Will there be a Christmas price drop for the Xbox 360?

Cafe Society
1

I know nobody here knows, but what does rumor have? Was the price drop a few months ago “the” drop? I’ve been thinking about getting an Elite, and I was going to wait until Christmas but my boyfriend’s hopefully right now signing a contract that will keep him very busy for the next few months, so we won’t be making much progress on the Netflix queue and I was thinking, hey, why not get it now and replace him with Bioshock?

So - would I be a fool to buy now?

Also, do I really need the Elite, or would the regular kind with HDMI be enough for me?

2

Well as you say, no one here knows for sure so it’s just speculation. But here’s the current thinking:

*Probably no price drop in the super-immediate future since Halo 3 is expected to sell some consoles
*Sony is rumored to be planning a price drop and/or a discount $399 version of the PS3. This type of price drop makes the PS3 more competitive, but Microsoft will probably drop the 360 price by some amount when this happens to combat this.
*Consoles are no exception from the technology-wide reality of things: it’ll always be cheaper later. Buy now if you want to play it now, wait if you can wait. I don’t think you’d be a fool to buy now, but there is a strong chance that the price may drop a little future in reaction to a Sony price drop. We’re probably talking about $25 down.
Really, you should just buy the Elite if you: a) need to have the sexy black color, and b)want/need the larger hard drive (not for games, but for downloaded movies/shows) and don’t already have a system. If you don’t care about those two things, just buy premium system. The component cable looks fine. I bought a VGA (computer-style) x360 cable since my TV has that input. You could even buy an additional VGA --> HDMI cable.

HDMI is a little overrated, IMHO.

3

Sony just today announced a new 40 GB PS3 for Europe. It doesn’t have backwards compatibility and has yet to be announced for the US (but word is it’ll lock in at $399 in the States).

Microsoft meanwhile just announced they’re selling more 360s than ever thanks to Halo 3.

While I’d say it’s a possibility they might drop it before Christmas, I doubt it. They’re still cheaper than the PS3 and Halo 3 is selling a ton of systems.

And if you want HDMI, the Elite 360 is the only system that has it. But I think it looks nice through Compnent cables on my TV.

4

I thought the new regular systems did have HDMI? Or am I smoking too much crack again?

ETA - the reason I’d like to have HDMI is because I’m out of component inputs on the back of my TV.

5

Dammit, that’s right. I’m sorry.

They kept getting pushed back every couple of weeks that I forgot they actually started showing up in stores recently.

6

However, I don’t think they include a cable. Which is, what, 50 freaking bucks? Halfway to the Elite.

7

Wait, is it a standard HDMI cable, or does one end have some Xbox connector?

HDMI to HDMI cables cost about $7.

8

Nah, HDMI cables can be had for $10.

But the Microsoft-branded HDMI cable (with a sound splitter) is $50.

9

As far as I know it’s a standard HDMI cable.

10

Also, is the new heat sink on the Elite worth the price jump? I fear the red ring of death.

11

The standard Xbox 360 has some wacky proprietary audio/video connector on it, which definitely won’t work with a standard HDMI-HDMI cable. You’ll need the MS approved HDMI cable here. At least that’s what the one I bought a month ago needs.

12

I thought you only needed the special cable if you wanted to split your audio and video for a stereo system?

13

My 360 has one big connector for all audio & video. It’s not any standard a/v connector that I’m aware of. The cable connects to this connector on one side, and has 5 rca connectors on the other side - 3 for component video, 2 for audio. It also has a place to plug in an optical SPDIF cable. If I wanted to do HDMI on this 360, I could not use an HDMI-HDMI cable - there’s no HDMI connector on the 360 itself.

14

Hmm. So the Elite may actually be the way to go, as it includes the cable, and purchasing the Xbox specialty cable is already $50, maybe I’d just like to have the extra memory and supposedly more reliable heat sink anyway?

ETA - but you DO have one of the recent Pros that do have HDMI, correct?

Edited a second time - my understanding is that until recently they have been very difficult to find. They evidently say on the box that they have HDMI.

15

Correct. If you want just a straight HDMI + TV speakers connection, all you need is one of the cheapo HDMI to HDMI cables.

16

OK, I just pulled mine out, and while I just bought it last month (right after the price drop), it was manufactured back in March. So if someone with a newer box (as Justin Bailey seems to) has newer info, I’d go with that.

17

Hold out for the 65nm units. The current Xboxes are 90nm chips, which run hotter and are probably a major contributor to the hardware failures. 360’s based around the smaller and cooler 65nm chips have been coming “any day now” for a few months, but will undoubtedly be more robust than the current units which are known to fail sometimes after only hours out of the box.

18

VCO3, does that affect the Elite as well?

19

The 65nm units are out there. They started shipping those during August. In fact, since the new units are cheaper to manufacture most people are expecting some kind of price drop for Christmas but console companies always play that kind of thing close to not give an advantage to their competitors.

I believe all of the Elite units are manufactured since the change.

20

I was under the impression that the Zephyr units are what’s on sale now, and they have HDMI but are not 65nm. Is that not true?

ETA - the Internet seems to think that some of the Halo limited edition ones are the first with 65nm.