14 DAY TRIAL // With the Xbox 360 Elite on its way, naturally some retailers had to break the launch date and sell it a bit earlier. Llamma took advantage of this and got one step ahead of everyone else, not to play with it, but to break it apart so the world could see what's inside. Don't get me wrong, they didn't hammer it or anything like that, but just unscrewed all the parts out and placed them near parts of older versions of Xbox 360, for comparison shots.
Click on the picture to your left to enlarge and you'll see what I'm talking about. Other than accessories like cables and headsets, I can't make much of the differences, but the site says it's very possible that the much rumored 65nm CPU core is there: "One of the more interesting observations that seems to point to lower power consumption implying a possible 65nm core is the fact that there are some capacitors and transistors that have been removed on this revision of board."
And now for the $180 HDD unit. What, you thought it would be missed? Not a chance. The Elite's impressive 120 gig hard drive is a Fujitsu MHW2120BH model, if anyone cared to know. The full pack consists of many accessories, among which a HDMI cable, which fortunately Microsoft includes, as well as a HD/SD combo cable. Sony doesn't include one with their PS3, thus owners have to go out and buy one.
And if the Elite doesn't scratch discs, heat up, make noise or just die because of Guitar Hero patches, Microsoft may just have a winner here. Acquiring the machine makes perfect sense with all these accessories, high disk space, all at a lower price than its rival, the PS3. However, of you do decide to get one by trading in your old Xbox 360, you won't be able to transfer anything from the old 360's storage unit. By the time the Elite launches (April 29), the promotion will expire (Friday - April 27).