Xbox 360 Elite $399.99 shipped at Amazon

[mitch079]

http://www.amazon.com/360-Elite-System-Console-120GB/dp/B000OYMSL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1215932711&sr=1-2

[Master Shake]

Nice one

[vlv723]

Wow, that's a great price. Let's hope the $50 price drop applies to all systems besides the Pro.

[FurryCurry]

well i was wondering how Amazon was going to compete. Just drop the price on the Elite too. Good job.

[blueboy]

The new 60gb 360 is official and will be priced at $349:

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={7EA4C74A-3564-4927-88AB-441AB3A02F65}&siteid=yhoof2 (http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B7EA4C74A-3564-4927-88AB-441AB3A02F65%7D&siteid=yhoof2)

Wonder if MSFT will keep making these elites or bump up the capacity in them as well?

[FurryCurry]

My guess is that they won't touch the Elite because it has double the hard drive capacity of the new 60gb model. There isn't really a need to upgrade it atm.

HOWEVER! There needs to be an across the board upgrade with wi-fi installed. The elite should have had it from the start.

[shrike4242]

My guess is that they won't touch the Elite because it has double the hard drive capacity of the new 60gb model. There isn't really a need to upgrade it atm.

HOWEVER! There needs to be an across the board upgrade with wi-fi installed. The elite should have had it from the start.It also has the HDMI kit inside of it, which is a $50 purchase without getting the Elite, so that's another thing in it's favor to keep it at its current price point above the Pro 60GB.

[CaptDS9E]

Strike the Pro units have HDMI in them also

[Edge]

Strike the Pro units have HDMI in them also

No, they don't. All they have is an HDMI port. The Elite comes with an HDMI cable (somewhat unncessessary if you know about monoprice.com), and an audio adaptor which is absolutely mandatory if you need to use optical or RCA audio output. Without it you'll only be able to output sound through the HDMI cable, which means it won't work with a majority of recievers. The only way to get the audio adaptor outside of the elite is with the 360 HDMI package, which goes for $50 as mentioned.

[cag1125]

Shrike and Edge are referring to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HDMI-AV-Cable/dp/B000UODATY

And, like they say, the Pro units currently do not have this. However, if the new 60GB models were to have this included, now that would really be nice.

[CaptDS9E]

Sorry thought you were talking about HDMi port itself. Edge/Strike.

which means it won't work with a majority of recievers

I wouldn't say majority. Older receivers don't have HDMI, but which in the last few years does not come with at least 1 HDMI port

[Ruined]

HOWEVER! There needs to be an across the board upgrade with wi-fi installed. The elite should have had it from the start.

Not going to happen IMO, it would make the tens of millions of 360 motherboards in the factories and on shelves outdated; look how long it took before HDMI was standardized along the 360 line, and that was virtually required to remain relevant with modern HDTVs. I think it would be more likely they bundle the wireless adapter with one of the SKUs if they want to include wireless.

[silentspork]

I can only understand Wi-Fi in consoles being a necessity if you have no option for having a ethernet cable. Otherwise you are intentionally increasing your latency in games.

[Ruined]

I can only understand Wi-Fi in consoles being a necessity if you have no option for having a ethernet cable. Otherwise you are intentionally increasing your latency in games.

Even then its not necessary. IMO it is much more clean to buy a single Wireless Ethernet Bridge/Wireless Gaming Adapter and hook it up to a 4-port ethernet switch for your XBOX 360, PS3, Tivo, etc, than to have all of the devices competing for their own WiFi signal. Or you could buy the 360 wireless adapter, but IMO that is a ripoff since an ethernet bridge costs less and is much more versatile.

Plus, this bridge kicks ass when paired with the WRT610N router:
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Gaming-Adapter/dp/B0010TEOLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1215959513&sr=8-1

[NJMane]

The Elite is getting phased out as well. I got Best Buys "At Risk" report which shows items that Best Buy will no longer sell and on that report was the Xbox 360 Pro, Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 40GB.

