More Evidence Towards a Slim 360: Possible New Motherboard Leaked

Its so obvious this was needed... Im glad its coming. I guess the natal launch+360 relaunch seems even more imminent now. The 360 is as of now the ugliest console of the 3.

@ DarkisWR

Yes, they are pretty much neck to neck in Others, but you can't ignore that the PS3 has been outselling it there on a weekly basis. So it won't be long until the PS3 does eventually overtake it. And of course the ~8 million lead in the US counts for something, but again, you can't ignore that the PS3 is seeing shortages there. When Sony finally ups its production, the PS3 may eventually start outselling the 360 in America. I mean just this weeks sales show us that the 360 only outsold it by less than 3K units. I think 360 still has a lock on America for this gen, but the gap will most likely close there to just a couple mil by the end of this gen.

In the end, they both are going to do well, but I think Sony has a pretty good chance of just beating out MS at the end of this gen. As far as the Slim goes, a Slim doesn't sell you more systems. It wasn't the Slim that sold the PS3, it was the new price + the value customers found at that price. This explains why that the PS3 continues to outsell the 360, even though the Elite is the same price and they have an Arcade model that is $100 cheaper than the PS3.

@randoflexx215
Please note that PS3 is one year behind 360. They both sell well almost the same but I think the price reductions help 360 a lot. In few stores in London first thing you see is Elite for GBP160.00 (2 months ago) on display or GBP199.00 with Halo3 and ME2 recently. PS3 is somewhere else with price tag 259.99/269.99. Lots of people go for the cheaper and Im not surprised.

Worldwide Sony even admitted that 360 is still leading 6-7 million systems

It will be interesting to see when this will be unvieled...E3 or in the Fall?

sniper936 says:
PS3 IS gaining a lot of ground on the 360. what is it now, 4 and a half to 5 straight months that the PS3 has beaten 360 in the weekly sales, hich will continue every week until the release of Natal. even with the 360 arcade going down to $129, that alone will not do anything for Microsoft. Keep in mind 360 came out 1 year before PS3, so tecnically, PS3 has sold more units per day than 360 has, and increasing that margin day by day
...

They are like neck and neck in ''Others'' And that 8million+ lead in america guess means nothing to ya? Or Software sales either..Saying price cuts affect nothing..thats just rubbish.

@ sniper936
Your comments are a total fail.

I'm wondering how a new slim console would work with the hard drives we have now? so is one end going to be wide or something so we can put our hard drive on? it makes me think this is just a rumor and nothing more because then it would have to be built-in or a different size and shape.

PS3 IS gaining a lot of ground on the 360. what is it now, 4 and a half to 5 straight months that the PS3 has beaten 360 in the weekly sales, hich will continue every week until the release of Natal. even with the 360 arcade going down to $129, that alone will not do anything for Microsoft. Keep in mind 360 came out 1 year before PS3, so tecnically, PS3 has sold more units per day than 360 has, and increasing that margin day by day

@zibeddy
If its not cheaper than why would they bother to make a slim model???
jeeeesh

hope its cheaper like the ps3 slim but i doubt it will happen. microshaft will always try to screw us over. and with all thay new space left over hopefully a built in wireless adapter maybe? i dont think so.

Cool i hope it happens.

I knew they woud do that with the Natal launch. I also expect built in hard-drive.
Any eletronic enginner can spot a a built in Wi-fi?

Much cleaner motherboard, the heat dissipation will improve.

Peharps I will buy one just for Alan wake and project Natal.

Very cool pic. That is the Valhalla mobo, if i am not mistaken. I would purchase it.

I'll be proud to keep both of my phat machines.

this is some great news if true.....I will buy 360 Slim day 1 if true
Hopefully it gets a re-design in the model also :-)

@Baalzamon sony isn't gaining that much 360 is still beating them by more then 7 million systems worldwide. Ps3 slim was a new system and new systems always sell for the most part. A 360 slim will sell just what the ps3 slim sold but more.

