Xbox 360 Slim Review
UK RRP (as reviewed): £199.99 (incl. VAT)
US RRP (as reviewed): $299.99 (excl. Tax)
UK Release Date: July 16th, 2010
The first noticable change about the 'Xbox 360 S' Is the new impressive design totally different to the premium Xbox 360 design which involved an overall bulky and unattractive body. The 'S' console is the total opposite in every physical aspect of the premium; It's every gamers dream. A lightweight, attractive console which takes the best bits from it's father console the premium Xbox 360 and adds on-top new innovative features such as touch sensitive eject and power buttons which require you to hover your finger over them to eject or turn your console the console all comes in two versions the glossy and the plain version both of which you can find on the internet. there is also other features such as a built-in wireless scanner instead of buying the Ethernet Network adapter which you have to admit... Was ugly, it kinda' turned your 360 into a radio with that big antenna sticking out the back of your console. The 'S' has none of that since Microsoft have finally addressed the 360's lack of WiFi, integrating 802.11 b/g/n wireless networking. Hooray! Do you remember that ridiculously oversized hard-drive stuck on the side of your 360? Yes you do, well there's no more of that the 'S' Hard-drive is hidden behind a pull-away panel on the side of the console and slots right in and out of there and is much smaller than the premiums and it is also 250GB in size, much bigger than the Xbox 360 Elites 120GB Although the 'S' isn't much slimmer than the original Xbox 360 it is most defiantly shorter when stood on it's end personally, I think this console should be renamed 'Xbox 360 Shorter' however; the name isn't a big deal since the console is still slimmer by the tiniest bit and shorter by a larger amount here are the dimensions of the Premium Xbox 360 and the 'S'
Xbox 360 Premium 305 x 260 x 82mm (H x D x W)
Xbox 360 'S' 270 x 260 x 78mm (H x D x W)
As you can see, the change isn't remarkable however it is still quite a lot to knock of the overall size of the 360 So, it's roughly half a centimetre slimmer and three and a half centimetres shorter when you buy the Xbox 360 Slim you also get a single black, wireless controller, a wired headset and a composite video cable. While there's no HDMI Cable in the box, the Slim does have HDMI output. On the other hand, the Xbox 360 Slim has lost some features too. The old useless in my opinion memory card ports have been swapped for two extra USB 2.0 ports, which begins to make sense when you realize that a recent Xbox 360 Firmware update added USB storage to the console.
Therefore you now have five USB 2.0 ports on the Xbox 360 Slim in total (two more than previous console versions); three on the back, two on the front under a hinged panel just like the previous console versions.
You may think 'what the hell is that' when you look at the rear of the 'S' That my friend is the new port especially for the Kinect, Microsofts camera-based motion sensor controller similar to that of the WII's except you need no controller! This port will provide power to the Kinect sensor if you decide to buy it meaning that 'S' owners won't have to use a separate power source for Kinect; the owners of the older xbox 360 console models will still be able to use Kinect, but will have to use a separate power lead.
I'm guessing your all waiting too hear the good news the chances of getting the infamous 'RROD' (Red Ring Of Death) Have been reduced by far the 'S' has one large fan which operates way better than the others 360 models two small fans. The heating is exhausted out of the back of the 'S' console however the older models
My conclusion to the Xbox 360 Slim is an improvement rather than an entirely new machine. It doesn't offer any new features which will blow you away, nor will it provide faster or better looking games. It's hard to feel short-changed - you are still getting an Xbox 360 for a penny under £200 - Although we are impressed. It's good to see that Microsoft have appeared to have solved the design flaws at last but it has taken them quite some time.
The new Xbox 360 doesn't massively update the platform in any real way, so we can't see why anyone who already owns an Xbox would upgrade. If you're planning on picking up an Xbox then it's definitely worth opting for a Slim over any other models unless you are on a tighter budget, thanks to the WiFi, improved storage and the re-thinking of the cooling design.
