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Smaller "Slim" 360 - Now official

Pistol

By Pistol
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Joyrex-J9

Joyrex-J9

Posted
Posted

Hmmmm

Based on this...

Looks like a standard 240mmx240mm microATX board to me, albeit without a standard power connector. There's no way the fan would be next to one of the flat sides on the finished model either. Probably a debug board like people are suggesting.

And this...

Surely the current shape of the HDD limits what they can do? Unless they plan on discarding compatibility with the HDDs that are out there already? Having said that, I see nowhere for an external HDD to connect anyway.

and this

Come to think of it, if it is 240mmx240mm it'd be barely a third smaller than the current 360 in width and no smaller in depth.

I'm calling bullshit

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Alex W.

Alex W.

Posted
Posted

It's not a completely standard board, of course, but the number of components and the dimensions are close. Screw holes are wrong, and obviously there's no RAM slots, mind. I'm leaning toward either:

1) Some other computing appliance entirely.

or

2) Genuine Xbox 360 proto board using existing tech. Extra ports could be for debug.

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Dandy_Sephy

Dandy_Sephy

Posted
Posted
So we finally reach Valhalla,

Isn't that where the millions of RROD's went to?

Naming your chipset after a mythical home to the deceased, with the reputation the console already has is some sort of crazy in joke/stupidity

Can they make the 360 smaller without the internal components going into thermonuclear meltdown?

Combining the cpu and gpu sounds like an accident waiting to happen given the previous issues (which still aren't cured after 2 revisions)

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Qazimod

Qazimod

Posted
Posted

I really don't care about the size...I'd just like a reliable machine. It can be a massive heavy brute with several noisy fans at the back for all I care; it'd be a small price to pay to have something that I'm less scared to switch on in the evening.

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jonathanhoey

jonathanhoey

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I really don't care about the size...I'd just like a reliable machine. It can be a massive heavy brute with several noisy fans at the back for all I care; it'd be a small price to pay to have something that I'm less scared to switch on in the evening.

My three-year warranty runs out in about a week, and if it RRODs again I would love to get one of these:

1190.jpg

(in which to install the repaired-at-my-own-cost guts).

What I'll probably do is buy an Arcade, though, obviously.

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mushashi

mushashi

Posted
Posted
still needs to accomodate one of THESE

Or maybe it'll be for the Natal-based one that everyone seems to think is a no-brainer, and being aimed at teh casual, it won't be needing to support the external HDD, so can be a more different shape.

Because if it has to be 100% backwards compatible with the external HDDs, it's going to be very limiting on the potential for a radical case redesign.

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MDY

MDY

Posted
Posted
still needs to accomodate one of THESE

xbox360-hard-drive.jpg

Unless they're just slimming it down horizontally (when laid flat)..

.. or it goes on top and the unit can't be stood on it's side..

.. or there's enough space for an internal compartment for it... open a panel on top, plug it in, close panel..

Ok, less likely on the last one... :(

Wonder if they'll change to a slimmer, slot loading DVD drive...

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murray

murray

Posted
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I was chatting with my mates about this on Friday. General thought was that a Blu-Ray drive would offer no gaming benefits, and would cut into MS's Zune movie profits, so it's unlikely they'd include it.

I can't read this link as it's blocked at work, but it seems Microsoft agree with you.

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mushashi

mushashi

Posted
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Wonder if they'll change to a slimmer, slot loading DVD drive...

If they really want to squeeze some more margin and space from it, just do a Sony PS2 slim and replace it with an el-cheapo fliplid design, saves on the cost of the DVD drive housing and eject mechanism :(

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mushashi

mushashi

Posted
Posted

DigitalFoundry posted a blog post about this with some of their thoughts on the technical aspects:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalf...slim-blog-entry

What is interesting is that the board has doubled the number of SATA connections to two over on the top-left of the first picture. In current 360 hardware, only one is used for connecting up the internal DVD-ROM drive.

This could mean that Microsoft is planning support for internal drives, but bearing in mind the success of its Arcade SKU, it is unlikely that the firm would commit to HDD-integrated machines: laptop drives don't generally get cheaper, they just get bigger in terms of storage, and for Microsoft to surrender one of the factors behind its price advantage is unlikely. It's more probable that the drives will come in new Slim-friendly caddies.

