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Images courtesy TGFCer
The Xbox 360 Elite drum beat grows louder

Xbox 360 Elite systems have been caught in the wild on a Chinese production line. Xbox 360 Fanboy has images of racks of black Xbox 360 units taken from a Chinese video game forum.

The images not only show the sleek, black exterior of the Xbox 360 Elite, but a close-up image shows the 120GB hard disk drive (HDD) fitted atop the console.

Further confirmation of the Xbox 360 Elite came over the weekend from Dean Takahashi of the The Mercury News. Takahashi was the first to break the news of the Xbox 360's upcoming IPTV service.

Likewise, promotional materials from Gamestop have been spotted which detail the 120GB which will be made available as a stand-alone upgrade for current Xbox 360 owners.

While the new black exterior and 120GB HDD may be headliner features of the $479 USD Xbox 360 Elite, the addition of an HDMI port and an HDMI cable are also added bonuses. Two features that are reportedly missing from the Xbox 360 Elite, however, are built-in WiFi and an internal HD DVD drive.

Engadget notes that the Xbox 360 Elite will be available in limited quantities sometime this Spring and that Xbox 360 Premium systems will get Elite-spec hardware (sans black finish) sometime in late Summer/early Fall. The price is expected to remain at $399 while price cuts are expected to help clear out the existing stock of Xbox 360 Premiums with the smaller 20GB HDD.

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For all anyone knows...
By DigitalFreak on 3/26/2007 4:28:42 PM , Rating: 2
...these could be dev units.




RE: For all anyone knows...
By Scabies on 3/26/2007 4:35:23 PM , Rating: 4
or "Macrosoft Xbocks 720"s. Everyone loves generic grey-market products :)


RE: For all anyone knows...
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 3/26/2007 4:59:14 PM , Rating: 2
Xbox 360 dev kits are taller and have a black DVD drive faceplate. Do a search on Google


RE: For all anyone knows...
By JimFear on 3/27/2007 7:29:00 AM , Rating: 2
Not neccesarily, I was at a mahusive LAN Party back in 2005 that had black 360's without the dev interface block on the end and just bog standard 20GB hard drives, maybe they're the new dev kits with the new hard drives pre-installed? As far as I was aware the devkits always had HDMI anyway.


RE: For all anyone knows...
By dice1111 on 3/26/2007 5:52:48 PM , Rating: 1
Too bad they didn't get a shot of the rear. I'd like to check out the ports it's offering. HDMI anyone?


RE: For all anyone knows...
By Filibuster on 3/26/2007 9:46:33 PM , Rating: 5
>HDMI anyone?

Do some people just look at the pictures and then post?


RE: For all anyone knows...
By dice1111 on 4/2/2007 6:04:24 PM , Rating: 2
The article says HDMI, but where is the proof? This hadn't been confirmed by microsoft just yet. A shot at the back would actually prove it.


So
By yacoub on 3/26/2007 7:05:29 PM , Rating: 2
So what about the important part - the die shrink on the CPU/GPU/whateverPU so that it runs cooler and is less likely to red-ring-o-doom itself? When does that revision come out? Should we assume that the reason no one mentions that hardware change as part of this refresh is because that's no longer part of the refresh?




RE: So
By Ralph The Magician on 3/26/2007 7:13:49 PM , Rating: 1
The purpose of a die shrink isn't to get better thermal specs out of the CPU. In fact, it probably won't make any noticable difference given the. The purpose of a die shrink is to increase profits because you can fit more dies per wafer.


RE: So
By Ralph The Magician on 3/26/2007 7:14:28 PM , Rating: 2
*given the cooling system of the 360.


RE: So
By Munkles on 3/27/2007 7:59:40 AM , Rating: 2
Either you are being willfully ignorant or your just being plain stupid. Of course the die shrink will have a huge impact on the cooling of the Xbox 360; smaller transistors means less electricity is needed to power the cpu, less power running through the cpu means less heat generated. I mean its not tough to understand.

In every AMD/Intel processor released to date the heat declination at the same clock has been at least 30%. In computer terms thats a LOT of heat thats NOT been created.

It may not be Microsofts MAIN reason for the die shrink but it certainly will be a bi-product of it.


RE: So
By cobaltb on 3/27/2007 6:22:01 PM , Rating: 2
"In every AMD/Intel processor released to date the heat declination at the same clock has been at least 30%. In computer terms thats a LOT of heat thats NOT been created."

