Can Anyone Tell Me What To Do ... ?

[H4554N]

My birthday is on the 17th of January and I was hoping to get an Xbox 360. I am a bit of a "perfectionist" so I waited this long because I wanted to get the 2nd gen 360's with the cooler chips and larger hard drive (I don't care about HDMI), and after hearing about the new "Zephyr" 360, my hopes were raised that something would be announced at CES and that it would not be far from release. However, nothing was announced, and I was wondering whether the new 360 is worth waiting for seeing as no-one knows when it will be released, and I don't know if I can hold out much longer. Please Help!

Will an announcement come very soon, and should I wait...
Or is the cooling chip in the new 360 not a big factor and should I just JUMP IN ?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[Sparc]

Tough one. I suspect any release will be March-May sort of timeframe but I am completely guessing - as will anyone be. I have an original 360 and I have no problems with it personally.

[Aleman]

For one thing, it hasn't been confirmed that the new 360 is coming to retail. I know for a fact that there are prototypes but that doesn't necessarily mean they will sell them. That being said, I do think they will come out sometime this year. If you really don't care about HDMI, I'm also pretty sure they'll release larger hard drives as separate purchases but they'll probably be pretty expensive (considering that the 20 GB is currently $99)

If I were you I would stick w/ whatever system you have now and ask if you an get a 360 rain check for your birthday.

[Sockpuppet]

In the end, the new system is not going to effect how you play games. The newer systems will not run faster nor smoother than the launch units.

Aside from the obvious inclusion of HDMI, if someone gave you two 360's, one Zephyr and one launch model, you wouldn't tell the difference from a performance point of view. They play the same games in the same way.

MS hasn't confirmed the new unit, nor any price points. Maybe it will have a larger HDD, maybe it won't. Will HDMI give you a better picture? Who knows, some people will tell you they can see the difference, others will tell you they can't.

I personally see only one reason to wait when it comes to things like this, and that's the cost. However if this is not a factor, get one as soon as you see fit. Hardware revisions are perfectly normal and will occur a number of times throughout a consoles life cycle. Most of the time you won't even know it. Hardware manufacturers ballance cost + reliability and in order to bring down the cost of producing the hardware will change suppliers and components a number of times in order to produce the most reliable and profitable unit they can.

[nekon]

In the end, the new system is not going to effect how you play games. The newer systems will not run faster nor smoother than the launch units.

i hope the new chip runs smoother or atleast cooler.. last thing I need is to go through another 3 refurbished consoles.

[Sockpuppet]

i hope the new chip runs smoother or atleast cooler.. last thing I need is to go through another 3 refurbished consoles.

Yeh, I have a long story here but basically to cut it short I bought a second unit and an EB warranty. The second unit was sitting around since launch (tard unit) and it ran hot. Like seriously I was amazed. So it started locking up so I took it back. This one seems to run hotter (again another tard unit thats been sitting around since launch) and I'm not kidding when I saw that I actually do worry about the cables at the back of the unit, I'm expecting them to melt.

God bless EB's warranty and it's instore change over policy.

[BudFox]

I don't know... I really think the timeframe will have alot to do with ps3's performance.

I'm not sure we will see any significant changes to the 360 SKU's and pricing until it's clear that Sony is gaining speed, or about to release some of their system sellers.

If demand for ps3 is through the roof, I'm sure it will happen soon. If 360 is able to keep pace, and sell well despite wii/ps3 being on the market, I think they will hold on. Save some ammo for MGS4/FF13/etc, and make some money. If they wait 6 months and sell 5 million consoles before a price drop....1/2 a billion dollars isn't that bad.

it's a tough choice for you...there is obviously something better coming down the road...but it's possible you might be waiting until xmas 07....but maybe not.

I really think price-drop/hdmi-120gb-65nm/iptv-DVR will be the big push for xmas 07, and they will just hold out over the summer.

[H4554N]

Hey guys, thanks a lot for your help and just a heads up to let you know that I live in the UK, and we always get things later than you lucky Americans. I am probably just going to get a 360 for my birthday with Gears and some other games and if I am really bothered by it, trade my Xbox 360 in for the revised model soon after it is released.

Anyhow, thanks again!