Xbox 360 Console Includes 20GB Hard Drive
The Xbox 360 Premium System is the way to begin experiencing the ultimate in next-generation gaming. Now improved with an HDMI port, your games and video entertainment will look better than ever when connected to an HDTV. Amazing Digital entertainment and video gaming experiences, unprecedented in home console entertainment, are waiting for you — all you have to do is turn on the controller to this incredible device and an unsurpassed level of adventure and excitement can be yours. Xbox Live Marketplace – Download the latest game demos, arcade games, television, movies, and more straight to your Xbox 360 console via any Broadband Internet service Games – Games look, feel, and Sound realistic with 480p/720p/1080i HD Output via HDMI or Component cable, 16 – 9 widescreen aspect ratio, anti-aliasing, and multi-channel Surround sound support Digital Entertainment – Play DVD movies right out of the box, play HD DVDs with the Optional HD-DVD Player (sold separately), rip music to the 360 Hard Drive, connect your Digital Camera and share your digital pictures with friends, or connect your Xbox 360 to a Windows XP or Windows Vista Media Center PC and Stream TV, Music, Movies, and Pictures to your Xbox 360 console over your network! NOTE – Some features may require optional Xbox Live GOLD service; One month of complementary Xbox Live GOLD service is included
User Reviews
5 Stars Best Gen Consloe yet!
I have owned an Xbox 360 for more than a year now and it still works excellent! The main reason I got it was because of Halo. But there are other fun games too. I like the wireless controllers, which can be up to 30 feet away! And they work very good. You can also play original Xbox games on your 360! But you need to have a hard drive and special software to do it. Go to www.xbox.com for more information. The games for it are very fun and up to four people can play on most of them! Xbox 360 is just a fun console and I would really recommend it! It is worth every penny!
5 Stars So much fun!
The xbox 360 is the best! THE BEST! I have owned 2 units. Sold my frist one to get the elite. The games are awsome the unit is awsome!
3 Stars This system needs to be made easier to “play together” and a new user interface!
For a slogan like, “Its good to play together” I have not seen microsoft taking any steps towards making their user interface any easier or faster for that matter. From signing on to xbox live and then signing into a separate user profile its just simply a pain in the butt. To join a friend thats playing the same game is probably the single most frustrating thing ive ever had to deal with. SIMPLY PUT XBOX 360 NEEDS A WHOLE NEW USER INTERFACE.
It takes 5-10 seconds just to click the button to join a friends game then another 35 seconds to actually get into the same room as them. With a saying like, “its good to play together” they sure dont make it any easier. Even with two xbox live accounts the only game that i own that allows me to play on the same tv as my friend (who is in the same room) is halo three and thats over 2 years old now! Even with two xbox live accounts we arent able to play rainbow six vegas, OR VEGAS 2 (OR CALL OF DUTY 4), together on the same screen, it requires 2 xboxes, 2 tvs and two games! First you need to click on your controller , wait 3 seconds for a menu to pop up (and if you are in the middle of the game, the menu will cover half the screen and will temp. freeze your movement in the game) then you need to go to your friends menu, find which friend is online, click his name, then click join his game. Mind you there is always that 3 second delay between each menu. UGH! Dont get me wrong I love my xbox, but somebody out there working for microsoft is retarded, and they are getting a lot of money to be retarded. I dont own a PS3 but ive sampled their interface and its LIGHT YEARS ahead of this one! When you go from one menu to another menu it actually does it when you tell it to! No lag, no waiting! Its instant and seamless (opposite xbox) brilliant!
5 Stars Greatest purchase I’ve ever made!
The title says it all – I am extremely happy with this console. I was always a Playstation guy until my cousin showed me the light with the XBox 360. I was planning on buying a PS3 in the future, but why would I spend that kind of money when I can get the XBox for so much cheaper?? Love it!
1 Star My two cents
I’ve had my one and only 360, never serviced, since about February 2006 because my local GameStop was out of stock, backordered. My hope was to turn it around online at a profit but by February it appeared the best I could do was break even. Wasn’t really interested in a product by a company known for software, not much trust, but looked forward to the multimedia content, music videos, TV shows, movies, and games. The first year my 360 received little use because the multimedia content was almost non-existent. Only games specific to the 360 I have are the two DOA series the remainder are original Xbox titles of which about 2/3 are compatible.
Casual gamer probably best fits my gaming experience even though I currently still have a Nintendo NES, SNES, GameBoy color, Xbox, and Sony PSP. All are still working fine with the exception of the original GameBoy, the LCD display went bad even with light/moderate use. Back then toward the earlier years of LCD displays, they failed frequently. I had Fluke DMM’s (Digital Multi Meters) toward the early 80′s, the LCD displays would always fail in about a years time.
Last time I checked folks rated the 360 a 3.5/5.0 here. My rating is a 1.0/5.0 because I’m not a hardcore gamer and find the failures unacceptable. The market focus of the 360 appears to be for the mass consumers because of the multimedia content.
