I still don't understand why the HDD is $180 ....ps3 owners can put this in their system http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822149057 for 100 dollars less...180 is really absurd.

Yes, they did need four years to get it down from using 70-something watts to 40-something. That's how microprocesor technology develops. A slim PS1 was a PS1, not a PS2. I don't reliably remember how much power a PS1 used, I think it might have been as little as 5 watts, it definitly wasn't even 40. They could have made gradual revisions to the PS2, making it slighly smaller and/or quieter every few months, but I bet that would have completely infuriated some people.

proggramed to break down after the warranty? Thats ridiculous. Everyone knows that only Dell does that. :devil:

And yes, it did take them that long - the ps2 had 2 chips to slim down versus the one 32 RISC proccessor the ps1 had. Colling is the biggets issue as slimming down things also puts heat generating components closer to eachother.

Haha, looks like undef pretty much just said the same thing.

Microsoft's reasoning is that the point of comparison are high quality 2.5" external drives which cost quite a bit more. I can't help but notice how that goes against their proclaimed policy of providing consumers with choice. However, it apparently also comes with their DRM handling system installed on the drive which makes services like Video Marketplace possible or at least easier to implement (I don't think they should be charging us for it, though).

While I'm comfortable with the price point of the Elite Xbox 360, I don't like the retail price of the 120 GB HDD add-on. Still, when the Elite model becomes cheaper (probably going to happen before the end of the year), the HDD add-on will have to follow.

I was thinking of getting an XBox 360 and was researching whether it's better to get the XBox Elite. I've looked around on the net and... I can't see why the Elite is almost double the price of the original 360 here in Australia.

I'm not bothered by the amount of space or the colour. Does it even allow better graphics for future games?

I already own a PS3 as well so I'm trying to find out as much as possible.

EB-games offer the choice of trading in your Premium + €160 for an Elite. I'm thinking of going for it since I'd really like to see the effect of HDMI + 1080p on my Full-HD LCDTV. As my TV doesn't support 1080p over component I can only get 720p at the moment. I wonder if it's worth it though...

*edit*
A brand new Premium costs about €320 here today.

That's a really good price. Here in the Netherlands the Premium is still 350 Euros. On the other hand, Microsoft has just launched a campaign that gives you Viva Pinata and Forza Motorsport 2 with every console. Both games I don't necessarily want, but they're high caliber games and I can trade them for others I DO want, like Gears or Double Agent or Crackdown.

Now all I need is a big fat paycheck and I can get the damn thing.

Hmmm... I have a 1080p LCD too. So the game graphics will be updated with the HDMI output?

I recently played a PS3 game that was ported from an XBox game and the graphics were pretty shoddy from the convert. That's the main reason I want a 360 as well. :P

1080p "equals" a resolution of 1920x1080 which 720p "equals" a resolution of 1380x720. So in theory, yes the graphics should be updated. I do however not know if the difference is noticeable. It should depend on your viewing distance from the TV and the size of the TV.

Thanks for your help! The TV's 46 inches, so I'm gathering that the upgrade will be noticed. LOL!

That settles it then, I'll be buying the XBox Elite soon! :)

If your TV supports 1080p over component you won't need to buy a X360 with HDMI to enjoy that resolution as the X360 supports 1080p over component as well. My TV doesn't so that's why I'm thinking of upgrading.

All newer Premium models come with the HDMI port as well, and if you're buying a Premium Xbox 360, I strongly recommend you get that model. Not so much because of the HDMI port, but because it also comes with an extra heatsink which helps prevent overheating (a quite serious problem with older models).

Does the Elite come with the same heat sink?

Nowadays all models do, but I'm not sure whether the first runs of the Elite had it.

Question: How do you actually tell if there's a newer model in the packages? Because so many shops here have the same old boxes like they had a year ago, and I suspect they might be older models. The thing is, you can hardly expect a shop to be knowledgeable about those things, but they do matter. So how do you tell?

It's easy for Core and Premium models because the newer ones actually list the HDMI port on the box (and online retailers sometimes have separate entries for models with the HDMI port and those without it), but I'm not sure how to tell apart newer and older Elites because the Elite had the HDMI port from the very beginning.

Since I'm out for a Premium anyway, this is very helpful. Thanks.

Will there be even newer models by the way, or are they quite ready with making the console the way it was supposed to have been at its release? (technological advances notwithstanding -I'm talking purely about glitches and flipped up hardware)

Sure, every console goes through a number of revisions during its life cycle. The next one for the 360 is the introduction of 65 nm chips which are smaller and dissipate less heat. However, they'll be introduced silently so people won't necessarily know when that happens. Some rumors say first shipments are already getting to stores.

In any case, every Xbox 360 now comes with a three year warranty for the Red Ring of Doom issue (for all other problems it's still a one year warranty) so you shouldn't be too worried.

Just made an order for the Elite model. The deal is that if I trade in my Premium and five games I get it for ~€10. I can probably find five second hand games for a relatively cheap buck in the time it takes for the console to arrive (ETA was 2 months(!?) they were really sold out here).

*edit*
Just bought 5 copies of Superman Returns a €10 (= €50). This makes the trade in cost me a total of €60. I can live with that :)

LOL! That's a great idea to buy cheap games to trade in!

Now I'm not sure what to do. Should I just go with the Elite?