chances of a slimmer Xbox?

I like my big xbox. When we had all those hurricanes here in FL the last few months, I wasn't worried. I just hid behind the box.
 
[quote name='5_Against_1']I like my big xbox. When we had all those hurricanes here in FL the last few months, I wasn't worried. I just hid behind the box.[/quote]

:rofl:
 
I definitely don't want to see them do like SONY and cut out the Hard Drive support to get slimmer. That's a dumb idea.
 
I'd probably buy one if they did make it. I seriously don't have enough space in my room for the current model. That, and I'd be able to show it off to all my friends with the big ugly xbox. :D
 
[quote name='craigjm']I definitely don't want to see them do like SONY and cut out the Hard Drive support to get slimmer. That's a dumb idea.[/quote]

Sony's HDD support flopped in the US. Sony could cut costs by going slimmer and dropping the HDD support. It was very smart on their part. It also wasn't built into the console right when you bought it like the Xbox's is.
 
[quote name='craigjm']I definitely don't want to see them do like SONY and cut out the Hard Drive support to get slimmer. That's a dumb idea.[/quote]

But, news coming out of Microsoft right now is that Xenon (Xbox 2) won't have a hard drive, and may or may not play Xbox 1 games on it! Of course, none of this has been confirmed, but that is what will (most likely) happen. I hope it doesn't. On-topic, I don't think they will slim down the Xbox.
 
[quote name='chickenhawk']Yeah, I doubt it too. Bill can't do anything that could be seen as an admission that there was a flaw in the design.[/quote]

Don't be an idiot. It may be hard to come up with original ideas rather than just parroting popular hatreds but try.

The appearance of a smaller Xbox is unlikely first and foremost because it would very hard at this point to get NVIDIA involved in reworking their chips. Taking those chips, as well as the CPU, down to a .13 micron manufacturing process would drastically reduce the heat generated by those chips and allow for a much smaller cooling solution and thus a smaller case. It would still be a fair bit bigger than the PStwo thanks to the hard drive but it would at least get the dimensions down to that of the original PS2. The Pentium III already exists in a .13 version and if underclocked to match the current Xbox CPU would require little more than a minimal heat sink for cooling. So there is no obstacle from Intel's side.

Even if NVIDIA were feeling cooperative there is the other problem of the system not being a big enough seller to merit the substantial investment required. At this late date it is unlikely enough sales would be generated by the newer machine to justify its creation compared to continuing with the existing version
 
[quote name='Rig'][quote name='craigjm']I definitely don't want to see them do like SONY and cut out the Hard Drive support to get slimmer. That's a dumb idea.[/quote]

But, news coming out of Microsoft right now is that Xenon (Xbox 2) won't have a hard drive, and may or may not play Xbox 1 games on it! Of course, none of this has been confirmed, but that is what will (most likely) happen. I hope it doesn't. On-topic, I don't think they will slim down the Xbox.[/quote]

There is two separate issues there. Backward compatibility is contingent on NVIDIA providing a very low-cost license for their proprietary IP. This is very unlikely, especially since archrival ATI would need to see that IP to perform their end of the job. The only way ATI could do this would be to dump the negineers involved after the project was completed since they would be seen as contaminated in a legal sense by their exposure to NVIDIA's material.

The lack of a hard drive doesn't mean the Xbox 2 won't feature a substantial amount of local writable storage. The big question is how much capacity is needed. The majority of Xbox users, including those on Xbox Live with all available downloads and such, have barely used the capacity of their drives. Yet those drives have proven to be one of the great distinguishing features of the Xbox. So having a good chunk of local storage beyond dinky memory cards is a good thing.

The problem is that a hard drive is overkill for the purpose and expensive at that. The primary components in a game console need to decrease over time to allow retail price drops and continued sales momentum. Areal densities increase but the basic cost of commodity drive doesn't go down. The cost of putting a hard drive in a PC hasn't changed much in the past five years even though the value in terms of capacity has increased. This doesn't help a game console which just isn't ever going to need all of that capacity.

The answer is flash memory. If you're setting a fixed amount per system yo can look forward to major cost reductions over time. It wasn't that long ago that a 1 GB CFII card was considered an astounding feat, even at a cost of several hundred dollars. That same card now sells for under $100. By this time next year it should be down to $50. This means Microsoft can start with a system that sells at a loss due to the cost of parts but will soon after offer a break even cost and further decrease to support cutting the retail SRP without taking a major hit on each unit sold.

Furthermore, by using a standard format like Compact Flash there is the option to allow users to add more capacity as desired without taking up a lot of space in the unit. A set of two or four card slots take sup little space, the controller adds very little cost to the chipset, and the use ofa standard format allow users to benefit as the digital camera, music player, and other markets for flash memory driver increased capacities for lower cost.
 
