Xbox360v2
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Xbox 360 sporting new 'super-quiet' internal DVD drives
The Xbox-Scene forums are abuzz with news that some newly built Xbox 360 consoles (manufactured November 2006 and up) are trading in their previously noisy (and we mean loud) DVD drives for the "super-quiet" BenQ VAD6038. But just cause it's quiet, doesn't mean it can't keep up with its two noisier predecessors; the new drive is reported to load "stuff a bit faster and smoother." Stuff, eh? Imagine it: this drive coupled with those smaller, cooler (and delayed) 65nm chips, maybe an HDMI port for good measure, and all of a sudden our old-model 360 (which is gonna need a clever nickname) will be looking less like the firstborn and more like a redheaded stepchild.[Via Engadget]
Zephyr's HDMI port and new HANA scaler: up close and personal
Alright, so you've had due time to squabble over Microsoft's reasoning for apparently readying an Xbox 360 v2 -- supposedly prepared with a 65-nanometer CPU, 120GB hard drive, and an 1080p-pumpin' HDMI port -- and now XboxScene has dug up photos of what appears to be a prototype board sporting the coveted new HDMI port as well as a new "HANA" scaler. The materials on the PCB certainly seem to match up with what we saw yesterday, and moreover, the direct comparison shot between the current model's (presumably analog only) "ANA" scaler and the forthcoming version's "HANA" model adds a bit more consistency to the whole story. Indeed, if the current machine's scaler can't even output digital 1080p signals, it certainly helps to explain the missing HDMI cable that one would've thought went hand-in-hand with all this HD DVD hoopla Microsoft has got itself into. So be sure and hit the read link for a few more high-res shots, and click on through for the YouTube proof -- oh yes, there's a video.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
