Xbox 360 Elite Internals
- Thread starter RobertR1
- Start date
Yes, the guy does not seem to be too critical minded.Aesthetically the new board looks cleaner in comparison to the orginial but the CPU and GPU look exactly the same. Wishful thinking can be a bad thing
Including a HDMI cable is nice, but you will still need the HD-DVD strap-on if you want to watch HD movies. If it would have had a build-in HD-DVD drive it would have been good value for the money.
As it is now, it doesn´t give you much much more than a damn expensive hard drive as we have learned from the Microsoft fanboys that the HDMI port doesn't give you any tangible advantages.
It seems like the fan noise has not been improved as the reviewer kind of recommends changing the fans.
Nope, and by the time there's a clear format winner everything will be downloadable.
In short: I disagree (although a lot of stuff is disc only right now).
I'm wondering if the power brick is smaller by the way.
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That is a bold statement.
Glue
So it makes your X360 work longer and it breaks a year or two later. But then they don`t have to replace it, smart move MS.
Lord Darkblade
Newcomer
No, this is a bold statement.
I have to agree though, download speeds are still < 1Mb/s in a lot of places, and even with "8Mb/s" lines a lot of people don't actually achieve these speeds. In the next few years I can't see 25GB (or even 5GB) being a useful download size, its still very much a think now, use later choice rather than a disc which is pick up now use now choice.
I very much doubt MS would release a new SKU and still subsidize it. This is a profit making SKU that does cater to those who have endlessly complained about HDMI and a bigger harddrive. Adding a HD DVD drive would either push the costs up much more or force MS to take a hit which would be quite silly to have a new SKU and still take a loss. Outside of enthusiasts, the appeal of HD DVD and BR to the masses is minimal. Later on, they can reduce the price of the Elite SKU and not have to worry about carrying the excess baggage of HD DVD. While it'd be a nice to have feature for us enthusiasts, I can totally see, from a business standpoint, why they didn't.
Rainbow Man
Veteran
I have some doubts about that.
You really don't want to download 25+ gigabytes on ADSL. It takes a bloody long time and I don't think it's anywhere near fast enough to stream the movie in realtime.
When I compare a mess like this wiht the convenience of just popping a round piece of plastic in the drive I can't help but come to the conclusion that phyiscal formats won't be going the way of the dodo any time soon.
Especially as DVDs are now becoming commonplace even in supermarkets at cheap bargain bin prices and bluray discs will end up there as well one day. You go shop for groceries and pick up a couple movies as well for a small sum of money.
As opposed to waiting a day for one movie to download so you can watch it and tying up your internet connection in the duration so you can't game or nothing at the same time.
Maybe in that future when we all have flying cars and jetpacks on our backs and personal force fields and rayguns and stuff THEN internet connectons will be fast enough to transfer HD movies in a trivial amount of time. But by then today's HD formats will probably be coarse in comparison. Particulary the 24fps framerate will probably become a bottleneck at some point.
I agree that this an SKU aimed to cover its costs, but I wonder if it really will sell in quantities that will cover the costs of the extra logistics it will require.
I am thinking all the true fanboys already have an X360, how many of them are ready to shell out the money to buy another one with so small improvements?
We'll know in the next 2 months
But likely this is a sku to maintain a profitable sku at the $299 range later on.I think in the roadmap, they fully intended to have 65nm chips ready by now (IIRC they ended up being delayed) and decided to push ahead anyway because they know theyll get a little spike in sales becuase of this.
I know there was a lot of people on this forum that said "i'll wait for the HDMI one" and while i think it was implied that it also meant 65nm, theres probably a whole subset here and elsewhere that really are just waiting for HDMI.
I know there was a lot of people on this forum that said "i'll wait for the HDMI one" and while i think it was implied that it also meant 65nm, theres probably a whole subset here and elsewhere that really are just waiting for HDMI.