UK RRP (as reviewed): £199.99 (incl. VAT)
US RRP (as reviewed): $299.99 (excl. Tax)
UK Release Date: July 16th, 2010
The first noticable change about the 'Xbox 360 S' Is the new impressive design totally different to the premium Xbox 360 design which involved an overall bulky and unattractive body. The 'S' console is the total opposite in every physical aspect of the premium; It's every gamers dream. A lightweight, attractive console which takes the best bits from it's father console the premium Xbox 360 and adds on-top new innovative features such as touch sensitive eject and power buttons which require you to hover your finger over them to eject or turn your console the console all comes in two versions the glossy and the plain version both of which you can find on the internet. there is also other features such as a built-in wireless scanner instead of buying the Ethernet Network adapter which you have to admit... Was ugly, it kinda' turned your 360 into a radio with that big antenna sticking out the back of your console. The 'S' has none of that since Microsoft have finally addressed the 360's lack of WiFi, integrating 802.11 b/g/n wireless networking. Hooray! Do you remember that ridiculously oversized hard-drive stuck on the side of your 360? Yes you do, well there's no more of that the 'S' Hard-drive is hidden behind a pull-away panel on the side of the console and slots right in and out of there and is much smaller than the premiums and it is also 250GB in size, much bigger than the Xbox 360 Elites 120GB Although the 'S' isn't much slimmer than the original Xbox 360 it is most defiantly shorter when stood on it's end personally, I think this console should be renamed 'Xbox 360 Shorter' however; the name isn't a big deal since the console is still slimmer by the tiniest bit and shorter by a larger amount here are the dimensions of the Premium Xbox 360 and the 'S'
Xbox 360 Premium 305 x 260 x 82mm (H x D x W)
Xbox 360 'S' 270 x 260 x 78mm (H x D x W)
As you can see, the change isn't remarkable however it is still quite a lot to knock of the overall size of the 360 So, it's roughly half a centimetre slimmer and three and a half centimetres shorter when you buy the Xbox 360 Slim you also get a single black, wireless controller, a wired headset and a composite video cable. While there's no HDMI Cable in the box, the Slim does have HDMI output. On the other hand, the Xbox 360 Slim has lost some features too. The old useless in my opinion memory card ports have been swapped for two extra USB 2.0 ports, which begins to make sense when you realize that a recent Xbox 360 Firmware update added USB storage to the console.
Therefore you now have five USB 2.0 ports on the Xbox 360 Slim in total (two more than previous console versions); three on the back, two on the front under a hinged panel just like the previous console versions.
You may think 'what the hell is that' when you look at the rear of the 'S' That my friend is the new port especially for the Kinect, Microsofts camera-based motion sensor controller similar to that of the WII's except you need no controller! This port will provide power to the Kinect sensor if you decide to buy it meaning that 'S' owners won't have to use a separate power source for Kinect; the owners of the older xbox 360 console models will still be able to use Kinect, but will have to use a separate power lead.
I'm guessing your all waiting too hear the good news the chances of getting the infamous 'RROD' (Red Ring Of Death) Have been reduced by far the 'S' has one large fan which operates way better than the others 360 models two small fans. The heating is exhausted out of the back of the 'S' console however the older models
My conclusion to the Xbox 360 Slim is an improvement rather than an entirely new machine. It doesn't offer any new features which will blow you away, nor will it provide faster or better looking games. It's hard to feel short-changed - you are still getting an Xbox 360 for a penny under £200 - Although we are impressed. It's good to see that Microsoft have appeared to have solved the design flaws at last but it has taken them quite some time.
The new Xbox 360 doesn't massively update the platform in any real way, so we can't see why anyone who already owns an Xbox would upgrade. If you're planning on picking up an Xbox then it's definitely worth opting for a Slim over any other models unless you are on a tighter budget, thanks to the WiFi, improved storage and the re-thinking of the cooling design.
