HDMI- and 120GB-enabled Xbox 360 Elite: all signs point to yes

How interesting, that my 360 died last week...

Let's see, with the Best Buy replacement plan, and the current rumored pricetag of $480...


I'd say $80 for the new elite is not a bad deal.

Hopefully they'll fix the old problems instead of introducing new ones.
Maybe if they did it right the first time. Oh well.

har har har hardrive!!!

If they use the 65nm chips and fix the old problems then I'll be trading in my old one. Oh yea...and change it back to white instead of black. The 360 just doesn't look good in black.

If its anything like 360 1.0 ... i would avoid the first batch of consoles.. wait for them to fix up all the problems, then go for it.

Few interesting questions
1. After all the loud comments about PS3 "copying" XBOX Live's achievements - how is this ok? And forget the stuff about "routine upgrades" - HDMI and 60-120GB hard discs were available at end-2005 - so is this an admission that M$ got its specs wrong?
2. I am waiting for the xbots to turn up and claim that USD120 less (the price of an extra controller and a game) is worth missing out on the following: NO multiplayer, no HD, 25% of the backward compatibility, no wifi
3. For all the "Sony lies" campaign - we have seen Sony try get things right (rumble, new IPs, etc) but absolutely no pressure on M$ regarding the shocking defect rate and backward compat!
4. Till now, we have been hearing about the "expensive" PS3. If M$ brings out a HD equipped 362 in 2008, for say 499, will the xbots agree that they were pawned? because to upgrade they would end up paying MORE than the PS3!!!!

And all of the sudden this is gonna be a good thing...

Nothing is missing from the 360 - Moore
Rushed? Nah... not a chance

How will we know if they are using 65nm chips? I guess someone will have to open it because that will not be part of any media press release.

I think the price point of this thing would be better if it included WiFi. I think it is absolutely retarded that it doesn't. Come on, they are pitching this thing as a media device with a huge HDD for downloading online content and you have to BUY a WiFi adapter? The world is going wireless!! Not having this in a "Elite" version is pathetic. The Elite should have all the bells and whistles.

...now for that Blu-Ray add-on drive.

I'm looking forward to the new model in black. It'll finally match my other equipment. Can't wait to get my hands on one.

For those confused by the "no changes" comment in the article, it is saying that games won't have to be changed to support HDMI. The hardware is changed, but presumably due to how the HANA chip works, it's entirely backward compatible. This makes a lot of sense.

rfom:
The 20GB drive was clearly too small all along. The previous console had 6GB free on the drive and this one has 12GB? When HD content is much larger than SD? And when they knew up front they wanted to sell you games over the net to store on your HD?

All I can figure is the 20GB minimized their losses on the unit, while a bonus clearly leaving a path to sell people new HDDs (at $99+ a throw) later because it wasn't big enough.

It fits right in.
Networking, but no Wi-Fi. $99.
Wireless controller, but not rechargeable. $19.
HDD, but a small one. $99.
You can even change your faceplate!

MS have been masters at milking the accessory market with 360. After losing their butt on the original Xbox even after software and accessory sales, it appears MS applied themselves toward creating ways to create a system that will all but require you to buy certain add-ons (typically from them) to play.

How about wireless? That's missing obviously.

I don't know. This seems a bit fishy to me that 3 places all at once come out with this story, and no one confirms it. They might be testing the waters on this right now to hear the reaction.

Here's the consensus:
- Add the Elite, Drop the Core, Premium goes to $300, Elite @ $400
- Elite needs new chips, quieter drive, HDMI to merit purchase
- No Built-in wireless is terrible

Pete,

I understand where you are coming from, but a lot of people don't want Wi-Fi connection for something that does online multiplayer. Wired is better and my 360 is very close to my router. I doubt even 20% of people use their PS3 Wi-Fi.

In my opinion, what they did crappy was not allow you to use any computer Wi-Fi adaptor through USB. Their Wi-Fi add-on is expensive.

rfom,
Dude, don't you ever give up? You've been posting those same retarded points for over a year. Get some new material. The 360 has the most great games of any system right now. Why wouldn't a gamer want one?

If people only cared about built in Wi-Fi, HDMI, and HD disc formats in their gaming console then nobody would own a 360. But a lot of us don't care as much about things that don't enhance the gaming experience whatsoever and focus more on things like games, online setup, and cost. Those are all things at which the 360 excels.

Once the PS3 has some games, I'll get one. But it is looking awfully pathetic right now, and that is being reflected by its sales.

Why are people so hung up on whether it uses 65nm chips?

65nm would let them make it cheaper, use less power and thus less fan noise.

