Any point getting XBOX 360 Elite?

[Hurray Banana]

If it gets released in the UK I'll be picking one up for College as I'm moving my games programming unit over to XNA and C# (from VB.Net and Windows GDI) and it will give me plenty of space to allow all the students to store there games on there.

But is there any real point in a consumer (games player) getting one.

BTW:
I'll try and sort out some sort of link to some of the "games" my students managed to part create during this years course. They didn't do bad considering most of them don't understand maths and couldn't program (most still struggle).

[HaRuMaN]

120 Gig HD as well as HDMI output...  plus its black and shexy!

[shmokes]

I don't really understand the question.  The only difference with an Elite version is the size of the HD, the addition of HDMI, and the color of the console.  It seems like you just have to ask yourself, "Do I want a bigger hard drive, an HDMI output, or a black console?"  If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you have your answer.  That would be the point of getting an Xbox 360 Elite.

[hulkster]

id like the bigger HD, but to buy it by itself is a whopping $179!  crazy.  ill stick with my 20gb HD.

[spiffyshoes]

id like the bigger HD, but to buy it by itself is a whopping $179! 

The 20GB HD is $100.  Is an extra $79 really too much to spend to get another 100GB of storage?

[cdbrown]

The pricing of the hard drives are just stupid.  Why would you want to spend $100 on 20GB?  Sure in comparison $79 for an extra 100GB seems good, but compared with the price of normal PC storage it's just wrong.  What makes it worse for M$ is the fact that with the PS3 you can just upgrade your hdd with a bigger SATA drive, no need to by a specific sony drive.

I won't be getting it - I'll stick with the one i've got.  If I actually didn't have a 360, I'd probably go for the PS3.

[Hurray Banana]

I don't really understand the question.  The only difference with an Elite version is the size of the HD, the addition of HDMI, and the color of the console.  It seems like you just have to ask yourself, "Do I want a bigger hard drive, an HDMI output, or a black console?"  If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you have your answer.  That would be the point of getting an Xbox 360 Elite.

What I mean't was this. If you were developing XNA stuff I can see the possible need for a larger drive. But is there any real point in having more than 20GB if you are only playing games. How much extra downloadable content is there?

The pricing of the hard drives are just stupid.  Why would you want to spend $100 on 20GB?  Sure in comparison $79 for an extra 100GB seems good, but compared with the price of normal PC storage it's just wrong.  What makes it worse for M$ is the fact that with the PS3 you can just upgrade your hdd with a bigger SATA drive, no need to by a specific sony drive.

I won't be getting it - I'll stick with the one i've got.  If I actually didn't have a 360, I'd probably go for the PS3.

This is a very fair point You can get 400GB external drives for less than £100. I don't see what is so special about M$ 120GB drive?

[shmokes]

It's a 2.5" laptop hard drive.  That's why it's so small.  Laptop hard drives cost a lot more than regular 3.5" drives.  A 160 GB laptop hard drive at Best Buy is $185.  Couldn't find a 120, but a 100 GB drive cost $127.

It's still a lot more than you'd pay for an OEM drive from NewEgg.com, but it makes more sense to compare this with retail drives than OEM drives.  From that perspective, the price doesn't seem all that out of the ordinary to me.

[HaRuMaN]

Also, if you're ripping CD's to your HD instead of streaming music...  you may fill up your 20 GB HD...  which doesn't even have 20 GB free to begin with.

[Hurray Banana]

It's a 2.5" laptop hard drive.  That's why it's so small.  Laptop hard drives cost a lot more than regular 3.5" drives.  A 160 GB laptop hard drive at Best Buy is $185.  Couldn't find a 120, but a 100 GB drive cost $127.

It's still a lot more than you'd pay for an OEM drive from NewEgg.com, but it makes more sense to compare this with retail drives than OEM drives.  From that perspective, the price doesn't seem all that out of the ordinary to me.

The price makes sense then. It does put M$ at a disadvantage compared to Sony on upgrading space.