I believe the 90nm Prescott Core bucked this trend when it was released. The 130nm Northwood was much cooler at the same clock speeds.


RE: So
By yacoub on 3/27/2007 7:17:59 AM , Rating: 2
thanks for completely ignoring my question just to "correct me" by posting an additional reason for the die shrink...


HDMI - BUT WHAT VERSION???
By rudyv1 on 3/26/2007 8:21:28 PM , Rating: 3
No one is bothering to ask what version of HDMI this new Xbox360 will sport!

Also, will it be able to decode or pass Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio?

What about 'deep color' support

HDMI doesn't mean much unless it's implemented properly




RE: HDMI - BUT WHAT VERSION???
By Munkles on 3/27/2007 8:04:42 AM , Rating: 2
Unfortunatley thats not even close to true. Like so many technologies before it, what lies under the surface matters not simply that its there and exists is enough.

Most "home theatre" guys cant even tell you the difference between HDMI v1.1-1.3 let alone what the difference between dolby digital, DTS, True HD, Dolby Pro Logic I/II etc.

Its a valid question to wonder what this will support but in the end the answer will be meaningless as it will just become another bullet point at MS next keynote speach in X07/E3 07.

Then again, truth be told I frankly dont care which it is just so long as I can have only one cable connected to my TV instead of 5. Im not a big fan of clutter.


RE: HDMI - BUT WHAT VERSION???
By Spivonious on 3/27/2007 9:51:46 AM , Rating: 2
I've never had the opportunity to compare versions of HDMI, but I imagine you're right and the differences are slight at best.

There is however a huge difference between Pro Logic and Digital, even more so if you use the optical cable versus the digital coaxial. I've A-B-ed them, as well as S-Video vs. Component vs. DVI. DVI is easily a 10x better picture. I noticed no difference between S-Video and Component.


RE: HDMI - BUT WHAT VERSION???
By exdeath on 3/27/2007 10:42:29 AM , Rating: 2
I'm running a 30 foot run of high quality shielded component video cable that is high bandwidth rated for 1080p. Each channel is its own 75 ohm broadcast grade cable.

The result is that 720p or 1080p over component is ALMOST as good as HDMI. On up scaled material like DVDs or compressed 720/1080 HDTV sources you can't tell the difference between component and HDMI. Scaling and codec quantization noise in the data itself is the dominant factor. The only time you can tell a difference is when you have real time 1:1 graphics like a PC.

S-video on the other hand I don't see as being any better than composite, it just sucks… esp. over 30 feet which it was never intended for…

With audio I can tell the difference between Dolby Digital and DTS, in much the same way one can hear the difference in 128kbps and 320kbps in MP3s. The scene with the rain hitting the leaves in Saving Private Ryan always comes to mind as my first experience differentiating the two. It’s a good spot to listen for the difference, provided your audio gear is not the bottleneck. DTS is crisper and more defined.

Also copper or optical makes little difference for me at all by the highest volume levels, but again, that’s only with high quality analog equipment. On the other hand with crappy equipment like the PS2, the untouched optical pass through is 100x cleaner than the analog output. Try them both with the PS2 paused or idle and you don't even have to have the volume more than 50% before you start hearing the hum in the PS2’s analog output. The optical out is silent. I don't imagine any of the current consoles have audiophile grade audio decoding and output, so definitely optical in that department, if only for the raw unmolested PCM pass-through to a real decoder and DAC and not the $10 ASIC they put into the consoles for 5.1.


Looks like I'll get a 360...
By middlehead on 3/26/2007 6:32:36 PM , Rating: 2
when this becomes the new $399 premium. But not at 480.




RE: Looks like I'll get a 360...
By timmiser on 3/27/2007 1:52:11 AM , Rating: 2
That's what I was thinking. Missing an HD drive but only $20 less than the PS3 with a HD drive, who are they trying to appeal too?


RE: Looks like I'll get a 360...
By sviola on 3/27/2007 9:10:36 AM , Rating: 2
Can't you read?

It'll come with a 120 Gb HDD.


RE: Looks like I'll get a 360...
By MarcLeFou on 3/27/2007 9:50:27 AM , Rating: 2
Most likely HD as in High Definition and NOT Hard Drive.

Why so many people around here are so angry is something I'll never understand.


Maybe it IS true...