Cheaper is nice, but we're not going to get that it seems.
Less power is nice, you can measure that with a Kill-A-Watt.
Quieter is nice, you can hear that with your ears. But unless MS has created a magic sound damping field, it's still going to be loud when playing games, because it's the optical drive making most of the noise during games. Quieter fans will be appreciated by the IPTV users though I'm sure, as IPTV functions don't use the optical drive.

In short. Why do you care if it is 65nm? If it exhibits the characteristics you want (quieter and uses less power), does it matter what the technology is inside?

I work for wal-mart and we are haveing a promotin stating in april that when you buy a 360 pro, you get a 50 dollar gift card... cleaning out inventory???

Xbox 360 is the biggest Hypocrite first they cries NO NEED NO NEED now they are just adding in its ass all the right things. F*C*ERS even copied the color, please Xbox people think of something you really creates and stop coping OTHERS.

@ rfom

Once again, your flamboyant fanboyism and poor writing have given me my "laugh for the day".

Thanks.

You can up the specs all you want but fact is, when decent graphical games come out for the xbox 360 elite you'r gonna have the 3 disks to load instead of one. Whats next microsoft? Blu-ray?

rfom,

All of the "fanboy" comments are cute from both sides. When it comes down to it...the PS3 just isn't an enjoyable console. It's extremely annoying to use (exit a game...controller shuts off) and just doesn't feel like a games machine. It feels like a big PSP that says, "Look at me! I want to be cool! I'm SOOOOO AWESOME," and then Sony continues to fail at shutting up and putting up.

Everyone can bicker about price and features...but when you have a 1080p television, HDMI, VGA, and all the expensive "fixings"...and the PS3 still isn't an impressive or entertaining piece of equipment...none of the side arguments really matter.

When I let anyone who wants to try the PS3 and see how annoying it is for themselves and it takes about 5 minutes and they are done with it...the size of the hard drive or HDMI capability matters very little. Blu-ray? They can't tell the difference between that and upscaled DVD. I have to PAUSE the movies and show them the difference. It's ridiculous.

Whether the 360 gets HDMI or not is irrelevant. It never needed it in the first place, but if they want to throw it in, what is the problem? It's nothing like shoving Blu-ray forcibly in there. For those who think the the minute difference is worth it, they'll have it. If it's not important...don't buy it. Choice is a powerful thing.
I've had the PS3 for a few months now, and I've had the 360 since launch (and have returned it for warranty repair once). I was mad about it, but realized how many PS2s I've had problems with and how many hours I use the 360 compared to any of my Playstation products (I own all of their consoles). It took the 360 a lot more hours to fail (a year) than any of my PS2's did (months). Neither company is innocent. Nintendo's not special with quality either...they just have better customer service than the other two.

"I am waiting for the xbots to turn up and claim that USD120 less (the price of an extra controller and a game) is worth missing out on the following: NO multiplayer, no HD, 25% of the backward compatibility, no wifi"

I'm just trying to figure out what this means.
No multiplayer - have you heard of xbox live?
no HD - do you mean hard drive or high def? because 360 has both
25% backwards compatibility - microsoft said from the beginning it wouldn't be fully backwards compatible, noone went in expecting it to be
no wifi - that one makes sense, but the lower priced ps3 doesnt have wifi either.

(for the record before I'm called a ms fanboy, I have neither an xbox or a 360)

also "USD120 less (the price of an extra controller and a game)", you make it sound like the PS3 comes with a game and 2 controllers.

"F*C*ERS even copied the color, please Xbox people think of something you really creates and stop coping OTHERS."

You are mad because MS made the color black???

MS added the first "great" online component to a console. MS added the first hardrive to a console. If you want to look at copiers, look at sony.

@jack: I'm convinced Stone is just trying to be another troll because noone can actually be that stupid.

I don't see any extra value in the "Elite" system:

120GB HD - I'm Canadian. Microsoft doesn't offer Canadians or the rest of the world the video downloads that Americans get, so there's no need for the extra HD space outside the U.S.

HDMI - There's almost no quality difference between component and HDMI (it's exactly the same as comparing VGA to DVI on a computer - with a good monitor the VGA will be just as good, and with a good tv, component is just as good). And, component "just works", while other HDMI devices have proven that HDMI devices don't always get along.

Black - Black would look better in my entertainment center than off-white, but it's not worth the price premium just for the colour!

The way I see it, the regular premium system is still better value.

@13

The 65nm chips are supposed to run cooler therefore eliminating the problems with the 3 red lights, on top of what you mentioned about power consumption. Also the newest model 360 already have begun to come out with the new quieter BENQ drives.

What do you want to bet MS includes a HDMI cable for free while Sony is still charging $60 for theirs?

Throw in DVR capabilities and an HD-DVD burner and sell it for $399, and they've got my money!

