with the cost of energy and living being what it is, it's understandable that people may want to avoid this. The Xbox Series X may not use much power when in standby mode, but if you want to cut all unnecessary energy consumption the faster boot time is something you can appreciate. It means being able to turn off your Xbox and still get back into your games fairly quickly.
This upgrade is only available for Insiders at the moment, and regular gamers will have to wait a little while longer. Fortunately, signing up for the Insider Program is easy, and you can find instructions on how to get involved on the Xbox website.
The Insider Program gives you access to new features before they roll out to the public, though much like beta-testing software it may not always work as intended. So if you’re fairly risk averse your only other option is to be patient and wait for the public release.