[Hurray Banana]

In the UK the price would probably be £179.

Here are a couple 2 1/2" of drives from dabs uk for a lot less.

160GB for £76
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3YYS&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=2+1+2+inch+hard+drive&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

120 GB for £58
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=44L4&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=2+1+2+inch+hard+drive&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

I wonder if it will be possible to swap the drive for another one seeing as though M$ have give you the software to setup the new disk, or will it come pre-partitioned to stop you doing this?

[AlanS17]

Microsoft is on a new push with the Marketplace. They're going to be providing full-length HD movies which take up a lot of hard drive space. That's the only need for such a large hard drive that I can think of. Plus the HDMI makes the XBox 360 future-proof against HD-DVD movies with HDCP. That could not be provided via the analog HD outputs.

Personally, I don't want to start a download for several gigs to come back and watch it tomorrow. If it's not truly "on demand" then what's the opint?

[shmokes]

Sony's definitely better, but I think upgrading the hard drive yourself voids the warranty, which is lame.

[Hurray Banana]

Sony's definitely better, but I think upgrading the hard drive yourself voids the warranty, which is lame.

It's about time these corporates listened to what users wanted, they'd get much better support if people were allowed to do stuff like that.

Look at the PSP, it's dying on its feet, they should embrace the homebrew community and let people have access to tools. I know it's a pirate nightmare but they'd gain (hopefully) respect and support. I'd love to mess about programming my PSP, but I don't like the idea of messing about with BIOS hacks.

[ark_ader]

Nothing lame about voiding your warranty.

Think of the poor techs getting faulty Xboxes in for repair to find that the HDD was shorted due to the pin headers not connected to the drive properly.  Should Microsoft have to pay for that?  No.

You open it - you void it.

Besides you can get a Sata Tower for 1TB of storage for close to £200 now with room for another TB in a complete volume.  Tasty.  PS3 + 2 TB.. oooohhh.....

M$ is great, but it has a business to run just like anyone else.  Get a PS3 and enjoy life.

[shmokes]

Whatever that means.    

It's lame that it voids your warranty because it's just a matter of opening the hard drive bay door, pulling out the old drive and popping in a new drive.  It's not like you have to crack open the whole case to access the hard drive like the original Xbox.  It's lame because it's just an arbitrary rule that artificially limits customers from upgrading their own hard drives so that Sony can release a PS3 with a bigger hard drive down the road and hopefully get fanatics like you to sell your old system and buy a new one.  Saying, "You open it - you void it," is retarded for this reason.  You don't have to crack the case open.  The hard drive is accessible behind a regular little access panel.  It's just like upgrading the hard drive or memory on a laptop (something that will not void your laptop warranty).

Seriously, ark_ader.  You don't have to smile and enjoy being anally raped just because you like or admire the rapist. 

[Hurray Banana]

It's just like upgrading the hard drive or memory on a laptop (something that will not void your laptop warranty).

That's an interesting point. I've never looked at the terms and conditions on laptops (I get mine through work - on my fourth in 6 years, laptops don't take kindly to being carted around from IT lab to IT lab all day) do they say anything about upgrading?

Most people won't ever want to upgrade, but those that do should be allowed to.

Interesting discussion, that unfortunately won't get us anywhere.

[Zeosstud]

I will be getting one as part of our bedroom upgrade.  Looking forward to it actually, I like the idea of only running 1 hdmi cable from the Xbox into the wall then back out and into the TV.  I am okay with the $80 just to pull that off, really its costing us $30 more for a Black 360, 100 Extra Gigs of HD Space and the HDMI port, I say that because they are including the HDMI cable, and that itself could save $50 (depending on the quality of the cable naturally).  Modding the original case to make it black also would cost money and time, its not a horrible package.

Zeosstud

[cdbrown]

It does benefit those that do not already have one when comparing the the price of the Premium and Elite.  Paying an extra $8- like you said is a good deal, but it doesn't help those that already have the 360.  If they are trying to encourage people to use the market place and get the movies- you'd think they'd go in cheap with the replacement hdd. 

