Once pressed on you hear a reassuring beep sound to let you know it has been pressed. There are no tactile buttons on the unit, and now all are touch sensitive buttons, from the eject button to the power button. Once connected up you will instantly notice another new feature to the console. Yes we still have to live with a power-brick, however the brick is a bit smaller in size and a lot lighter in weight.Ī photo to show the size of the new power brick against the controller The power for the new console has changed a little, both on the console and in the brick itself. How this works for old consoles without this power I do not know, maybe there will be an adapter to be used with another USB. Called the Kinect Auxiliary Port, I can only assume this is to power the motorised base as power for this through USB might not be enough. Finally there is a port for the Kinect unit on the back. Optical audio is no a new feature to the back of the console alongside the standard AV port and HDMI socket. The console now has Wireless N but for anyone wanting a cable connection the option remains here too at the back. Ports have also been increased with 2 USB ports remaining on the front, behind a similar door flap panel, and there are now 3 USB ports on the back. New power connector, optical, Kinect AUX port, and 2 more USB ports Better and cheaper HDD upgrades in the future – maybe, check. The 250GB HDD is still a propriety unit, but as the connectors are standard SATA this might open the doors to 3rd party offerings, should Microsoft allow that. The caddy itself is covered in a plastic with traditional laptop-style 2.5” SATA connections. Once removed the caddy can be ejected by pulling on the tab to slide it out of the case. There is a small groove that you put your finger into to detach a plate covering the HDD caddy. The HDD area is located on the bottom side of the unit (when its standing up). The first thing I looked for after seeing the earlier briefing was the Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Underneath the new Xbox 360, panel removed and 250GB HDD out Also it is worth pointing out that with a DVD disc in the drive tray it was also spinning a fair bit quieter. Whether that fan gets much louder under stress we’ll have to see. Putting my ear to the side I couldn’t hear much noise other than air being forced out, so they have done a good job there. The room we were in was noisy so I couldn’t get a quiet room to test the console’s idle noise. The fan wasn’t spinning strong enough to feel any air coming out, but looking at the angle of the vents on the casing I assume the fan is blowing out rather than sucking cooler air in. Under this vent is a much larger 120mm looking fan that quietly pushes the heat away from the console. Around the top and bottom of the unit are cooling vents with a much bigger vent on one side of the console. Weight wise, the console didn’t feel much different, maybe a little lighter but it wasn’t instantly noticeable when being held. The font of the console, showing the chrome accents & the side cooling fan vent The new console was wrapped up in black paper and a green bow, sitting there ready to be ripped open and powered up.Like the console, the packaging has been reduced with all the items carefully placed in their little compartments with the Xbox filling up the entire top area of the box.
I was lucky enough to be part of a hands-on unboxing event for the new console later in the afternoon. Microsoft has listened and addressed key problematic areas, the most noticeable ones being the noise, its hard drive and the lack of ports. This new rebooted console addresses most of the key issues gamers have encountered with the older console. Buttons are now replaced with touch sensitive areas, which when pressed make a reassuring beep sound. Visually you can tell the console is smaller in size, in all dimensions. And like a waiter revealing a signature dish at a restaurant, the old case was lifted to reveal the new shiny and black looking Xbox 360. Unknown to onlookers, the new console was sitting inside the shell of the now older model on the stage. The biggest announcement, that was sadly spoilt some minutes prior to the briefing taking place, was the announcement of a new slimmer Xbox 360 console. We look at the new Xbox ‘slim’ via a private unboxing session
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