The new Microsoft Xbox One S is better than the original in every major way - and worse in one small one

Meet the Microsoft Xbox One S: All the gaming power of 2013's original Xbox One console, in a slimmer, sleeker, more blindingly white form factor.

If you're upgrading from that first Xbox One console, the Xbox One S is smaller (Microsoft says 40% smaller, in fact), lighter, and offers a slightly more ergonomic controller.

If you're looking at the Xbox One S as your first Xbox, well, be grateful you never had to find room for the original's ridiculously huge power brick.

And people in all positions can appreciate that it supports ultra-high-definition (UHD) 4K gaming and the new high high dynamic range (HDR) standard. Sony is expected to add the same feature when it releases the next iteration of the PlayStation 4 console, codenamed Neo, as early as this holiday shopping season.

In other words, if you have a new, cutting-edge TV, this is the Xbox for you. Actually, it's probably the Xbox for you, regardless. Unlike the original Xbox One, the Xbox One S is all killer, no filler.

(Still, if you don't like the Xbox One at all, for whatever reason, this probably won't change your mind.)

It's do-or-die time for Microsoft, too: Microsoft has, to date, sold an estimated 21.84 million Xbox One consoles, compared with the Sony PlayStation 4's global total of 42.5 million.

The good news is that if anything can help close that gap a little bit, it's the Xbox One S. Here's why.