It looks like Xbox Series X|S consoles will now boot up faster than they used to, thanks to some improvements Microsoft has made to the platform. While wanting better graphics and more features is understandable, boot times are an important part of the system. Especially in today’s day and age.
No one wants to wait any longer than they have to for access to their entertainment. Microsoft understands this, and is speeding up Xbox Series X|S boot times for Insiders in the latest version of the Xbox Insider test builds, The Verge reports.
The beauty of it all, is that it seems Microsoft didn’t have to go through an entirely complicated process. And the rather simplistic approach has an elegance to it when you think about it.
Xbox Series X|S boot times are now 5 seconds faster
If you recently booted up your Xbox Series X|S console and thought, it seems slightly faster than before, it’s not just you. The console now boots 5 seconds faster than it used to.
Microsoft was able to achieve this by simply shortening the boot animation. Xbox integrated marketing director Josh Munsee confirmed the changes via Twitter on July 23. That being said there are still a couple of caveats to the faster boot times.
For now, you have to be an Xbox Insider to have access. And on top of that, the faster boot times will only be available if you have your console running in energy saver mode. Which completely powers off the console.
This change brings the boot time in energy saver mode down from 20 seconds to 15 seconds. And although it’s not as fast as having the console in standby mode so you can play games almost instantly, it’s likely fast enough to convince some users to try energy saving mode instead of standby.
Since this is currently part of the latest Insider test build, non-Insiders won’t be able to see this change. Microsoft hasn’t announced when they’ll move from the Insider test build to a stable build.
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.
— Josh Munsee (@joshmunsee) July 23, 2022