Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?

According to tipsters, a little bird, and our crack team of cybernetically-enhanced super-searchers, the Xbox 360 Elite is suddenly very hard to come by. From what we can tell, the console configuration is missing from the stockrooms of a number of shops, both online and off, making it rather difficult for new buyers to begin wasting their life playing Bioshock with the top of the line 360. We're making some calls and trying to get to the bottom of the situation, but let us know if you're seeing units on your local store shelves -- or not.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[jpier @ Feb 1st 2008 10:55AM]

a buddy of mine was trying to get an elite for 3 weeks, he finally had to settle on a pro.

[ebob9 @ Feb 1st 2008 11:44AM]

Wasn't there a rumor it was going to be replaced with a Elite with built-in HD-DVD? I wonder if something threw a monkey-wrench into this?

[NHAnimator @ Feb 1st 2008 10:57AM]

Box is too funny. Nice job.

[Andrew Clarke @ Feb 1st 2008 10:57AM]

My local Gamestation has shelves full of them

[Deus Innomen @ Feb 1st 2008 10:58AM]

I've seen a few around the Chicagoland burbs.

[SamIam @ Feb 1st 2008 10:59AM]

Little bird told me the are refitting for the 65nm chips. Cannot Confirm Yet.

[Ten Dolla Bill @ Feb 1st 2008 10:58AM]

360fanboy has already tackled this issue, like 2 weeks ago.
According to one of their sources, M$ has is gearing up to start selling consoles with the new 65nm chips.

[TURNERSVILLE @ Feb 1st 2008 11:00AM]

It's true!!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=xbox+elite&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

[Rampage99 @ Feb 1st 2008 11:00AM]

I was at Best Buy a couple days ago to trade in my Elite because it's having disk tray issues and the fan has started to make a clicking noise. When I went to customer service they told me that they hadn't seen an Elite in stock since Christmas. Hopefully they get some more in stock soon because I paid good money for that replacement plan (mainly so I wouldn't have to go through Microsoft's repair program). I'd rather not have this thing die on me and have to wait weeks for Best Buy to get more.

[Larry @ Feb 7th 2008 4:23PM]

Mine was 2 weeks old when it just flat out stopped working. I had just got COD4 and I went home to play it and the disc wouldnt read so i tried my other games and they didnt work. I took it back to Circuit City and now its 3-4 weeks b/c they have to special order it.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 1st 2008 11:00AM]

The UK seems to have a plentiful supply of them, or atleast the major online retailers. Maybe this is US only, or the reason they are hard to find is going to be US time exclusive.

[thatnod @ Feb 1st 2008 11:01AM]

I was looking for one in town about 3 weeks ago and everybody was out. I ordered one from Amazon in the end and they got it too me right away. Praise be to their huge stock warehouses :D

Hull,
United Kingdom

[Boyo @ Feb 1st 2008 11:00AM]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000OYMSL6/ref=dp_olp_3

OUCH!

[snowglyder @ Feb 1st 2008 11:01AM]

There were some at a few of the Walmarts.

[Sinh Truong @ Feb 1st 2008 11:07AM]

I live in Lawrence, KS. SOld out here, all over the Kansas City metro, and Wichita. A friend of mine tried to get one in Wichita and was told everywhere he went that it was on backorder. =(

[Ignatius @ Feb 1st 2008 11:17AM]

I guess some people finally grew a brain and realized that the 120GB drive (which retails for $200) and the black paint job and HDMI cable were worth the extra $100.

[Triptophan @ Feb 1st 2008 4:12PM]

My fiance bought me one about 3 weeks ago from Amazon.com. They had plenty in stock at the time, but they certainly weren't upwards of $600 at the time. All of the major retailers in the area chuckled a bit, though when we asked if they had any in stock or expect any soon. I guess we got lucky with Amazon.

[tunafish @ Feb 1st 2008 11:20AM]

I'm in Cinci,oh and I called literally every store within a 10 mile radius, no dice. that was last week. interesting to see that others are having the same issue

[Dave Sousa @ Feb 1st 2008 11:38AM]

i work at a best buy in Toronto Canada and we have quite a few actually....

[teh_dorkz @ Feb 1st 2008 11:41AM]

I just saw one sitting in the shelf at my local wally world..
i wanna buy it...just 100 bucks short

[Andy M @ Feb 1st 2008 11:35AM]

I've been following this closely and am kinda surprised this hasn't surfaced until now.

