Xbox 360 Elite replacing Pro at $299 price point August 30th?
By Donald Melanson 
posted August 12th 2009 1:18PM
posted August 12th 2009 1:18PM
We've already had a pretty clear indication that the Xbox 360 Elite would be replacing the current middle-of-the-road Pro model as Microsoft winnows its SKU options down to two, and a new Meijer ad obtained by Kotaku has now further backed up rumors of the switchover, and seemingly confirmed that that, as expected, the Elite will also be occupying the Pro's $299 price point. Of course, all of this is still far from official, but the ad does also peg the date for the price drop as August 30th, so it seems likely we'll hear something from Microsoft before then -- perhaps at a conveniently timed major gaming conference.
[Via Daily Tech]
[Via Daily Tech]
I wish they would just drop the price on the hard drives.... My 20 GB is full.
And they should release a HD bigger than a 7 year old laptop drive while they are at it.
Amen brau
As a fellow 20 gig user, I concur. I was trying to look for any place to get more free space, including one-by-one deletion of small items(backgrounds, etc). But now I can uninstall Fallout 3 since there's no more DLCs.
I wish MS would give us a deal on the 60 gig drive + proprietary HDMI cable for 20 gig users.
Couldn't agree more.
you know my ps3 can swap out any ordinary hard drive.... hell if one were so inclined they could buy an external hard drive, open it up, swap it out and put the ps3 hard drive in the external and return it to the store...o.0
Agree. Then all that's left to do is spray paint the console black.
"If one was so inclined to be complete douche bag..." Fixed
And the PS3 needs a price drop worse than the XB360 hard drives.
@ipoop
If you meant 2D then yes they are 2 dimensional.
@Quix
There are a number of great games coming out for Wii this holiday which I'm sure will keep up occupied, Metroid Trilogy anyone?!
@ CP
"And the PS3 needs a price drop worse than the XB360 hard drives."
But one thing is for sure, that is a PS3 price drop will actually make a difference to sales.
It almost seems intentionally leaked to combat the slim ps3 at $299 rumors. If the slim's supposed release date is around the same time, that ad would probably have a shot of the slim too.
the slim rumor is not about a release date of august 30th. it's about it being officially announced. the slim release date will be weeks later.
why don't you buy MS stuff?
I though the slim announcement was gonna be next tuesday at gamescon or whatever. Regardless it falls in the same timeframe as the PS3 price drop so things are lookin good.
i didnt buy MS because at the time, it was noisy and puny with only 20gb. not upgradable to 500gb for all those dlc was a huge drawback.
not sure about the noise issue now, but the cap at 120gb is still a deal breaker
@FNG
To many, purchasing Microsoft products of any kind is akin to buying blood diamonds. The thinking is that (like blood diamonds) purchasing any product from Microsoft only supports their predatory business practices. Some even go so far as to USE Microsoft products without PAYING for them. Ghastly behavior to be sure but that's just how some people roll.
@FNG
Quix is one of the mindless Apple drones around here who takes any mention of Microsoft as a personal offense. Someone who will personally attack any person who uses a Microsoft product, or any person (such as myself) who owns Apple products but does not give themselves 100% to the Apple cause.
Many of us around here ignore him and a few others.
@NohOne - The official hater, stalker, and psychopath,
...and yet u r the one that mention that company's name.
how matured.
Not a bad deal @ $300. The HDD is the reason that you buy this, not for the black IMO, although the black is cool.
HDD is the new black.
If they made it 320GB it would be worth it...
I'm happy for all price cuts and even though the evidence is overwhelming, I find it very hard to believe The Big M will drop the price of the Elite even more. It makes sense, but it seems just too soon; that's 2 price cuts in 1(2?) years.
Joystiq contacted Meijer and found an employee who knew about it. They said it was only a one week sale and not a permanent drop.
That ad above says "New Lower Price" which would indicate a permanent price drop.
I would buy one if it wasn't guaranteed to break within a few months. After that happened to my original Xbox and MS returned it broken not once, but twice, I gave up.
Is there a specific model drive which does not get the RROD? Anyone know how to spot them using the SKU?