The two cornerstones of 360 marketing
"Once the PS3 has some games, I'll get one. "
"PS3 is expensive"

Let us check them out -

1. PS3 has just 3 exclusives - Motorstorm, VF5 (for now) and R:FOM

The 6 million people who bought the 360 before Dead Rising and Gears came out (and who face seeing their model become obselete now) - how many good "exclusives" did they have? right, ZERO

And if you want to compare games - how about FF12, GoW2, KH3, Okami, all out in 2006-07 - how many games that are as good (even with better graphics) on the 360?

And the "cheaper" 360 - its all about death by a thousand cuts - 399 for the console but they have you on the accessories.
MOST 360 OWNERS WILL BUY
1. Given the 360's titles - you NEED multiplayer - USD200 for a 4-year span
2. A bigger hard disc (EVENTUALY, BY 2008-09) - USD100
So you pay USD100 more for a console with a much higher defect rate AND with no HD, HDMI, wifi

Dear Angry Sony Fanboys,

The standard 360 will still be sold, this isn't a major product upgrade, just an offering to those who think HDMI is somehow superior to optical audio and quality component cables. The 120gig HD is interesting, but really just so you can store more downloadable content on your drive at once, not so games can preinstall 4 gig just so that they run at normal speed.

Aside from the obvious red ring of death issue (which was even the subject of an article here just yesterday for those who think its somehow being ignored by the media,) the Xbox 360, as it stands today is a perfectly capable machine without any of the 'features' offered by the "Zephyr" - so you can stop saying MS is trying to catch up to Sony, you're deluding yourself to deal with your rampant fanboyism.

For the record, I'm not a MS fanboy, it wasn't until Halo 2 that I was finally forced to end my embargo. I 'tolerate' MS, but face it - aside from a couple hiccups, they got this generation right, and Sony didn't.

rfom, lol dude STFU! I will buy your PS3 from you for $450 just so you can go buy a 360.

rfom,

Every single 360 game for its first year was an HD console exclusive. It was the only console with next gen graphics and HD. When I was playing GRAW, Oblivion, COD2, PGR3, Dead Rising, and others in glorious HD, you were playing PS2 games. Now you finally have a PS3 and the game selection gets its ass whooped by the 360, bad.

My apologies of using bad words before. I didn't mean to flame things. Both consoles are good its the matter of choice, if you like Windows integration and LIVE anywhere thingy go with the 360 but if you really don't care about those and want more fun then Nintendo WII is the answer. PS3 is simply the strongest console out right now and its just the beginning there is lot more to unleash. You have to be realistic and don't mix your favouritism with that. Game Development Companies are just exploring the PS3 its always too complex in the beginning. Similar to 360 when launched there were not a single title which really appeals but now Gears of wars really kick butt its just the matter of time. I love games not the consoles so I don't mind to have both. I am PC Gamer which is far too ahead of all the consoles (Price and Technology wise). Consumers always argu which one is better and worst but in fact the Game Development Companies are the real winner they just release single title on different platform multiplying their revenue. Anyway Peace and enjoy gaming and again sorry for my bad words :-)

ha ha ... april fools ... weak sauce.

I dont want built in Wifi, I want Wifi to be removeable (and therefore upgradeable) because we have newer technologies coming, and I don't want to be locked into an older wireless tech, especially given that wireless is nowhere near as reliable as wired connectivity. That's why I like the wifi accessory (but hate, hate, hate the price).

"And forget the stuff about "routine upgrades" - HDMI and 60-120GB hard discs were available at end-2005 - so is this an admission that M$ got its specs wrong?"

MS got HDMI (really) wrong (more on this in a bit) but I think the HD size is fine. Its going to depend on what MS does with the 2 or 3 SKUs it has. Either of these 2 options is likely:

1- Core, Premium & Elite, as the core drops to $200-250.
2- New core = current premium at $300, and "Elite" becomes new premium with HDless 360 gone.

20 gigs is enough unless you download a lot of content (videos) & keep it, and then there's the role IPTV will play. Given that most of the XBLM content has expiration dates (though they dont seem to expire quickly if at all)

The thing about HDMI with the 360 is this. MS implied that existing 360 owners could add on HDMI and that's probably the source of a certain amount of anger against MS (and it's justifiable IMO). While I wouldn't say its impossible, it's highly unlikely... imagine a plug in (into the video port) scalar that would work seamlessly with the OS and would convert analog to digital. This would probably be very expensive and not produce the sort of results that the "elite" models could do, and would be an awful lot of trouble for what amounts to a simple video connection. To summarize, it won't happen.

Is HDMI _necessary_? Only when content is ICT protected. Or if you need to connect a device to your tv via HDMI instead of component or vga for HD.

