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Which 360? Too many choices.

My friend is dying. I knew the day would come and I suppose I’m prepared for it, in a way, but the reality is still a little sad.

My Xbox 360 – a launch model no less – is reaching the end of its natural. There’s no spectacular RROD, no cataclysmic grinding of DVDs to dust, just a gentle decline with symptoms of unreadable disk errors and graphics glitches causing me to sigh and gently prod the Off switch. So at last this week I looked my friend squarely in its single green eye and we concluded, time for a new one.

But I now seem to be faced with a quandary. There are *factors* I have to consider which I never even dreamed of!

I thought, “easy I’ll nip on-line, find myself a good deal on a new one and bingo… job’s a good-un!” But no… I have choices, and not only choices between the mainstream models. I have the choice to go for Elite (mmm black and sleek!) or the 60GB version (good VFM!), but it seems, after reading a little about the differences between the old and new versions that I also need to think about what chipset I’m getting!

Mmmm Black and Sleek
Mmm Black and Sleek!

There’s the 65nm ‘Falcon’ chipset, this re-fabbed CPU coupled with the modifications to the cooling elements was supposed to banish the RROD. Then there’s the new ‘Jasper’ chipset which extends the 65nm fabrication technologies out to the GPU and RAM chips, making the system even more power efficient and therefore cooler and more reliable.

Is it Falcon or is it Jasper?
Is it Falcon or is it Jasper?

ARGH! What’s a person to do! And there are still questions I don’t have answers to. Is the Elite going to be available with ‘Jasper’, if so when? Is it worth the extra dosh for the look of the thing (mmm black and sleek) and the bigger hard drive or should I just buy the cheaper one, a black controller and a handful of faceplates?

They say gamers are just a bunch of slackers with ner’y a thought in their head… little do THEY know!

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6 responses to “Which 360? Too many choices.”

  1. Dave avatar
    Dave

    I got a 60gb on Thursday. Runs pretty much silently, is much, much faster and I dunno if my eyes are playing tricks but I think it looks a bit sharper too.

    Main question is: will you really use 120GB worth of space? I have 34 XBLA games and some videos and still have about 40gb left of my 60gb hard drive. Probably wont use it all.

  2. Simes avatar
    Simes

    There’ll be a lot more potential use for the space once the Autumn update comes out and we can install games to the hard disk.

  3. Scott Cameron avatar
    Scott Cameron

    Simon beat me to it; I know I’ll be installing my fair share of games come Autumn to curb the noise of the jet plane-like disc drive, so do consider your space. Then again, if the system wasn’t so loud in the first place…

  4. John avatar
    John

    But do I wait for the Jasper Elite, or get the Falcon one… there are soooo many questions!!

  5. Colonel Finn avatar
    Colonel Finn

    Well with the install options like the other guys have mentioned, it would be far better to get a larger drive, it’s not like you can just stick a new one in like the PS3.

    Myself, I’d pick up the cheapest one off eBay you can get, then wait until the inevitable next model up, that’s due out. Lets face it, with a 160 PS3 on the horison and the 80 GB as standard now, the Xbox will need to pull out a few stops, i.e. wifi bluetooth and suchlike.

  6. Tony avatar
    Tony

    Regardless of which model you buy, I have to say this: games consoles seem to be about the only thing left in the world where you can get a better deal in the shops than online.

    Shops like HMV and Zavvi and Game all tend to do really quite good bundles, I’ve found – if you can get your new machine and a couple of decent games for £10 or £20 over the console price it’s got to be worth it.

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