All I know is that the Xbox(which didn't have a Jasper chipset) I bought back in 2007 when Halo 3 came out has red-ringed a few times. The Jasper unit I bought almost a year ago, on the other hand, has never gotten the ring once. Has anybody here had a Jasper bail on them?
power usage of 12.1a will get you a jasper
I had a 360 bail on me, but it was with some guy who I didn't know was my house.
MS needs to cut prices on the hard-drive upgrades. There are a lot of people with 20GB 360s out there. Sell the 120GB hard-drive for $99. That will entice users to use/buy stuff from the marketplace.
$100 for 120gb is still way too much. MS wants us to download full games now. How fast do you think you'll fill up 120gb with DLC, backup physical games, arcade games, full Xbox original games and now full 360 games?
They should be able to easily release a 500gb for $100-115. Or even a 1tb for $180. If they want to sell all of this content, they'll need to give us a sensible solution for storage.
I am dreaming here, but maybe Microsoft will release a shell, in which you could plug in a standard laptop hard drive? I am not sure if that is possible technically or not, but it would be cool.
@sweet greggo: I was merely being generous to MS. I don't think they would ever price their hard-drive upgrades anywhere close to the price of bulk 2.5" drives from newegg. Sure, the cheaper the better, but $99 seems more plausible. The current pricing is definitely a rip-off.
@y3k.nik: Actually, I rather have MS did an external enclosure, something like the HD-DVD drive, where you could put in your own standard desktop drive. That would be nice. :)
Woohoo!!
Seriously, this puts the HD upgrade at around half the price of a new XBox 360. That is god damned ridiculous, especially for a mere 120GB. Sell me a 500GB at the current drive's price and maybe we'll talk, MS.
Aren't 500GB laptop hard drives just coming out? I'd be happy if they released a 320GB version for $90/€65/£55. Of course, I'd also be happy if they'd let me hook up my own...
@ seriousam7, 500GB has been out quite awhile, I know since i have it in my PS3 for about 1yr ( I only have 70GB free space left lol ). Give us 1TB please
Note that we're talking about 2.5" hard-drives here, not standard 3.5" desktop drive.
@seriousam7: You can get a 500GB 2.5" HD for under $100 if you shop around, and that's retail. MS could get hard drives that size for cheaper in bulk and sell them for $130, still making a profit. The current hard drive prices for the 360 are price-gouging, plain and simple, and I'm getting close to switching to PS3 because of it.
7200 RPM 500GB HDD for $119.99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374
5400 RPM 500GB HDD for $89.99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148371
You're welcome.
You know I might be willing to pick one of these up to replace my Pro if there is an easy way for me to copy all the data from my HD to the new one (I want the higher storage capacity).
There is. You can find the Data Transfer Kit on eBay cheap, ~$15. They're specifically made for upgrading drives, but you should be able to use it for what you are seeking as well. Do a search for "360 data transfer kit" ...
I've held off from either a 360 or a PS3 so far, and I've been leaning toward a 360 for a number of reasons... BUT, even at $299 this console should offer Wireless connectivity (not an $89+ add-on) and it should be bumped up from 120GB (especially now that they are touting advancements in pre-installing games to speed up load times). Both are not deal-breakers, but for me it would have made it an instant purchase. There are still hardcore gamers out there like myself that have taken a more wait-and see approach this time around.
You've held off for 3 years?
Why don't you just wait until this generation is over then.
Yes, I have. I don't have the time to play games like I used to when I was younger, and for the first year to year and a half there were only about two games that interested me. Still to date there are only a handful and a couple Live games... so I wasn't too concerned. I'm more interested in using it to tie my media together in my living room and Netflix integration. Hence the desire for wifi built in. I happily game on my PC and when the price/performance is there I'll buy one and all the games will be cheaper too.
Nice! I was one click away from ordering one on amazon! Now I'll wait till the price drops, get me a new black elite, and regift my old arcade to my brother! We all win!!
But the black ones are ugly :(
I'll sell you my launch 360 at a good price... say, $299? I've slashed $100 off the original price. I even have the limited-edition media remote that came with the launch version...
Are they really that ugly? I've only seen them in pictures on magazines and websites.