Will Standing Your Xbox One Up Vertically Damage It?

The Xbox One has been around for a while now. In fact, Microsoft quietly ended production on it a long time ago and has since decided to move on to exclusively focusing on its newest generation of consoles, but it seems that there are some things about this hard-working gaming machine that still aren't exactly common knowledge. One question that continues to pop up on a regular basis is whether you can mount the console vertically or if you need to lay it down horizontally. 

You might think that just about every console can be set upright and still work just fine, but this isn't always the case. Standing a console up on its side can save square footage on your entertainment system and make your console into a more visually striking decorative piece, but it might damage the hardware over time. Even if a console looks like it's meant to be stood on its end, there are several reasons why this might not be a good idea. 

Disk tray mounting, weight distribution, and cooling vent placement can all make putting a console on its side problematic. The Xbox 360 had vertical mounting capabilities, but can the Xbox One do this, or might this orientation cause more harm than good? Well, it turns out that you might be able to stand your console on its side, but it depends on the model of Xbox One you're using.

Unfortunately, those of you who own the original 2013 Xbox One should never mount the console vertically. "We don't support vertical orientation," Xbox senior director of product management and planning Albert Panello told GameSpot at the Tokyo Game Show (via Eurogamer). "Do it at your own risk."

Panello explained that the original Xbox One is simply not designed to stand vertically. Apparently, this isn't so much a cooling problem as it might be on several other consoles; it's more of an issue with the weight distribution and the slot-loading disk drive. Its weight isn't centered on the vertical axis, which can lead to the console tipping easily and falling over. The disc drive also depends on the gravity from a horizontal orientation to keep gaming disks centered. The Xbox One doesn't have a disk tray with a lip on the side the way the Xbox 360 did. Inserting a disk while the console is on its side can cause it to fall out of alignment, not read properly, and even get stuck.

Of course, there are workarounds. You can choose to stick to digital gaming and use a third-party stand to make the console more secure on its side, but the fact remains that it was not designed to operate this way, and this is, therefore, not recommended.

So, the launch edition of the Xbox One is horizontal only, but what about the later models? The Xbox One S and Xbox One X aren't just upgraded versions of the original design. Both of these newer versions were completely re-engineered from the ground up. Both the base One S and its all-digital variant are technologically superior to the original Xbox One, offering more powerful specs and a lower price. Both versions of the One S were also designed to support vertical orientation. Unfortunately, this requires the purchase of a vertical stand. Xbox currently sells these separately for around $10, and third-party designs can be found online.

The Xbox One X is an even more powerful variant of the console, designed to compete with the PS4 Pro. It boasts roughly 4.5 times the graphical capabilities of the original console, with expanded processing, storage, and higher-resolution digital output. It can also operate in both vertical and horizontal orientations. These consoles also require a stand for stability. While it doesn't appear that Microsoft offers an official version on its own, there are several affordable third-party stands available that can be found online.