Gradthrawn
Veteran
You bring up an excellent point, one that I think many overlook. However, what about simply queuing up your rentals? Queue up a couple of movies and by the next day they'll be ready for you to play. Even if it took a day and a half, it would still be faster than Netflix. And it would all happen in the background, seamlessly, without interrupting the device's normal operations. I think that is feasible even on today's connections.
Hey, why do we have to be fanboys?!
I currently own one, and I'm seriously considering the Elite. If I get word that the optical drive is of the quiet variety its a done deal. I was initially put off by the lack of a HD-DVD drive and no built-in wireless, but the small $80 surplus over the premium makes up for this (somewhat). I should note, however, that my current 360 is kind of on the fritz. And I was too busy/lazy to take advantage of the 1 year warranty extension Microsoft offered to us early buyers. So, my motivations are a bit different that what other current 360 owners might be.
"Fanboys" was probably the wrong expression, early adopters would probably be more suitable. Those that are not that price sensitive and ready do embrace new technology. That group is not that big, you are probably part of that exclusive group, me as well, but seriously is it really such a compelling product for that money if you already have one. Is the DVD-drive really that important, don't you have a separate DVD-player anyhow, but if your current unit is falling apart I can see your motivation. Maybe there are quite a few in that situation?Hey, why do we have to be fanboys?!
I currently own one, and I'm seriously considering the Elite. If I get word that the optical drive is of the quiet variety its a done deal. I was initially put off by the lack of a HD-DVD drive and no built-in wireless, but the small $80 surplus over the premium makes up for this (somewhat). I should note, however, that my current 360 is kind of on the fritz. And I was too busy/lazy to take advantage of the 1 year warranty extension Microsoft offered to us early buyers. So, my motivations are a bit different that what other current 360 owners might be.
I circled the differences here in case the gif is too quick for ya...and you really care about what they changed: http://img411.imageshack.us/my.php?image=360elitemobocircledev7.jpg
Observations:
Removing voltage regulators, resistors, and even changing the inductor coils is indicative of something, but it's hard to say much without knowing the specifications of the components.
Observations:
- Removal of voltage regulators on the far right.
- inductor coils sport fewer turns and are now flat against the mobo
- removal of surface-mounted resistors by the GPU
- some circuit lines are either gone or hidden
- two groups of four capacitors instead of 3 & 5 - different sizes, likely different capacitances
- removal of two yellow capacitors at top -> addition of two black capacitors
- addition of.... two chips of some sort below the top voltage regulator, the two capacitors beside it have changed in size - different values?
- HANA is smaller and there is a chip that no longer appears in the same vicinity
- crystal oscillator has changed position
- various components replaced top left - resistors and... stuff, likely as a result of HANA
- at bottom left, voltage regulators replaced
- capacitors changed at bottom left to electrolytic type, inductors have half as many turns,
- addition of outline for a new capacitor in the same area...
Removing voltage regulators, resistors, and even changing the inductor coils is indicative of something, but it's hard to say much without knowing the specifications of the components.
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Gradthrawn
Veteran
I'd have to say no, to that question, in general. The new features they did add, even at that price point, probably aren't really that compelling to most current owners. I think an internal HD-DVD drive and internal Wi-Fi adapter would have tipped the scale towards compelling for current owners. Particularly owners interested in HD-DVD, that want a larger hard drive, and wouldn't mind having the wireless adapter. The HD-DVD drive, larger HDD, and WiFi card as separate options would cost as much as a new system (~$475), so $600 for a new Elite 360 with all of those options, plus quiet operation, I think, would have been attractive even to current owners (the current owners we're talking about here, at least, e.g. the early adopters).
Movie playback isn't really my concern with the DVD drive. What is my concern/complaint is the noise level when playing games. Oblivion, in particular. Its not unbearable by any means (to me), but I sure would like a much quieter drive. The problem I'm having with my unit, by the way, is constant disc read errors. They're extremely bad in Oblivion, and prevalent in other games.
Probably not.
There are probably more current owners who are interested in content on Live! that want/need a bigger HDD and have the HDMI "bug" (and are also blissfully unaware of all of its compatibility and handshaking issues ).