@ Baalzamon

The gains aren't that massive. Considering that the US is still pushing majority 360's. A slim 360 would shift the sales back towards the 360 - and remember - PS3 is still behind.

That fan is too big so i really doubt this rumor.

Maybe but...that fan seems really bulky...

I doubt it, the 360 doesn't seem to change much, they aren't like Sony who does this for every console. I just don't see it happening, and wouldn't buy one.

wait who's to say that's not just a random motherboard someone took a picture of....

@slowmo

Don't worry, it's good to be a doubter. Keeps us all on our toes.

@Sri Lumpa: nicely said...gaming in general is building off of the good ideas...after all, the Playstation Move looks a lot like the Nintendo Wii but supposedly just improved.

MS is copying Sony alright, but not in the way Sony fans think.

MS is not copying Sony by making a slim version of their console but they are copying Sony's copying of Nintendo as Nintendo did slim versions of their consoles before Sony, starting with the NES-101 in 1993.

But hey, it's ok as Nintendo themselves copied it from Sega who redesigned the SG-1000 into the SG-1000 II in 1984... but wait, those thiefs at Sega didn't even come up with their own original idea but copied from Mattel who seriously slimmed their Intellivision console into the Intellivision II the year before that (1983).

Hell, I'm not even sure that Mattel where the first to slim a console down but maybe somebody with more knowledge of the early days of videogame consoles can tell me if Mattel where brazen innovators or shameless copycats.

tl;dr: If you think Ms copied Sony here, put down the crackpipe and Google Intellivision II (1983) and NES-101 (1993) .

@randoflexx215: perhaps it will slim the massive gains the ps3 is making...worldwide is all that matters. Also, where has Microsoft confirmed a 2010 release of Natal?

If this is true I feel so sorry for Sony. I believe a 360 slim will further 360 lead in the console race. Microsoft also have there motion sensor coming this year they are pulling out the gunns

I remember when the megadrive slim version came out.
That was a long long time ago now....

Curious to see where they put the hdd. But it is possible

Yeah Darklich13, the reduction to one memory card slot makes perfect sense hence why I never questioned that. I merely mentioned the fact because it showed they were going for a completely new form factor.

Digital Foundry thinks it is legit: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-360-slim-blog-entry

Should be seeing this quite soon, should imagine E3 in June MS could make the big surprise announcement just before/after it demos Natal.

Will be a day one purchase for me.

@slowmo

read the article that digital foundry wrote. From their observations its pretty darn legit IMO. They have a pretty extensive breakdown on it and it all pretty much makes perfect sense.

Who needs 2 memory card slots? One is enough. Again, having only one is cost effective.

There is another picture out there by the way of the CPU/GPU without the heatsink if someone wanted to update the article.

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/Valhalla/xbox360slim03172010.jpg

Obviously you will probably want to host the picture yourselves.

@slomo

Perhaps they are handling the HDD in a different way. Current 360's HDD are SATA but the external case changes the plug. It is still a SATA interface just with a different plug. They could be getting rid of the different plug and just going with the standard SATA. This would be cost effective and user would still be able to use their old 360 HDD.

Making a 360 slim is just going to be microsofts way of getting away from the RROD stigma, when really it doesn't mean anything like that.

@thetonestarr - Thats fine, rebut away. Sorry I'm not acting like a sheep and believing this along with the rest of you. Where does the DVD drive fit into the equation in this design seeing as it looks like it would overhang the board on the left, thus making the system wider than this profile would be designed for. We know its not a redesign into the old chassis due to the change in external port placement (No front USB and only 1 memory card slot for example).

If this was the new design you do at least know they've gone for a design that can be horizontal or vertical as the tilt switch is there. Is the black connector in the middle a optical input?

If I'm ultimately wrong I really don't care, I'm only stating what I think from these pictures. Sorry for being a realist.

