Xbox 360 Pro missing from new Elite packaging

by Richard Mitchell on Aug 24th 2009 10:50AM

The lifespan of the Xbox 360 Pro looks to be dwindling every day. First, the SKU disappeared from the comparison chart on the Xbox 360 Arcade packaging, and now it looks like the same change has occurred on the Xbox 360 Elite box. Perhaps even more significant is that the Elite has abandoned its traditional (and super 1337) gray packaging for white. White, as it happens, is also the color of Xbox 360 Pro packaging. Coincidence, or proof that the Pro is on its last legs?

One final bit of (somewhat depressing) evidence, the Elite box states that it only includes standard A/V cables. No component, no HDMI, just plain vanilla A/V. In fact, the only features separating the Elite from the Arcade are a headset, an Ethernet cable and the 120GB hard drive. Even assuming the Elite drops to $299, that's not a lot of extras beyond the $199 Arcade model. At least Canada gets Halo 3 and a wireless adapter to make the deal a little sweeter.

Source

Tags: elite, microsoft, price-cut, Xbox-360, xbox-360-elite, xbox-360-pro

Reader Comments (113)

The component/composite cable has been in the nicer 360 boxes since the beginning, why would they shoot themselves in the foot now?

This combined with not putting a hard drive (even 20GB) in the Arcade model is just incredibly stupid and I cannot understand why they would do this.

It's official. The Playstation 3 has the best next-gen graphics*

(* out of box)

The ps3 also comes with crappy cables. I remember complaining that it didn't come with HD cables. Screw MS and Sony.

They need to make money on it.. not everyone getting a 360 has a HDTV, and they're dropping the price by a HUNDRED BUCKS. Still a great deal even if you have to drop $6-10 for a cable.

And the whole point of the Arcade is for more casual gamers to have something they can play a few games on and is priced accordingly. They're doubling the internal memory to 512MB anyway. Not enough for DLC but I'm not sure people who buy the arcade are in the target market for that.

*P.S. I think it's $100? I'm not from the US.

So once the pro is no longer and the elite replaces it, will there be a total of zero next-gen systems capable of displaying HD graphics out of the box?

So, what makes it "Elite" now?

"The component/composite cable has been in the nicer 360 boxes since the beginning, why would they shoot themselves in the foot now?"

All those millions of dollars lost over RROD/E74 must be recouped from somewhere.

the color and the 120GB hdd is what made it elite.

Well, for people like me it's useless. I have my 360 hooked up to my monitor, and I use a VGA cable, and my computer is the lucky one to use an HDMI port. So, it doesn't apply to everyone.

Damn, shouldn't have waited so long to get an Xbox.

Oh well, Elite, here I come.

$100 price drop good. now if only they dropped the price further on the arcade...

No, you shouldn't have.

You WANTED to pay more? Or you wanted one of those RROD space-heaters?

Look at that slightly damaged box... *sigh*... oh Circuit City, we hardly miss ye.
Though it seems some former employees have migrated over to best buy.

@ contract killer

those are wal-mart mylars

What exactly was the problem with waiting? Getting to pay less for the Elite? Or having the opportunity to take advantage of blowout sales on the soon-to-be discontinued Pro?

Removing all the cables except A/V is lame.

Going out to buy an HDMI cable for my PS3 was one of the most annoying things about getting it. Mainly considering that most places charge you $50+ for an HDMI cable so I had to resort to online stores to get a cheap one.

You can get them on eBay, new, for less than 10 bucks usually.

I am going to get a PS3 once the Slims are out in the wild. So I went to monoprice and got me a spanky new 6 foot HDMI cable coming for $6 or so.

I don't like that I have to think ahead and order a cable... but I like that I know that I need to do that. Sucks that it will be the same way with the 360 from now on as well.

Yeah, online is the way to go. monoprice.com has HDMI 6fts for around $5

I got my HDMI cable off of Amazon.com, new, in packaging for 6 dollars. Any HDMI cable you find in stores is marked up about 500%. Hasn't anyone heard the horror stories of Monster Cable and their 1000% markups?

but it makes sense. most people still don't have HD. but everyone can use composite right out of the box. so even if you do have HDMI and forget to pick up acable you can play on composite until you get one.

Is it really that big a deal, honestly? I can understand being annoyed if you get one as a gift, but I'd imagine that most people purchasing a system for themselves did so with a little planning ahead of time. So why not just buy a cheap cable before the system purchase to have it ready? Shit, they're so cheap I keep a couple of extras on hand anyway.

$50 for an HDMI Cable???

The hell you been??

They have been under $30 at Walmart since like '07

I've been ordering my HDMI Cables and Optical Cables from mycablemart.com and are really good quality and cheap.

but $50 for a HDMI cable is a rip off.

monoprice.com for the win. i bought like 5 hdmi cables there and they are all rated 1.3a or in monster terms hdmi1000. works great and cheap as hell.

NEVER EVER BUY MONSTER, it's a complete rip off.

