Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: 360 Elite System
• Released on: 2007-04-29
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: 17.00 pounds

Features

• Xbox 360 Elite console - The Xbox 360 Elite has a premium black finish and three powerful core processors capable of producing the best in HD entertainment (up to 1080p, like any Xbox 360), 16 - 9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound, HDMI output and DVD playback withupscaling capabilities right out of the box
• Xbox 360 120GB hard drive - The huge 120GB detachable hard drive allows gamers to save their games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, extra game levels, demos and other content available from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black) - The sleek black finish of this high-performance wireless controller matches the style of the Elite Console. It has a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries.
• Xbox 360 headset (black) - Now available in black, the headset lets you strategize while playing together online or trade taunts with your opponents. You can also send voice messages to friends on Xbox Live.
• Xbox 360 HDMI cable - New to Xbox 360, HDMI lets you get HD video (up to 1080p) and multichannel surround sound, all from one cable.Xbox Live Silver Membership - With this, gamers can chat with friends online, collect achievements and gamerscores, send and receive voice and text messages, and access Xbox Live Marketplace content such as game demos, HD movies and TV, as well as the best in downloadable games from Xbox Live Arcade

From the manufacturer
Introducing Xbox 360 Elite, the premier Xbox 360 console package that includes a massive 120GB hard drive, a HDMI port and a premium black finish. Xbox 360 Elite also includes a black wireless controller and black Xbox LIVE headset. Xbox 360 Elite has enough space for a whole library of Xbox LIVE Arcade games as well as downloadable high-definition TV shows, movies, music, and more available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Features:

• Xbox 360 Elite console: The console is equipped with a premium black finish and an HDMI port and like all Xbox 360 systems, comes with three powerful core processors, 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound, HDMI cable and DVD playback with upscaling capabilities right out of the box.
• Xbox 360 120GB hard drive: The huge 120GB detachable hard drive allows gamers to save their games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, extra game levels, demos and other content available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Also sold separately.
• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black): The sleek black finish of this high-performance wireless controller matches the style of the Elite Console. It has a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries. Also sold separately.
• Xbox 360 headset (black): Now available in black, the headset lets you strategize while playing together online or trade taunts with your opponents. You can also send voice messages to friends on Xbox LIVE.
• Xbox 360 HDMI cable: New to Xbox 360, HDMI lets you get HD video (up to 1080p) and multichannel surround sound, all from one cable.
• Xbox LIVE Silver Membership: With this, gamers can chat with friends online, collect achievements and gamerscores, send and receive voice and text messages, and access Xbox LIVE Marketplace content such as game demos, HD movies and TV, as well as the best in downloadable games from Xbox LIVE Arcade.
• One-month subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold: An Xbox LIVE Gold Membership provides a complete online entertainment experience. Subscribe to this premium service and engage in competitive online multiplayer matches, tailor your matchmaking via feedback and accomplishments, chat with more than one person at a time, and take advantage of unique privileges in Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Amazon.com
Xbox 360 sets a new pace for digital entertainment. More than just a cutting-edge game system, Xbox 360 also integrates high-definition video, DVD movie playback, digital music, photos, and online connectivity into one sleek, small tower.

Under the Hood

Xbox 360, shown with wireless controller, is a sleek, customizable gaming and entertainment system

Xbox 360 is much smaller than its predecessor--it measures approximately 3.3 by 12.2 by 10.2 inches and weighs 7.7 lbs. It's powered by custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical cores each running at 3.2 GHz. It also carries a custom ATI graphics processor 10 MB of embedded DRAM. This is powerful enough to draw 500 million triangles per second. In other words, it makes for great looking games in standard TV definition, and even better thanks to built-in support for HDTV 1080i televisions. It also supports the widescreen 16:9 format.

The unit has a 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM drive, which plays both the game media and progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. For game-save and media storage this console package includes a 120GB hard drive. Along with storing files, the hard drive will make the Xbox 360 backward-compatible with part of the existing Xbox game library.

Control your Gameplay
Xbox 360 uses a refined button layout for its controllers. Back and Start buttons sit at the center of the controller and between them is a new Xbox Guide button, which instantly takes the user to the Xbox 360 user interface. From there, they can check for friends online, access personal digital content like photos and songs, and more. The black and white buttons of the first Xbox controllers have been replaced with new shoulder buttons placed above the left and right triggers. Xbox 360 can accommodate up to four wireless controllers and has three USB 2.0 slots to use for wired controllers or for streaming your digital media from digital cameras, MP3 players, and any Windows XP-based PC. Microsoft has also created a video-conferencing camera, sold separately, that will work with the system.

The Media Experience
All Xbox 360 titles can be played in either standard or high-definition resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smoother graphics. Game designers will be able to take advantage of the system's multi-channel surround sound. The Xbox 360's digital media allows users to supplement any game's music from tracks in their own personal library.

Go Live
A built-in Ethernet port allows users to connect their system to a broadband connection for access to the new Xbox Live Silver. The included service lets anyone create a Gamertag and gamer card to express your online identity, chat live with voice chat, and connect to the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy expansions, maps, and other digital items for your games. The subscription service Xbox Live Gold adds to that online competition, game stats, and video chat/messaging. The separately sold wireless adapter supports the common 802.11a, -b, and -g standards.