I will try to explain why IMO the 360′s are dying and depending on perspective it’s normal. MS (Microsoft) is a PC focused business similar to that of others, the politics are the same. Probably by the time the Pentium III came about the die size used on the processors shrunk to the point the voltage regulator on the mobo (motherboard) changed from a linear to a switcher for efficiency. Unlike previous mobo designs part of the PS (power supply) is now built onto the mobo, more heat. Toward the end of the Pentium III and beyond heat of the processors became more of an issue; a Pentium III has been said is 50% faster for a given speed than a Pentium IV. Multi-core came about because of heat, a method of working around the issue of heat. In years past it was said processor speed would double about every two years, that came to an end with the Pentium III. Processor speeds are no longer stated clearly upfront.
While makers of PC’s, particularly notebooks, don’t state not to play video games on a PC, it’s common for such items to fail because of games or heavy graphics applications. Nvida recently took a hit of $ millions because of video related failures.
My setup of the 360 consists of a Sony 27″ XBR square TV connected via composite video, NTSC, with the audio connected to the same TV. The 360 and original Xbox are connected directly to the TV while other components like DVD, LD, and video tape player/recorder are connected to the TV via a RS (Radio Shack) switch box. Both Xbox’s are connected directly because they tend to pull the audio volume down on the other components when connected to a switch box. TV stand is a one piece welded square tubular steel frame with 3 shelves. No side/back panels or doors. Both Xbox’s are on the lower shelf with the 360 placed on top of the original Xbox. They are separated by a bracket made of four chop sticks. Xbox’s have always been in a horizontal position. Surge suppressors made by APC are used and sometimes an APC 1400 UPS is used for all the components on the TV stand.
My conclusion. I’ve probably read hundreds of reports and blogs but unfortunately folks generally don’t state their setup or software (games) used. IMO the best way to help keep the 360 up and running is to not have the HD (high definition) video connected and limit the 360 game titles used. Also placement of the 360 in a vertical position is a no no, most of the air intake appears to be on that side of the console.
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Updated added info:
I got my lazy self to actually take some line input power measurements of my 360. Comparing my measurements with those from hardware.net yields differences. My TV/display setup is the same as above, standard video (NTSC) composite. I presume those from hardware.net are HDTV.
Objective is to estimate the power consumption of the GPU (graphical processing unit) of the 360 under various functions. The commonly known GPU overheating is the main cause of 360′s becoming bricked, RRoD (red ring of death), display distortions, freeze ups, and shutdowns. My estimate of GPU power consumption is based on some fixed parameters (console and its modes/functions) and variable (display device). Maximum power consumption of the GPU is assumed to be 35W, info from the web.
Below, first number/reading, are my measurements using a Sencore PR57. Second numbers/reading are from hardware.net, they are separated by a / (slash). Example: myreading/hardware.net W= watts, NA= not available. Numbers are rounded to 3 digits or less because of resolution error.
1.) Standby (video output is off, power brick has yellow light indicator illuminated, no illumination at console) NA/2.5W
2.) Standby w/active background downloading (video output is off, power brick has green indicator illuminated, console has momentary center green light indicator flash at power switch) 110W/NA
3.) Idle (dashboard, specific area Xbox Live, usual power-up default screen), 141W/158W
4.) DVD (video playback from DVD disc) 120-123W/126-127W
5.) Xbox video (playback of downloaded video on HDD (hard drive)) 136W/139-149W
6.) Game Play (low and high average or just average, low and high peaks omitted) 165W, 172W/185W
7.) Background Download (additional power draw when active) 2W/NA
8.) Fan, high speed (additional power draw when active) 4W/NA
Measurement comments:
1.) Standby, the Sencore PR57 has a low scale of 175W, anything below 20% of this scale would be meaningless or with high error. This is the reason for omission.
2.) Standby w/active background downloading, usually its 110W but with the fan kicking up to higher speed will be 114W. This measurement should be the same regardless of display device. As high as 138W when downloading a demo game. Unknown whether the latter is normal because of no momentary green flash of the center light of the power switch on the console.
3.) Idle, a differential of 17W between standard video and HDTV. Fairly consistent see #6 Game Play.
4.) DVD, output would probably be 480p to a HDTV may explain why power is higher than standard video.
5.) Xbox video, output display device appears to determine processing of video file regardless of format, standard/HD. In other words while an HD file can be used with a standard display, a standard video file would be desirable if available. HD video file is about 4 times the size of that of standard video.
6.) Game Play, unlike most measurements these readings are highly subjective. I’ve eliminated peak high readings because they are generally of short duration. Should peak high readings be considered than it would be proper to include peak low readings. Peak low readings would bring the average reading down substantially because during game loads (accessing the optical disc) power consumption would drop substantially toward Idle. Demo games on the HDD (hard drive) would average higher because game load times would be shorter. Games I’ve monitored from disc are DOA Extreme, DOA 4, DOA 3, DOA 2. Demo games on HDD are Portal, Bioshock, Wall E, Doom, and many others. My readings where 165W and 172W, average of these would be 168.5W. Average is needed for comparison with hardware.net’s reading of 185W. Differential is 16.5W or 17W. This differential is the same/similar to #3 Idle of 17W.
Conclusion, 17W is about half of the 35W maximum rating of the GPU or the remaining 18W is the power at the GPU with standard video. Sounds like a GPU saver to me.
Previously I mentioned 360 games should be limited but I have a change of mind. Very little difference noticed during measurements. Insignificant compared to the display device used.
Should be clear to most if not all the 360 wasn’t designed and executed properly. Eventually I hope to rework/remount the heat sinks on the GPU and CPU.