Another curious change appears to be the complete omission of any mounting holes for the DVD drive, which clearly sits to the left of the fan. Either a variant of the existing DVD drive attaches to the case in a different way, or else an entirely different assembly is used. Assuming the costs work out, we could even be getting a thin, slot-loading drive similar to the PlayStation 3.

The location of the optical drive itself is a big improvement over the existing Xbox 360 design, which places the DVD-ROM directly above both CPU and GPU, further complicating the cooling of the hottest parts of the console. The cooling setup doesn't really tell us much. The Coolermaster fan would be way too large for a production console, plus you'll note that the fan itself is only secured in one place to the heatsink below.

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MDY

MDY

Posted
Posted
DigitalFoundry posted a blog post about this with some of their thoughts on the technical aspects:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalf...slim-blog-entry

Wasn't there a custom SATA port for the HDD on the motherboard before (as well a plain SATA for the DVD)?

Could just mean they're going to both drives via plain SATA or the HDD input isn't changed per say, but maybe the socket difference is via a cable instead of direct on the board..

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DriveBy

DriveBy

Posted
Posted

Quite exciting. Mine has to be out of warranty by now, but it's been repaired once for RROD. I hope mine lasts until something like this emerges, I don't care about how it looks or if the HD is compatible, just give me a console that's not chucking out gigawatts of noise and heat and I'll be happy.

On a different note, how are the current 360s compared to a launch model for noise and heat?

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scottcr

scottcr

Posted
Posted
Or maybe it'll be for the Natal-based one that everyone seems to think is a no-brainer, and being aimed at teh casual, it won't be needing to support the external HDD, so can be a more different shape.

Because if it has to be 100% backwards compatible with the external HDDs, it's going to be very limiting on the potential for a radical case redesign.

not supporting the HDD would be a disaster. They'd be banking on re-sales to existing 360 owners. If they released something small, actually good looking and quiet that you could shove your HDD into - most of the folks on this forum (and across the world) would be slabbering over it.

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Super Craig

Super Craig

Posted
Posted
not supporting the HDD would be a disaster. They'd be banking on re-sales to existing 360 owners. If they released something small, actually good looking and quiet that you could shove your HDD into - most of the folks on this forum (and across the world) would be slabbering over it.

All it would need is a transfer cable for moving your existing data across.

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dayte

dayte

Posted
Posted

I'm not reinstalling my games again, so unless my 360 fails no thanks.

Besides, the 360 is a decent sze now - I have it conveniently located behind the TV with plenty of space, and the power brick is safely enclosed in a little compartment for PSUs.

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Uzi

Uzi

Posted
Posted
I think noise and reliability are the things people want fixed, not the size. I'd like it if they allowed you to use your own hard drives.

As far as I know Jaspers are pretty much reliable so far (according to neogaf anyway, reports say the faliure rate was something pretty low) and as for noise, I don't know since I install all my games to the hard drive so its pretty quiet anyway since the drive isn't in use.

A new form factor would still help them because the problem is the Jaspers look the same as the other revisions of the 360 that still had the RROD plague and people still think that the current consoles are as unreliable as earlier ones.

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Broker

Broker

Posted
Posted

Yeah, even if Jaspers are more reliable the difficulty is finding one and letting the general public know which are the more reliable ones, which they can't really do.

Wheras a new, more reliable 360 would be easy to sell. Noise wise, not everyone has a big enough HDD to install all their games, or want to wait for them to install or whatever. Being able to play FFXIII without having to choose between:

sacrificing 18gb and an hour of install time

having something under your TV making a noice like a dyson fighting with darth vader

might be nice.

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mushashi

mushashi

Posted
Posted
I'd like it if they allowed you to use your own hard drives.

Never ever going to happen*, rather like the hope for built-in wireless, too much free money down the drain on those 2 bolt-ons. The only way your going to be able to use any HDD you choose seems to be saying goodbye to Live and breaking the warranty.

*unless Microsoft suddenly change their entire business plan.

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