I believe the word is that the only thing Sony will do is upgrade to a DS3. Nothing major really on that one.

[Ruined]

The Elite is getting phased out as well. I got Best Buys "At Risk" report which shows items that Best Buy will no longer sell and on that report was the Xbox 360 Pro, Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 40GB.

I believe the word is that the only thing Sony will do is upgrade to a DS3. Nothing major really on that one.

Surprising on the Elite news, unless it is something simple like price reduction or game bundle difference... I recall the Elite was reported as phased out last year at some point and it was just a rebundling of different games.

I could see a black Gears of War 2-themed Elite replacing the Elite on shelves now.

[FurryCurry]

Yeah but the PS3 has wi-fi! God I don't feel like running ethernet cable through the house. And you guys have only confused me about HDMI now. So outside of buying the cable to run video I have to buy a cable for the audio?

[sixteenvolt420]

Still not low enough for me to break down and buy a 360.

[Dustin Echoes]

Yeah but the PS3 has wi-fi! God I don't feel like running ethernet cable through the house. And you guys have only confused me about HDMI now. So outside of buying the cable to run video I have to buy a cable for the audio?

Only if you choose to use optical out audio. You can still have your sound transfer over the HDMI cable and you will be fine. But the adapter is needed if you, for example, have an HDTV that you need to run the HDMI to for video and then have a receiver that handles your audio. You need to get the audio signal to your receiver somehow, and this adapter allows you to split off your audio signal separate via optical straight into your receiver.

It all depends on how your home theater setup is.

[Ruined]

Yeah but the PS3 has wi-fi!

Here is a wifi adapter compatible with XBOX 360 that blows the doors off the wifi built into PS3 & the first party 360 wireless adapter. Linksys Wireless N w/ dual-band support for fastest thoroughput and least latency:
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Gaming-Adapter/dp/B0010TEOLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1215959513&sr=8-1

And the best part is, you can buy a $20 switch to connect it to another 3 devices of your choosing if you want.


God I don't feel like running ethernet cable through the house. And you guys have only confused me about HDMI now. So outside of buying the cable to run video I have to buy a cable for the audio?

Not necessarily. That only happens in a rare case where both your receiver is not HDMI capable and your TV has no digital output. If you have an HDMI receiver, use TV speakers, or if your TV has digital audio output you do not need a seperate adapter.

[Ruined]

I think I will gamble and place an order. If there is some megabomb new hardware announcement at E3 that will make this a bad deal, which is possible but unlikely, I'll lose the bet and pay the $8 to ship it back to Amazon for refund :)

[shrike4242]

Here is a wifi adapter compatible with XBOX 360 that blows the doors off the wifi built into PS3 & the first party 360 wireless adapter. Linksys Wireless N w/ dual-band support for fastest thoroughput and least latency:
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Gaming-Adapter/dp/B0010TEOLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1215959513&sr=8-1

And the best part is, you can buy a $20 switch to connect it to another 3 devices of your choosing if you want.Linksys gaming adapters are designed to only support one device behind it. If you do more than that, it might work, though it's not a supported configuration.

Only way you can run multiple devices in a supported fashion from one wireless connection is an AP bridged into your wireless network.

[manthing]

*sigh*

All these people spouting misinformation about the HDMI audio kit

It is absolutely NOT NEEDED to get optical audio output when using an HDMI cable

The 360 pushes audio from both the HDMI and regular AV out

Microsoft purposely designed the HDMI port this way

You can remove the plastic casing from any of the 360 AV cables and it will fit with an HDMI cable

This website gives instructions:
http://www.chadledford.com/?p=50

[daminion]

I can only understand Wi-Fi in consoles being a necessity if you have no option for having a ethernet cable. Otherwise you are intentionally increasing your latency in games.

This statement is 99% wrong. Wi-Fi may add some latency, but it also may not. Most people don't realize that even the lowest wireless speed (802.11b) was faster than most people's internet connections. All those marketers did a great job convincing you that you needed something faster in g and other flavors when in fact it doesn't affect your speed at all.

