SpiderMonkey

Xbox 360 physical design

Recommended Posts

I was thinking today about all the fallout from the Xbox warranty clusterfuck. I think the Xbox runs a serious risk now of becoming "the console that'll break after a year" in terms of its general perception. Obviously the warranty is a move to head off that problem, but I don't think it's enough.

When Microsoft change over to new hardware that fixes the problem (by which, I think that means 65nm chips that produce less heat than 90nm, rather than new heatsinks, which is just a bandaid solution), they should also change the case design to something distinctively different. I think it's the only way that they will be able to break that perception. Otherwise, how will you ever truly know (given that most people won't check manufacturing dates) that the one you've got isn't one of the broken ones?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's not a bad idea but I would imagine Microsoft are losing enough money trying to fix this problem in the first place to then go and have a redesign and, what would effectively be, a relaunch.

Maybe they can just change the LED from green to red :shifty:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, there's the matt black version. What are the specs going to be on that?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Well, there's the matt black version. What are the specs going to be on that?

There are examples of those breaking down on launch day, and I think they use the 65nm processors.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's a pretty crazy problem. I've always seen consoles as being very durable, and Nintendo's case this is usually true to the extreme. With the 360, pretty much everyone is likely to know at least one person whose 360 has bummed itself in the gob.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think you're right Spider, The should al least reconsider a redesign of the console when the problem will be solved and the "garbage" ones are all gone.

But in fact, I am even not sure if people outside video game community really know about the problem. Maybe they heard about it but the information can be quickly forget.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There's rumour of a 45nm chip design being taken up at some point in the not-so-distant future. Microsoft may take the opportunity to redesign the console then, perhaps making the unit smaller and (significantly) quieter in the process with any luck.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now