Is the HDMI 1.3 compliant?

OT - If my 360 dies outside of warranty I'll be seriously considering just getting rid of it and moving across to the PS3.  However if M$ do the right thing and get a proper media player which doesn't tie people into using Vista (something like XBMC) then I'd have to really think about it.  Having to convert my media to wmv just to stream it is rubbish.  And TVersity never seems to work

[clanggedin]

The HDMI on the Elite IS NOT HDMI 1.3. It's 1.2 unfortunately. There are very few receivers out right now that can have the 1.3 spec and also very few HDTVs that are there too.

HDMI will come into play in the next few years, but then there will be an XBOX 360 that they will release with 1.3 compatibility and play HD-DVDs.

The Elite doesn't support 1080P, but will have a patch to allow it in a few weeks after the launch.

[cdbrown]

So the PS3 which is already out which has 1.3 but not the new Elite

[SirPoonga]

You guys need to compare apples to apple.  The hard drive int he 360 is a SATA laptop harddrive, not a ata or ide.  Also it has an enclosure, it;s more akin to an external harddrive.

While the hdd may seem expensive it isn't that bad of a deal.  I saw a 120gig stat drive for $120.  External enclosure for $20.  note that the drive also comes with a cable and software to transfer data from a 20gig hdd.

What is the difference between hdmi 1.2 and hdmi 1.3?  From wha tI gather just a bandwidth issue.  1080p can go over 1.2.  1.3 is more ofr HD-DVD and bluray support (and trueHD).  Not needed so much on the 360.

The launch announcement for the elite said they do 1080p over hdmi also (you could do it over vga if your tv supported it).

It's about time these corporates listened to what users wanted, they'd get much better support if people were allowed to do stuff like that.

But here's the issue with allowing a user upgraded drive.  It makes software piracy easier and cheating easier.  Unlike the PS3 the 360 has a great online service where Microsoft would want to limit cheating.

But is there any real point in a consumer (games player) getting one.

Outside the US, not so much.

All in all I want the Elite but it is close enough priced to the PS3 I think it is a better value to get the PS3 just for the bluray player then.

Personally, I don't want to start a download for several gigs to come back and watch it tomorrow. If it's not truly "on demand" then what's the opint?

You don't need to wait.  You just have to wait long enough for it to start streaming the current chunk.  When I started downloading the free South Park episode I was able to start watching it after a couple minutes.  It wasn't finished downloading but it does allow you to watch what has been downloaded.

BTW, upgrading your hard drive, if you could ont he 360, wouldn't void your system warranty, just the hard drive warranty.  When you get your 360 repaired you don't send it in with the hdd.

I want the elite, I could use hdmi, I could use the extra space, and the black fits with my entertainment center.   I could probably sell my 360 closer to full price being a near launch unit...

[AlanS17]

You don't need to wait.  You just have to wait long enough for it to start streaming the current chunk.  When I started downloading the free South Park episode I was able to start watching it after a couple minutes.  It wasn't finished downloading but it does allow you to watch what has been downloaded.

That must be a new feature. We sold our 360 a whilel back, but you used to have to wate for a download to finish before you could do anything with it. And navigating away would cancel the download (or at the very least throw off the "percent complete" bar).

I want the elite, I could use hdmi, I could use the extra space, and the black fits with my entertainment center.   I could probably sell my 360 closer to full price being a near launch unit...

Then you might want to consider getting rid of it soon. Otherwise you'll be contending with people holding out for the new Elite.

As for me, I'd consider geting a 360 again now that they're coming out with the Elite. The lack of HDMI is the main reason I got rid of mine. However, I'll still likely get the low-end PS3 instead. It comes with a blu-ray player, a hard drive, and HDMI. Plus it doesn't have many games out yet, but they're slated to release almost all the games I'm looking forward to (regardles of the platform).

[SirPoonga]

I want the elite, I could use hdmi, I could use the extra space, and the black fits with my entertainment center.   I could probably sell my 360 closer to full price being a near launch unit...