What's in the Box?

• Xbox 360 Elite console (black)
• 120GB hard drive
• Wireless Controller (black)
• Xbox Live Headset (black)
• HDMI port
• HDMI cable
• Xbox Live Silver membership
• One-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold

Customer Reviews

Hard Drive Not Worth the Money
I made the mistake of buying this version of the Xbox 360 for the 120GB hard drive. I thought I would be able to copy video files to the 360. It turns Microsoft only allows you to copy music and pictures to the 360. If you want video, you have to buy it on Xbox Live, or hack your console.

If you're in the market for a 360, save yourself some money. Buy the cheaper version with a 20GB hard drive. On any version you can stream video from your XP or Vista PC as long as you have Windows Media Player 11 installed and configured for sharing across your network.

In hindsight, I should have bought a Playstation 3, which allows you to copy video to the hard drive easily. You can also upgrade the PS3 hard drive without voiding the warranty. The 360 hard drive, however, uses a proprietary input.

XBOX 360 Elite - The issues are simple
I just want to make this simple for everyone, since the issues are really that: simple.

The XBOX 360 has great games that anyone will NO DOUBT enjoy. Drive Noise, HD capability, additional cost for accessories that some people feel should be included--I can deal with these considering the GREAT games I mentioned.

The question is can you deal with the constant threat of one day turning it on and getting the Red Rings of Death (RROD)? Even if one had the luckiest break of getting a perfect unit that will never die (which no one will ever know of course), spending $400 on something thats supposed to be state-of-the-art should not give you this kind of dread--or have you go through months of non-use due to exchanging units through Microsoft. Most of us are not millionaires who can just buy XBOX after XBOX either.

So to me, NO, its not worth it just because of RROD.

The worst part is, Microsoft, BY NOW, should have admitted their design flaws and replaced their console with a reliable version--even if they had to go back to square one--considering their many loyal customers. Just that fact alone convinced me that I will not buy another 360. That really is an insult to us XBOX fans if you think about it.

I will keep playing the Wii with the kids and get a PS3 in the near future.

Made me reqret purchasing the Playstation 3
Microsoft and Xbox fans the world around: I owe you an apology.

I have been scowling at Xbox and Xbox owners since it hit the market. "It's not as good as Playstation - it won't last" I always said. Then the Xbox 360 came around, and I skulked into a corner, clutching my Playstation 2. "PS3 is around the corner - it'll show you..." A few months after PS3 hit shelves (more than a year after Xbox 360 came to market) I took posession of a new Playstation. The PS3 made me change my mind. Months later I had six games, and a Blockbuster Video (tm) membership card collecting dust. There was nothing to play! No new games on the horizon, nothing catering to my interests. I finally broke down, grabbed the credit card and bought an Xbox 360 Elite.

With a heavy heart I say: I love it.

I now have nearly three times that of my Playstation 3 collection just a few months later. I have just as many Xbox peripherals as I do the Playstation, and the recent blockbuster, best-selling titles I have purchased for the Xbox instead of the Playstation. This is because of the enchantment of the Xbox "Achievement" scoring system, rewarding the player with (unfortunately useless) global points for making various accomplishments in every Xbox 360 title.

I have begun researching the PS3's "barely used" resale value.

Besides playing games - and there are tons to choose from - the Xbox is well-built to use the internet. Though I myself am not a big online-gaming enthusiast, I can still use it to upgrade games, download visual content for background themes and the like. I have even begun downloading TV shows. The system allows you to establish 1-on-1 chat rooms, which I use often to talk to my brother who lives cross-country. We can catch up on current events while playing two different games. The PS3 allows you to chat, but you can't do anything else while chatting.

Unfortunately, the Elite has one major limitation. In fact, the feature that makes this system "Elite" is it's biggest drawback - the 120 gb harddrive. My PS3 only has 40 gb's, and I've already packed it with MP3's and movies (honestly - what else is it good for??) What drew me to purchase the Elite Xbox (besides it's black color which blends much better into home-entertainment setups) was it's large storage capability. However, Microsoft has made it impossible to download or copy any music content onto the Harddrive. The only way to import music is to "burn" it from a CD. Obviously the intent here is to discourage piracy, but it has also alienated any iTunes subscribers or the like. I probably would have been just as happy with a standard Xbox 360. I still have over 100 gigs available!

Thus the benefit of the Elite is to be able to download lots of game content, pictures, videos, etc. This comes at a cost, as very few of these downloads are free. Take that into consideration before you buy.

System malfunctions seem to be rare - a few game crashes here and there. I am sympathetic to earlier owners of malfunctioning systems. As of this writing, May 2008, I'd say you'd be "good to go" buying one of these systems.

Microsoft I apologize. I've complained about a fair amount of money I've given you over the years, but I have to confess - you did this one right. I look forward to many, many more hours of hardcore, balls-to-the-wall gaming.

Look for me online - my gamertag is "Vipera Raddei!"