They won't slim it down, they are already losing so much money on the console itself I don't see them spending the money on a major redesign so (relatively) soon before the neXtBOX comes out.
 
if the xbox were to get smaller, they would have to take out the hard drive which would suck because then you would have to buy memory cards.
 
Are the parts in the Xbox normal PC sized or laptop sized? They could make the Xbox slightly smaller if they used Laptop parts, assuming normal sized parts are currently being used. It would weigh about the same though.
 
Microsoft is big! They like their products to be big so people who don't already have them will see and buy them.........
 
They are PC parts... so it is already pretty damn slim...

And no it is not going to get smaller. It's less than 2 years before the new systems start arriving I don't think it makes sense to redesign the system.
 
Anyone have a pic of an coverless Xbox system? I'd like to see the insides of one. Curious as to what takes up a majority of the space in this hulking beast.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']Anyone have a pic of an coverless Xbox system? I'd like to see the insides of one. Curious as to what takes up a majority of the space in this hulking beast.[/quote]

Hard drive to one side, Dvd-drive on the other, motherboard underneath. It really is a mini-PC.

In interviews, MS people have mentioned that the size was one of the deciding factors as far as Japan goes, and that the XBOX2 will be smaller, one way or the other.
 
Most of the size is used for cooling.
At first I was kind of mad that the Xbox is so big, but once I got it into my collection it really wasn't as big as people made it out to be. or what it seemed at the store. It about the same size as my VCR (You know the thing that played movies before DVDs)

My only grip with the Xbox is that it has a curved top. It makes it hard to stack stuff on top of it.

MS has allready said they will not be making a Slim Xbox. Its to close to the next gen and it would just be a waste of money for them. Xbox 2 is rumored for a 2005 release while the PS3 is 2006/2007
 
[quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Rig'][quote name='craigjm']I definitely don't want to see them do like SONY and cut out the Hard Drive support to get slimmer. That's a dumb idea.[/quote]

But, news coming out of Microsoft right now is that Xenon (Xbox 2) won't have a hard drive, and may or may not play Xbox 1 games on it! Of course, none of this has been confirmed, but that is what will (most likely) happen. I hope it doesn't. On-topic, I don't think they will slim down the Xbox.[/quote]

There is two separate issues there. Backward compatibility is contingent on NVIDIA providing a very low-cost license for their proprietary IP. This is very unlikely, especially since archrival ATI would need to see that IP to perform their end of the job. The only way ATI could do this would be to dump the negineers involved after the project was completed since they would be seen as contaminated in a legal sense by their exposure to NVIDIA's material.

The lack of a hard drive doesn't mean the Xbox 2 won't feature a substantial amount of local writable storage. The big question is how much capacity is needed. The majority of Xbox users, including those on Xbox Live with all available downloads and such, have barely used the capacity of their drives. Yet those drives have proven to be one of the great distinguishing features of the Xbox. So having a good chunk of local storage beyond dinky memory cards is a good thing.

The problem is that a hard drive is overkill for the purpose and expensive at that. The primary components in a game console need to decrease over time to allow retail price drops and continued sales momentum. Areal densities increase but the basic cost of commodity drive doesn't go down. The cost of putting a hard drive in a PC hasn't changed much in the past five years even though the value in terms of capacity has increased. This doesn't help a game console which just isn't ever going to need all of that capacity.

The answer is flash memory. If you're setting a fixed amount per system yo can look forward to major cost reductions over time. It wasn't that long ago that a 1 GB CFII card was considered an astounding feat, even at a cost of several hundred dollars. That same card now sells for under $100. By this time next year it should be down to $50. This means Microsoft can start with a system that sells at a loss due to the cost of parts but will soon after offer a break even cost and further decrease to support cutting the retail SRP without taking a major hit on each unit sold.

Furthermore, by using a standard format like Compact Flash there is the option to allow users to add more capacity as desired without taking up a lot of space in the unit. A set of two or four card slots take sup little space, the controller adds very little cost to the chipset, and the use ofa standard format allow users to benefit as the digital camera, music player, and other markets for flash memory driver increased capacities for lower cost.[/quote]

well said
 
I don't see why people complain on the size. It fits perfectly fine in an average entertainment system. The size of gamecube is a different story. I cant put in my tv stand because its so tall with that pop up lid.
 
[quote name='CapAmerica']It about the same size as my VCR (You know the thing that played movies before DVDs)[/quote]

:rofl:
 
[quote name='5_Against_1']I like my big xbox. When we had all those hurricanes here in FL the last few months, I wasn't worried. I just hid behind the box.[/quote]

Wow, that's one of the funniest things I've read in a while.
:rofl:
 
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