After more than 2.5 years under design, Microsoft’s new version of the Xbox 360 is hitting stores this week for $299.
This isn’t a completely new design — it still plays the same DVD movies and Xbox 360 console games. But this is the biggest change that the company has made to the Xbox 360’s physical appearance and electronic innards since the console launched in 2005. Microsoft made a lot of changes based on market feedback.
Albert Pinello, director of platform marketing for the Xbox business, gave us a tour of the new console. The details: this model is black. It’s about 15 percent smaller in physical volume. The box is much quieter than the previous version, and the detachable 250-gigabyte hard drive is hidden from view. The box has 802.11n wireless networking built into it.
The power brick is much smaller than it was. There are capacitive touch buttons that turn on the unit and the DVD drive. You don’t need a proprietary HDMI audio cable anymore for the back of the console. There are five universal serial bus ports and a Kensington lock to tie down the console to prevent theft. Check out the video tour below from Pinello.
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