Then you might want to consider getting rid of it soon. Otherwise you'll be contending with people holding out for the new Elite.

I have a near launch unit.  Popular amongst hackers.  So I could get near full price in the right locations.  That was until this weekend.  My 360 has fallen fate to the 3 red lights.  Wow, 1 year an 3 months later it dies.  That sucks.

[stephenp1983]

Wow I didn't even know this was actually going to come out.  I thought it was just rumored.  Is there an offical release date and pricing yet?

[SirPoonga]

April 29th, $479

[SithMaster]

it looks cool.

[northerngames]

could also add a external usb hdd for a cheaper solution

http://llamma.com/xbox360/mods/USB%20Hard%20Drive%20Mod.htm

[AlanS17]

could also add a external usb hdd for a cheaper solution

http://llamma.com/xbox360/mods/USB%20Hard%20Drive%20Mod.htm

It mentions that XBox Live Marketplace content can't be held on an external drive. That's one of the biggest reasons to have a drive that large - to store downloaded movies in HD. Kind of negates the purpose unless you intend to download movies by some other means and then hook it up to the 360 to play them (which seems like more trouble than it's worth).

[northerngames]

I am sure in a few months maybe less it will be able to with a patch or software installed on the external hdd of choice by homebrew software.

but is still saves space off the expensive MS.

[AlanS17]

I am sure in a few months maybe less it will be able to with a patch or software installed on the external hdd of choice by homebrew software.

but is still saves space off the expensive MS.

Well MS won't release a patch for it. That would negate the purpose of buying their hard drive. As for someone else releasing a homebrew option, I just don't see that happening. They've had over a year, and it hasn't happened yet. I just don't see it happening at all.

[Howard_Casto]

Guys I'd love to argue the merits of if the extra hd is worht it or not, but one of the near day one hacks for the 360 was to make a custom connector so you could hook up your own external hd (not usb, through the hd add-on connector).  Since you don't need to open the 360, you aren't voiding your warranty.  So pick your route and go with it. 


Imho the elite isn't all that.  Hdmi is technically superior to the component connection, but aside from more audio options you probably won't notice the difference. 

[SithMaster]

but its shiny.

[shmokes]

And add to that the fact that 120 GB is laughably insufficient for HD movie storage.  Hell, my DivX files, all ripped from standard def DVDs (read: not even standard def DVD quality), are genearlly 1.5 GB apiece.  The 120 drive is fine if all you're doing is renting movies, but if you want to turn the 360 into a standalone media center with this thing forget about it.  Way too small.  It does look better in black, though, I must admit.

[AlanS17]

I agree that 120GB is not sufficient for storing HD movies, but it's probably the best MS can do without making it even more expensive. The last thing they want to do is make it more expensive than a PS3. Lord knows how much flack they'd get for that one.

[ark_ader]

No, get a PS3 instead.

You should pamper yourself.

Life is too short.

[SirPoonga]

I agree that 120GB is not sufficient for storing HD movies, but it's probably the best MS can do without making it even more expensive. The last thing they want to do is make it more expensive than a PS3. Lord knows how much flack they'd get for that one.

It's more than enough considering you are only renting movies.  Unless you go crazy buying TV shows then you will use up alot of hdd.

[AlanS17]

Oh is it only renting? I was under the assumption that it was a full purchase and you could keep it as long as you wanted to (space permitting).

[SirPoonga]

It's renting.  After you download the movie you have a week to start watching it.  Then you have 24 hours to finish watching it.
HD version is $4 and SD version is $3.  I've been doing this for movies I want to see in HD.

TV shows are yours.  Those are not rentals.

[AlanS17]

It's renting.  After you download the movie you have a week to start watching it.  Then you have 24 hours to finish watching it.
HD version is $4 and SD version is $3.  I've been doing this for movies I want to see in HD.

TV shows are yours.  Those are not rentals.

Ah! There's the confusion...  Or you can get a PS3 with Netflix.