Update 06/2010 – The chart has been updated to include the “New XBOX 360″ which we’ll call the “XBOX 360 Slim” even if Microsoft doesn’t.
Much like the Playstation 3, the XBOX 360 has seen its fair share of model revisions over the years. Although it’s been around longer, we didn’t see the first model change until April 2007, when the Elite Edition was introduced. After that, it gets a bit more confusing. They changed the name of the Premium to Pro somewhere along the way, but we’re not quite sure when. It may have been when the 20GB was switched to 60GB, and the price dropped. For a short time (about a month) both the 20GB and 60GB models were available in stores for a short time. Also, the Core Edition was upgraded a bit to include a memory unit, a wireless controller, and a headset when it became the Arcade Edition.
Price drops have occurred about four times now, bringing the price of the current top-end model to $299 (and the low end model is available now for just $149 which is absurd). Also, several revisions have been made to the hardware, including motherboard, CPU, and GPU sizes. This significantly impacts noise level, power consumption, and reliability. We’ll include a separate chart showing the different hardware revisions.
| Core | Pro/Premium 20GB | Elite | Arcade | Premium 60GB | "Slim" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | 11/ 2005 | 11/ 2005 | 05/2007 | 10/2007 | 08/2008 | 06/2010 |
| Discontinued | 10/2007 | 07/2007 | 06/2010 | 06/2010 | 08/2009 | |
| Launch Price | $299 | $399 | $479 | $279 | $349 | $299 |
| Final Price | $279 | $299 | $249 | $149 | $299 | $299 |
| Colour/Trim (NA Market) | Matte white/Matte white disc drive | Matte white/Chrome disc drive | Matte black/Chrome disc drive | Matte white/Matte white disc drive | Matte white/Chrome disc drive | Gloss black/Gloss black disc drive |
| Hardware | ||||||
| Storage | None | 20 GB HDD | 120 GB HDD 250 GB HDD1 | 256 MB Memory Unit2 256 MB Onboard3 512 MB Onboard4 | 60 GB HDD | 250 GB HDD |
| First Motherboard | Xeon | Xeon | Zephr | Falcon | Falcon | Valhalla |
| Final Motherboard | Xeon | Falcon | Jasper | Jasper | Jasper | |
| Bundled Accessories | ||||||
| Controller | Wired | Wireless | Wireless 2 Wireless1 | Wireless | Wireless | Wireless (black) |
| Headset | None | Wired | Wired | None | Wired | Wired |
| Video Cables | Composite | Hybrid | HDMI, Hybrid5 Composite | Composite | Hybrid | Composite |
| Ethernet Cable | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| WiFi | No | 802.11N (2.4 GHz) | ||||
2 Memory unit was discontinued after 12/2008 and replaced with:
3 256 MB onboard memory, which lasted until 11/2009
4 512 MB onboard was used when the Jasper motherboard was introduced
5 HDMI and Hybrid cables were removed from the Elite bundle in 09/2009
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As of right now, the only XBOX 360 model being manufactured is the Slim. It replaces the Elite (which we used to call the Retard Edition, back when it was almost $500 and had almost nothing to show for it). Unlike Sony, who tends to strip features with each revision, Microsoft have actually (finally) added integrated WiFi support to the New 360 (FINALLY!). Better yet, it’s an 802.11N version, which will allow it to easily stream full HD video.
The 360 Slim also features brand new Valhalla revision hardware, with a 45nm CPU and GPU. This will bring power consumption to a whole new low, and by most reports coming from E3, it is extremely quiet. Aside from that, most of the differences are aesthetic – it’s smaller, shinier, etc. There’s still no HDMI cable, and nothing more than 3 month XBLA Gold subscription.
My advice right now is to run out and buy an Arcade version for $150 right now if you don’t have a 360 yet. That is a killer deal, and when they re-introduce the Arcade, it is not going to be that cheap for quite a while.
Here is the hardware chart, so you can sort out the differences between hardware revisions. The best way to tell which one you have is to look at the power supply. If you have an Arcade version, the size of the integrated memory should tell you as well.
| Codename | CPU | GPU | Power Supply | HDMI | Introduced | Manuf. after 06/2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xenon | 90nm | 90nm | 203W | No | 11/2005 | No |
| Zephyr | 90nm | 90nm | 203W | Yes | 05/2007 | |
| Falcon | 65nm | 80nm | 175W | 09/2007 | ||
| Jasper | 65nm | 65nm | 150W | 09/2008 | ||
| Valhalla | 45nm (single chip) | 135W | 06/2010 | Yes | ||
Just want to let you know that the Arcade comes with 1 month Gold 2.
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This is definitely how a new console should be
You should ADD features not take them away
good job Microsoft
Well,Sony took out PS2 backwards compatibility in order to lower the cost. And Sony took the Other OS out in order to prevent hacks from happening which both are understandable, I mean, People were calling for Price cut and Sony doesn’t want to go through a Hacking breakthrough scene like the PSP. If you want those features so bad, Go look for a Original 60gb PS3.
You know Microsoft’s pretty late for the party. Every PS3 already has Wifi and a Hard drive. Plus you can upgrade your hard drive to any size you want, even up to 1TB.
how about several usb slots and multi card slots? They did it for the price and that was alright since it didn’t take away anything significant from the experience. However they did continue to take away from the system and I think they are the only company whose ever done that in a major way… Sega took out the front headphone jack on their Genesis but that’s the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
PS3 is a great system, but…
As far as removing the PS2 BC it wasn’t a cost reducing measure, shortly after they did it, one of the Sony execs admited the cost savings from removing the ps2 hardware were insignificant and the real reason was to spur sales of PS3 titles, becuase they found that more people were buying more PS2 games, including the cheaper PS2 counter parts and playing them on their PS3s. I wish I still had a link to the article.
Sony seriously needs to stop removing functionality and if they put PS2 BC back into a slim, I would buy one tomorrow.
For an XBox 360 (250GB) Pal purchased in France, how much compatibility is there with UK games and with the UK tv system?
Similarly, how much compatibility for USA sourced games and the US NTSC tv service?
A full reply would be much appreciated.
Thanks.