NEW 360 Elite-Your thoughts?
 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6168182...stnews;title;0

120 gig HDD, and an HDMI port..and the price jumps all the way to $479..Don't know bout you guys, but i think it's a bit odd for such a high price without the High Def dvd player..considering you can get a Blu Ray player with your ps3 for only 20 dollars more..sure the HDD isn't as big, but it's xtremely easy to upgrade your ps3 HDD as opposed to buying microsfts $179 upgrade of 120 gigs...

It's great for people who don't have one yet, like me. Although, by the time I get it it'll probably be cheaper.

I couldn't care less about a HD video player.

I don't even have a HD tv never mind HD movies. I like the fact it doesnt come with a HDDVD player, it would make it more expensive for no reason needed. Want the player buy it seperatly.

If it used the HD-DVD format then it would be fine for new users.

As it is the HDMI and bigger hard disc don't justify purchasing it.

I'm quite happy with the Premium 360.

Too expensive...I'd begin considering a 360 if the price (for the premium) were to drop to $300.

Definately looks nicer than the white one but my question is why! Unless they thought introducing another might spark people's interest in the console further, or perhaps devert some people off the PS3 to buy this instead.

I think that's it!

But still, I don't think it's worth the $480.

Then again, never been a big fan of the Xbox (360). If I'm going to buy a console it's going to be a PS3. Games like White Knight Story and FFXIII make the PS3 a better buy for me ;)

Yeah, I don't really understand this move. I would feel a little slighted if I were and early adopter. I was seriously considering a 360 for a while, but I think I will just upgrade my PC and save more for a PS3/Wii (almost all 360 titles are available on PC or PS3). Good times all around then....

Heck yes!! Those are going to be MASSIVE!!!

I'm on the fence. I like the idea of a 120GB HDD, but is it really necessary? I refuse to buy the micro-payment crap on sheer principle, and filling 20GB of saves seems like it'd take awhile.

I think we're going to get the Premium once the price drops, simply I want a white 360 to match the Wii. No HDTV yet either, although the one we're looking at only supports up to 1080i anyway so like HDMI really matters to us.

For some reason the "magic number" for me is $250-300. If they can get the Premium down to that I'll buy one...

then again, when Halo 3 comes out I'm sure my husband will be dying to get one anyway. :)

EDIT: I'd also want the HD DVD drive, that Planet Earth documentary series done by the BBC was awesome. Well worth it to purchase the HD DVD drive for stuff like that

Well, you can still use it to store 40 or 80 hours of VCD bitrate video on one disc. Or you can hook it up to a monitor. So people like you wouldn't be getting completely screwed over by sony being mindful of us noise conscious people.:D

No, of course that's not the real main reason. Yes they are giving a hand up to sony's movie related divisions, but on the whole it's still sony's gaming division that's getting the huge subsidies. So, despite looking like the opposite, this is actually extremely like how ms office and windows subsidized the original xbox...

...hey, I wonder how mythTV for the PS3 is coming along. You wouldn't even need to hack it like the xbox.

I'll wait for the XBOX 720 or whatever it's called instead :-)
There's little to gain by selling my premium 360 and buying that elite version. My only gripe with the current is the noise. If the elite version is a lot more quiet, then maybe...

yeah i know how you feel man, especially the noise part that sucks. but i dunno, i think i got major beef with this new console release, these bastard company's think they can shit on their existing customers by releasing improved hardware. no working class kids are going to fork out for this, even if they had the sense to realise they don't need it. i hope microsoft get screwed.

Hellooooo, hardware revisions have been an integral part of the console business since god knows when.

lol, point taken, however i feel the same about the playstation 2 re-release, it's just damn unnecessary or they should have brought that version out first.

yeah, i was amazed at how quiet the ps3 is after hearing how loud the 360 is for so long.

What is the point of 120 gb?

The down loadable content currently available hardly strains a 20gb drive... I suppose the over zealous downloaders whom actually pay for all the downloadable tv shows and such might use the space... but seriously - why begin a stockpile of tv shows that are relegated only to your 360 when you can go buy a tv season on dvd that is as portable as your dvd player.

The HDMI port, imho, is the only really new feature.... but even that is negligible unless you plan on buying the hd-dvd and you are concerned about maintaining 1080P output on the newer tv's.

Unfortunately, buying the 200 HD-DVD add-on and the 479 Elite system adds up to an amazing $679... nearly 100 more then the fully loaded ps3???

At that point, if HDMI HD-DVD is that much of a goal, your better off getting a standalone hd-dvd player or just getting a blu-ray player.

Thats all besides the point though... no built in wireless adapter is a huge exclusion.

And if the 120gb drive is whats so important, then just wait and buy the 120gb add-on drive....

Honestly... i just don't see any value or reason for this other then the cool black color.

Not one year after release.

Besides, every hardware revision that I can think of was to decrease production costs with smaller form factors, smaller/cooler integrated chips, and exclusion of unused ports.

This is the first time they have released a new hardware model which is
A: More Expensive
B: Not anymore efficient, cheaper to produce, or smaller
C: Adds minimal capabilities.

The hard drive could have been released as a simple hd in a box. The hdmi is the only addition here, and frankly, it was a huge oversight to leave that out in the first place. now consumers are being forced to pay extra for a basic high-def feature from a supposedly high-def machine.

If they had the technology in 2000 to make the ps2 that small then they would have - do you honestly think they choose to make it bigger and bulkier on purpose?? It took them over 4 years to work it down and release a second version.

There is nothing unnecessary about it at all. It was a natural progression of making a smaller, sleeker system at less cost to the consumer.

If you like it when companies sell you 5 year old technology and do nothing to make it smaller and more reliable then I suggest buying Eastern European electronics.

but it's not at 'less cost' to the consumer is it, when they begin selling the new ps2's the older models go way down in price. the only benefice from the new model is that it isn't programmed to break down after the warranty runs out like the original. well, that and the noise reduction i suppose. and do you honestly think it took a mighty four years for those brainy japanese giants to make a slim ps2?! they pulled that trick with the first playstation.

and finally, don't make any condescending suggestions to me for the sake of a quick laugh, it's just plain negetive.

Or four months, for that matter.


Elite is not really a hardware revision in the strictest sense, it doesn't replace Core and Premium models. Right now it's an additional SKU aimed primarily at people who'd like to use their console as a movie player.

HDMI port gives then another option for connecting the console and addresses any potential concerns over the Image Constraint Token flag. The larger hard drive gives them more space for downloading content from Live Video Marketplace, and once IPTV support is enabled, it'll probably be used for TiVo-like functionality. As such, Elite is positioned somewhere halfway between a regular console and a device like PSX.


The Silver Slimline PS2 was more expensive than other models at the time of its introduction and it added only minimal capabilities (i.e. none). We don't know whether the Elite Xbox 360 is more efficient or cheaper to produce despite the fact that its CPU is still being manufactured in the same 90 nm process (its Ana scaler chip has been replaced with a new Hana scaler, however, at least that's what some pre-announcement reports claimed).

Still, I agree that nothing like this has ever been done before, but there's a lot about this console generation that's never been done before. Never before has a console launched with two separate models, for instance (at least as far as I know it hasn't). Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's necessarily bad.

Frankly, I'm not sure if it's going to be good (for Microsoft) either, but let the market decide.


If you'd like to learn more about Microsoft's reasons for introducing the Elite model instead of just releasing the hard drive add-on, listen to the last Major Nelson podcast.