I wonder if MS will allow something like disc imaging on the new huge hard drive, allowing people to completely copy a game on to the hard drive if they've been playing it a lot, to save load times not to mention less ware on the DVD drive. Of course they'd have to have some pretty intense DRM to insure the copy only worked on the original 360 it was ripped on.

Jesus CHRIST. Enough talk about the current 360 hardware model being made "obsolete" by the new sku.

I sure know a hell of a lot of people how are some able to fully enjoy their Photo iPods, even though the Video iPod has been on the market for over a year now. Nothing is "obsolete"- the core function of the product is unchanged- MS is just able to enhance functionality as technology costs allow.

Jesus, you people.

Also- this has nothing to do with "getting your specs wrong". MS' placed their bet on launching a year earlier than Sony, knowing full well the competition would be able to claim the technology advantage in some areas when they finally did launch.

Now, you're just beginning to see all that bet affords them- a 5 million unit lead in the US, and the ability to manage price drops and hrdwre revisions even before the PS3 gets fully off the ground.

@rfom "Given the 360's titles - you NEED multiplayer"

Uh, no. The MAJORITY of 360 owners DO NOT have XBL Gold accounts. In fact, many 360 owners don't even have their machines connected to the internet! According to Microsoft, there are 6 million XBL acounts including both Silver and Gold. Therefore, most 360 owners play single-player.

Dominic:
Do not conflate with reliability. It is completely possible to make a reliable system with 90nm chips. It's just MS failed to do it.

Why do you you think a change in chip process technology is going to fix a problem that wasn't in the chip in the first place?

Even a quieter 12X DVD drive is still loud. I have them in my PC, my laptop, etc. They're loud. End of story.

As to HDMI, as a person with a component video switcher, I can say HDMI is fantastic. My component switcher has 20 cables on the back, to switch 4 inputs to one output. With HDMI, it'd be 5 cables total. It's an enormous difference.

Also, as 360 has shown so far, few TVs will take 1080P over component, so HDMI is useful there too.

Finally, with HDMI, PS3 can play BluRay movies with 7.1 discrete audio. 360 is not capable of this since it only has optical audio out, which is limited to lossily compressed 5.1 and 6.1.

HDMI is important. 360 needs it, and now is better than later.

h0mi:
Look up the ICT. It is just one factor. Not being able to output HD-DVDs upscaled from 1080i to 1080p isn't because of the ICT. Not being able to output DVDs upscaled to 720p, 1080i or 1080p is not because of the ICT.

Which sub par revision of the 360 do you own?

a) No HDD, loud, massive power brick, no HDMI, no WiFI
b) 20 HDD, loud, massing power brick, no HDMI, No Wifi
c) 120 HDD, loud, massive power brick, HDMI, No Wifi

Which one did you shell out $400 for?
Which one will you shell out ANOTHER $400 for?
Who here still thinks you didn't get screwed for being an early adopter?

Now, a rational person would retort to my comment in #38 but an xBot will point out my typo in option b) and the fact I didn't keep the case the same for WiFi in b) and c).

And that my friends is the difference between rational people and MS fans. One will counter with rational arguments, while the other will focus on anything else so they don't have to talk about the shortcomings of their "in the middle gen" console.

WiFi isn't an issue for me, and never has been. In fact, the most annoying thing about my Wii was having to connect it via Wifi.

I don't think it's out of the question to put a HDMI cable on the current 360 - Sure, the port is only working for analogue at the moment, but it's possible that it works like a DVI on a PC - and can switch from digital to analogue internally.

That said, I really don't care, my system is all component based anyhow, I just want a 120gig hard drive and a Dashboard update that supports xvid :)

@why not the LS2/LS7?":

"Look up the ICT. It is just one factor. Not being able to output HD-DVDs upscaled from 1080i to 1080p isn't because of the ICT. Not being able to output DVDs upscaled to 720p, 1080i or 1080p is not because of the ICT."

I know that. I guess my comment didn't clearly separate out the 2 reasons HDMI is "necessary" - 1 being ICT and the other being just the fact that someone feels that HDMI is necessary to connect the 360 to the tv... for whatever reason.

I dont have a 1080p set so the issue you mention matters not to me. But I'd prefer an HDMI connector because I have 4 devices that use component but my tv has only 2 inputs. VGA isn't an option since I'm using that with a PC.

"Why do you you think a change in chip process technology is going to fix a problem that wasn't in the chip in the first place?"

Did they ever pin down what exactly is wrong with so many units? I think the thinking is that the older units overheat, and that's the source of the problem (?)... 65nm should reduce that.

MS should include an upgrade so that the DVD doesnt constantly spin when I'm in the dashboard or when I'm playing an XBLA game.