I returned a Pro 20G I bought as part of a very large entertainment package (my dream HDTV, surround sound, gamings system, etc). They were pretty good about taking it back and the store mgr (of 1 of the 2 biggest box stores which I leave unnamed but I'm sure you can figure out)had me on top of the list to receive an Elite (wanted a larger HDD and falcon chip) once one came in on the truck.

fast forward several weeks later, he's telling me he still doesn't have one- N-O-T because there's been pent up post-holiday demand but because they haven't got ANY in since b4 Xmas. Not only is this a big box store, but it's one in a very big market. So with a retail location that moves that much inventory and is always getting higher than avg allocation of gaming systems, not getting any in, obviously somethings up.

Arcade's are readily available as are Pro's, and unlike some of the misinformed posts here, most everything you'll see out there now is likely to be their 65nm chip (aka falcon) unless you catch a store with aged inventory.

One other tidbit FWIT that I think it's ok to share:
- On the day of the MS keynote at CES, there was a span of several hours where the Elite SKU (only) was pulled from both the Circuit City and Best Buy websites.

:)

[Juice @ Feb 1st 2008 11:34AM]

Luv that black matte finish. The glossy piano black is nice too but I think I prefer the matte.

[Daniel D @ Feb 1st 2008 11:35AM]

You think this had anything to do with CES and HD DVD?

What if they intended to start putting HD DVD drives in the elites and then cancelled the announcement in the Bill Gates keynote and this is fall out of the phasing out of elite units without the introduction of the elite HD DVD xbox?

[plozen @ Feb 1st 2008 11:47AM]

I noted this in my blog http://philsplace.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/a-new-360-bundle/ leading into CES, thinking that maybe some announcement was forthcoming. Alas, here in Michigan, my buddy eventually had to buy one from someone else because we still are having a hard time finding many hard drive enabled 360s in the area, let alone the Elite. Best Buy seems to be out of all but the arcade.

[Andy M @ Feb 1st 2008 11:45AM]

oh, and after questioning Walmart last week when they might be receiving more Elites, the Mgr told me that they weren't going to be getting anymore in and that Walmart was instead discontinuing that SKU.

[idsym @ Feb 1st 2008 11:41AM]

I got one of the last Philippines stock not only were the Elites available regularly on one retailer but they also carried a few perhaps less than 20 i recall. They could not get a stock refresh and the last sku they had was the one before the bundle.

[Magallanes @ Feb 1st 2008 11:42AM]

-Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?

-Ebay , Next question!

:3

[Magallanes @ Feb 1st 2008 11:43AM]

-Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?

-Ebay , Next question!

:3

[Michael Swanson @ Feb 1st 2008 11:45AM]

We have an Elite to give away on our podcast. And we're looking for a creative way to do it. Call me a shill, but it is what it is. :)

http://visitmix.com/blogs/TheSignal/

[Kamal @ Feb 1st 2008 11:44AM]

Where I live, even the Pros have gone missing and according to store people, none are expected to be on their way to the store shelves anytime soon either.

[MnM333 @ Feb 1st 2008 11:53AM]

I had a hard time finding a new one for me. I got the last one that EBGames in rideau/ottawa had. It's a pre-xmas box too. says 203W but was actually 175W. I thought I'd have to macguiver myself something for the optical out cable but was surprised to see a slimmer plug for the audio. Anyways, I was told that the 120gig hdd is also quite sparse by the store manager.

[Nils @ Feb 1st 2008 11:57AM]

I found an Elite at a local Micro Center store here in Minnesota. They had 10 units in stock. I think people forget that some stores carry video game systems. I drove 35 minutes to get mine.

[kal326 @ Feb 1st 2008 12:00PM]

One of my buddies got one 2-3 weeks ago for a home theater from newegg or amazon. In the KC metro any 360 is in pretty short supply. Before xmas most big box retails had stacks of 30-40 on the floors. Lately you hardly seen any in Walmart or Target. I haven't checked Best Buy stores, but the website makes it look like no stores stock them anymore and online is sold out.

Strangely walmart.com has them, but only if you purchase them as part of a bundle with an extra controller and a game. Not sold online, if you try to buy just the elite.

