Pros: Black, 120GB HDD, Multi-language features. Headphones are ideal for late-night gaming.
Cons: Loud fan, hot exhaust, bulky power-supply, few black accessories, no 2nd controller, no battery.
The Bottom Line: The Xbox 360 Elite has a good cost/benefit ratio, especially to new 360 owners. Most users will be able to live with its shortcomings.
carioca7's Full Review: Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite (120 GB) Black Console
Purchased: Xbox 360 Elite, Turtle Beach X2 Wireless Headphones, Xbox 360 Rapid Charger with battery pack, 2nd Wireless Controller, and 2nd battery pack.
When I opened the Xbox 360 Elite packaging, I was disappointed to see the plain packaging materials that were used, as compared to the attractive external packaging. The cables, controller, and other accessories were packaged in unlabeled green or orange baggies. As a parent, I appreciated the warning labels against giving the bags to kids, but I had to figure out what was in them. The black case of the Xbox 360 Elite matched my TV and looks great in my entertainment center. Luckily, I could hide the massive power supply behind the console. The power cable from the wall-wart was very thick and not very flexible.
Set-up and installation was a breeze. My Xbox Live account information transitioned to the new system very easily. My family speaks Portuguese at home, so I set the language preference accordingly. I thought this would be for the console only, so imagine our surprise when we loaded Viva Piņata for our daughter and all of the voice-overs and text were in Portuguese! This made the Xbox 360 Elite an educational tool, which helped justify the purchase to my wife! :-) It will be interesting to see how many games offer this multilanguage feature, especially kid's games!
I am running the console on a Sharp Aquos 32" 1080p set and the games I've tried thus far look fantastic, thanks to the Xbox 360 Elite's included HDMI cable. I bought a couple of HDMI cables for my HD sets, so after recovering from the sticker shock, the freebie from Microsoft was appreciated!
The X2 wireless headphones from Turtle Beach work great and will ensure hours of uninterrupted, late-night play. Also, the ear phones eliminate the loud fan noise of the Xbox 360 Elite console. It would have been nice if they offered the headphones in black, but I'm sure those are coming.
I also bought a rapid charging station (currently only available in white) because it included a battery (also in white) and will support two batteries. I also picked up a black battery pack for my second controller. Even though it would have been great if it was all in black, having different color batteries will make keeping track of whose controller belongs to whom!
This is my first Xbox 360, so I found that the 120 GB HDD was a good value. If you already have an Xbox 360 and don't need the HDMI feature, then I suggest you simply upgrade to the 120 GB HDD.
The loud fan noise and heat exhaust from the Xbox 360 Elite appear to be consistent with what I've heard about earlier models.
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