Just because it doesn't come with HD cables doesn't mean you can't play it on your HD set. Just deal with the shitty graphics until your $6 HDMI cable comes in. The imagine how AWESOME your game will look in HD once you do get it set up!

Not including component cables is bullshit because they cost virtually the same. We arent going to break the bank by having to buy cables thanks to places like monoprice, but its still bullshit that they cant spend an extra nickel and give us the convenience of being able to use HD out of the box. Not to mention the chunk of people out there hooking up RCA cables to their HDTV thinking they are getting HD since theyre using a device that advertises being HD, the HD ignorance out there is astounding and moves like this only contribute to it.

We as consumers shouldnt be saying "who cares I can get one for 5 bucks", we should be saying "if I can get one for 5 bucks then why the hell isnt it already included?" to important accessories for expensive devices.

I concur with most of what's been said here. Monoprice is your best bet for an HDMI cable for around $5.

The kicker is that both the PS3 and 360 use a proprietary A/V port for component, which means if your TV doesn't have an HDMI port available, you have to spend the $40 or whatever for their cables.

lol look at the corner of the elite box on the right. not sure i want spend 400 (hopefully 300 soon) dollars on an item that comes in a box like that.

It's Walmart, what did you expect?

Pulling out the HDMI cable I can almost understand... but not the component. I'd think most consumers are smart enough to buy non-branded HDMI cables... so I don't see them making a lot of sales on cables.

they want to make back the loss in profits though selling the cables separately. but before you start to call ms evil, this has been a strategy thats been around ever since consoles have.

Ah, that reminds me of RF Adapters for the SNES, and PS1 because my TV was old and shitty in my bedroom and had no RCA jacks. Feels like a lifetime ago.

Hey Microsoft how about this, just have ONE SKU?! There's no need for 2 when the difference between them is so small. But then again this is the same company who made the different Vista versions so its not that surprising.

Of course there is need for more than one SKU!

Imagine there was only the Arcade model with just the most basic equipment: Many people want to download things from Xbox Live, they need a hard drive to store it. Not everybody wants to spend extra money after the already got the console.

Now if there was only the Elite model, what about those who only want to use the console to watch TV? I have one broken Xbox 360 in my house (that cannot be used to play games because it crashes), but it works fine as a Media Center Extender. Also we shouldn't forget about the people who need a replacement console.

About Vista: Well I can imagine different people demanding different versions. OK, the versions of Vista were not so streamlined, but take a look at Windows 7: There is just one version the average user must really consider to purchase: Home Premium. If you want more (Professional, Ultimate), you probably know enough about PCs to know what you need.

Difference so small?? lol

They will NEVER get rid of the Arcade....its their cash cow...how you gonna charge people $100 for a HDD when they already have one??

@slimshady

Who buys a console just to watch TV with it when there are far better options out there, especially a 360 where the fans are a big issue! I cant see how anyone would buy want to buy an Arcade, a next gen console without a hard drive is a waste.

@Chris

Good point, those Xbox hard drives are the biggest scams going.

@Klepto
Because some people already have a hard drive. I just bought an arcade because I already had a hard drive with all of my saves and data on it. Why would I pay 100 bucks more for something I don't need?

@klepto

I want to buy an arcade just want to play MW2 on XBL with my friends. I already have a PS3 for the multiplatform stuff that needs HDD space... but $200 is just too much considering I'd have to shell out a $20 for a controller battery and component cables and then another $60 for the gold starter pack for the headset and year of XBL...I mean after all of that I'm looking at $280... A week ago that wasn't too bad but now....that's just too much.

It is a common strategy in business to have a good, better, best product offering.

You have customers at different levels who want different things. Why drive away the cost-sensitive, entry level customer by only having a top-end product? Why drive customers away who want more by only offering the bargain-basement stuff? Nintendo has a niche position in the market and so does Sony. I think that it has been wise for MS to try to cover the entire spectrum.

Couincidently the Pro is selling BRAND NEW (not refurbished) off sellout.woot.com today for $220!

Apologies.. It's $229.99 + $5 shipping. Still pretty darn cheap tho!

It'll be that price until midnight or they sell out.

Sellout.woot.com

Just bought one thanks

No problem, it's a great site. I use it alot. Something new everyday.

Woot.com (the main site) is selling battery charger for xbox 360 controllers today.

Fuck yeah, they have a bug zapper for $10, too! Two of today's hottest forms of entertainment, on the cheap. :)

Well, considering that the 120GB hdd is like $170 in Canada, it IS the console to get. Period.

Buy an HDMI cable for less than $2 on Amazon.

most people don't know that. most of them will go for the SUPER AWESOME OVERPRICED MONSTER CABLES! IT GIVES SUCH GOOD CLARITY IN THE IMAGES!
D:

You have to be fully honest. There's like 3 bucks S&H on each cable, but still not a bad deal.

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Xbox 360 Pro missing from new Elite packaging

Reader Comments (113)

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