[hans @ Feb 1st 2008 12:04PM]

i've only seen a few arcades in philly area best buys and game stops.
no premiums/pros no elites.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 1st 2008 12:06PM]

my gamestop has 4-5 shelfs of elites in the Chicago suburbs

[DrXym @ Feb 1st 2008 12:09PM]

ebob9, I suspect that Microsoft / Toshiba would have announced with much fanfare an HD DVD model at this year's consumer electronics show. Unfortunately for them Warner kicked them in the balls the day before CES and they probably shelved their plans indefinitely or for some more opportune moment. I doubt there are any opportune moments any more, but who knows maybe the much vaunted superbowl ad is designed to relaunch the format.

It may well be that MS was even clearing stock of Elite in preparation for this announcement that never came and now they're in a bit of a pickle.

[Clint @ Feb 1st 2008 12:13PM]

It's not just the elites that are scarce...even the Pro version is becoming hard to find. I think this may be a tactic to clear out existing inventory before shipping the 65nm Falcon configuration. Just my 2 cents though...

[Matt @ Feb 1st 2008 12:16PM]

Get alerted when in stock:
http://www.instalker.com/p/47/Xbox-360-Elite

[Diego @ Feb 1st 2008 12:17PM]

i got my elite 2-3 weeks ago, MicroCenter (where i got it from) actually didn't have any Pro's left in stock, but did tell me they had a ton of elites and arcades.

[RiVeX @ Feb 1st 2008 12:22PM]

I've been looking high and low to find one in Utah, and haven't been able to find one in stores since the holidays.............we got tons of Arcade versions though

[fourthletter @ Feb 1st 2008 12:31PM]

I saw 2 sitting in John Lewis in Edinburgh yesterday soooooo not really that hard to find eh ?

[Smoke_me_a_Kipper @ Feb 1st 2008 12:32PM]

I had a 3 week wait in October to get one from Dell. Stock issues. I was hoping then to get one of the newer refits, but nope. Could it be the set-top IPTV deal in the UK making them scarce?

[Jeff @ Feb 1st 2008 12:41PM]

My local stores have huge piles of 360s... but few or no elites...

maybe MS figures that stuffing the channel with lower-cost models is less costly than stuffing it with the lowest-margin model.

[jsn @ Feb 1st 2008 12:47PM]

While being a new model, the Elite is still using the older boards (with HDMI). Most arcades and pro's that DO have HDMI have already been moved to the smaller chips. The elite is just getting that same treatment, hence the clearing out of inventory.

[Matt @ Feb 1st 2008 12:51PM]

I bought one of those extended warrantys on the pro version when I first got it in 2005 and have returned RRODs around 4 times without any trouble. Right after Christmas, RROD, so I take it in to Bestbuy to get another and they tell me they don't have any in because of Christmas. So I wait a week or two, still no Xboxes in stock at any Bestbuy. I finally called corporate yesterday and the customer service lady told me they weren't planning on selling the pro version anymore. I think she was talking out of her ass or she might have heard about the 65nm chips and interpreted it as they aren't selling them anymore. Either way, I decided to just send it to M$ and wait for it.

[TC @ Feb 1st 2008 12:49PM]

Here in Atlanta area I have noticed lack of Elite at several BB and CCs.

[James @ Feb 1st 2008 12:49PM]

New Circuit City just opened a week ago here, and the shelves had a handful of each unit (Arcade/Premium/Elite) available.

[Asystole @ Feb 1st 2008 12:51PM]

The Elite was originally supposed to be just a limited edition item so I guess they could potentially be finally running out of stock.

[Geoffrey42 @ Feb 1st 2008 1:12PM]

As 1 or 2 people have pointed out, and several others have ignored, the Elites have already made the transition to Falcons. I have one, which was bought in early-to-mid December.

The transition which has YET to happen is the GPU's shrink to 65nm. The Falcons out now are only 65nm CPUs. It was previously speculated that the full CPU/GPU die shrink transition would be completed in February or March of '08, so if anything, that might be what we're seeing. I hadn't heard about the SKUs being pulled around MS' keynote at CES, but I find that to be a fascinating tidbit. It's already widely known that Gates cut a significant HD-DVD spiel from his speech, so who knows.

Main point: The planned 65nm CPU die shrink is already here, and has been for over a month. Get your facts straight.

[0mega @ Feb 1st 2008 1:18PM]

futureshop in ancaster, Ontario had 9 last week... just FYI. ever thought they might just be popular and running out of stock? *shrugs*