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No plans for a slim Xbox 360

by on28 August 2009

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Not exactly true, from the rumors we hear

In addition to finally confirming the price drops on the Elite to $299 to match the PlayStation 3 and the Pro slashed to $249 on its way to being discontinued, Microsoft is spending a lot of time also defending the current form factor of the console by saying that they have no plans for a slim version of the Xbox 360.

While Microsoft talks about the Natal being the future and the console you buy today will work with the Natal add-on of tomorrow and all of the new features that will be coming in the Fall Dashboard Update, the fact of the matter is that they claim that they are not even halfway through the console’s life span.

Our moles insist that this is just marketing fluff; and while it is true that Microsoft will try to lengthen the lifespan of the console with Natal, it is also a fact that they are working on a number of fronts for cost reductions. Additional die shrinks and manufacturing improvements will continue to be made to reduce the cost per console.

From what we hear, at least one avenue that they have been considering is reducing the size of the console form factor; while it might not be actually a “slim” version, it will be smaller than the current console. It only makes sense, as the company needs to continue reduce costs, but they also want to improve the reliability of the console which continues to be a black eye for Microsoft with the Red Ring of Death.

Our sources suggest that a new version of the console will arrive next year in the early summer, and while it might not be slim, it will offer significant improvements over the previous generation in chip size, cooling support necessary and the amount of power that is consumes. We will not call it a 360 slim, but if they can shave more money off by reshaping the form factor of the console, we have every belief that they will do it.

Last modified on 28 August 2009
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