(I realize there are other factors involved as well, but i'm simplifying)

*sigh*

All these people spouting misinformation about the HDMI audio kit

It is absolutely NOT NEEDED to get optical audio output when using an HDMI cable


It is if you want the best audio for surround systems on some receivers. Sometimes you have to run the HDMI cable straight into the TV and then use the optical port for digital sound into the receiver. There's no way to do this without the $50 cable, or cracking the HDMI cable open.



You can remove the plastic casing from any of the 360 AV cables and it will fit with an HDMI cable

This website gives instructions:
http://www.chadledford.com/?p=50

Thanks for posting this, I was going to try to find the link as well.

[deliveryboy15]

Surprising on the Elite news, unless it is something simple like price reduction or game bundle difference... I recall the Elite was reported as phased out last year at some point and it was just a rebundling of different games.

I could see a black Gears of War 2-themed Elite replacing the Elite on shelves now.

On gametrailers TV they showed a Gears 2 elite which is red but will be limited to only 20 consoles, so i doubt we'll see some bundle

I think I will gamble and place an order. If there is some megabomb new hardware announcement at E3 that will make this a bad deal, which is possible but unlikely, I'll lose the bet and pay the $8 to ship it back to Amazon for refund :)

If Microsoft was unable to even keep the 60gb rumors to a minimum and the $50 price drop has been public knowledge for three weeks I'm sure we would have heard something making this a bad deal. I too ordered one and like you said its not much to ship it back but its one of the better deals i've seen on the elite

[silks]

You don't have to use HDMI audio if you don't want to. I'm running my Elite through HDMI for video, and I believe all I did was plug in the A/V adapter and run my audio (normal RCA) though there.

[Ruined]

If Microsoft was unable to even keep the 60gb rumors to a minimum and the $50 price drop has been public knowledge for three weeks I'm sure we would have heard something making this a bad deal. I too ordered one and like you said its not much to ship it back but its one of the better deals i've seen on the elite

Also, they put out a press release today restating the Elite model at $449. To cancel that model the next day, reduce the price, or otherwise, would make no sense.

[MIX_MASTER_ICE]

No, they don't. All they have is an HDMI port. The Elite comes with an HDMI cable (somewhat unncessessary if you know about monoprice.com), and an audio adaptor which is absolutely mandatory if you need to use optical or RCA audio output. Without it you'll only be able to output sound through the HDMI cable, which means it won't work with a majority of recievers. The only way to get the audio adaptor outside of the elite is with the 360 HDMI package, which goes for $50 as mentioned.

That audio adapter is NOT "absolutely mandatory" at all. You can use the included component cable for RCA audio or digital optical cable. Matter of fact, that's what I'm using right now along with HDMI for video. That "kit" for 45-50 bucks is a huge rip off. HDMI cables can be bought for 5 bucks or even less.

[Ruined]

Dead, back up to $425.

[roymustang]

Glad I bit at $399.

[Ruined]

Back at 399 now :)

[dronad]

Anyone know if these are "falcon" Elites?

[Ruined]

Anyone know if these are "falcon" Elites?

People writing reviews have stated they are getting March 08 consoles w/ 175w PSU & Falcon chipsets.

[deliveryboy15]

I'm glad i bit with the announcement of ripping games to the harddrive!

[Ruined]

As a follow-up, I received the Elite and it was a Falcon chipset w/ 175w power supply + BenQ drive (team FDOU), manuf date late feb 08. Very happy with this as I understand this is the best hardware combo to have.

[roymustang]

As a follow-up, I received the Elite and it was a Falcon chipset w/ 175w power supply + BenQ drive (team FDOU), manuf date late feb 08. Very happy with this as I understand this is the best hardware combo to have.

You're lucky, I ordered mine on the 13th and it still hasn't shipped yet. I hope I get the same combo as you.