Every single one of Slowmo's reasons can be very, very easily rebutted.

However, I don't think M$ would be using something with a Cooler Master sticker on it.

@darklich13 - I realize this but it makes no sense to have 2 onboard for cost reasons unless you plan on putting a extra device internally. The DVD drive one is expected, there is none for the HDD on the existing board so this is unexpected imo.

@slomo

2 SATA connectors are probably for one hard drive and one DVD drive.

its official a slim 360 is coming

Fake imo although I expect a slim revision.

For the record what makes me doubt this is:

1. The board has all its headers populated (not unusually necessarily for a prototype board)
2. I don't know why they need 2 SATA connectors onboard (unless they're bundling a HDD internally)
3. The front power/RF board connector positions the board in front of either the memory card reader or eject button!
4. The cooling solution pictured makes zero sense (even if just for testing)
5. The power filtering circuit looks short a tonne of capacitors which is a surprise given this board still has the external PSU (unless they're moving some of those circuits externally)
6. No mounting screw holes on the right of the board where it needs most rigidity

Sorry to be a doubter although this could be a early concept design and not a final product.

New components don't necessarily mean a redesign. The console makers change internal components all the time without changing the external look so they can make it cheaper to produce.

I hope this is true just for electricity reasons. Anytime I can get my frequent electronic use to be more energy efficient I'm on board.

A slim sexy Xbox 360 with a small energy-efficient GPU/CPU combo will improve the 360`s competitiveness in NA and Europe (it`ll still lose in Europe because of lack of Blu-Ray playback though). Style and looks matter to consumers. People don`t want a fat machine with a fat power brick in their home entertainment centre. It doesn`t fit stylistically.

You know what, maybe MS should swallow their pride and release an upgraded Slim model with a Blu-Ray drive for playback as well (not games because that wouldn`t be fair for current 360 owners who don`t want to tack on an ugly-looking external drive to their system. No repeat of Sega CD 32x insanity please). That would improve the 360`s competitiveness in Europe where the Xbox brand isn`t enough. People like the added bonus of Blu-Ray now that the PS3 is reasonably priced. It`s not like Sony owns Blu-Ray exclusively. They`ll get a license to use it just like Sony`s competitors in the Blu-Ray player biz. And I could have sworn hearing that Microsoft has some stake in Blu-Ray too.

Also, I hope that they find a way to at least transfer the data from the old 360, especially since the old HDD would not be compatable with a 360 Slim. If not, I can see a lot of angry customers.

@ FKNetwork

You honestly think that's the only reason the PS3 is selling well? Not because of the value or quality exclusives? Ok, sure. Do you honestly think that if the PS3 had crap games and hardware, that it would still be selling well? The answer is nope. Just like the 360 wouldn't be selling, no matter the price, if it had crap games. Don't get me wrong, price cuts always help, but if you don't have any substance behind that price the system would flop.

Also you forget, that if MS drops their price at the launch of Natal, Sony isn't just going to sit there and do nothing. They are constantly finding ways to cut production costs and by the time the Move or Natal launches, they probably will be ready to drop the price again. I suspect that MS will drop the price by, at most, $50. Sony would probably only have to drop the price by ~$25 to combat this. And I suspect they won't have a problem doing it, even if it means only breaking even.

it makes sense to release a newer/slimer model alongside natal. I'm sure they would have sorted out the RROD

Wow!!! now they wanna go the sony route. If it was the other way around everyone will be saying sony shouldnt be copyin off microsoft. I dont care for a 360 Slim....just bring out sum AAA level 1st party games cuz Sony is making a killing now.

Superb news!
The PS3 is only selling well now because of the Slim and lower price, the 360 slim will put 360 back on top of the ps3 sales once and for all, sony don't have anything else after the move, MS has slim, price cut, natal etc.

Good plan MS!

Smaller console = higher heating = RROD increase

no thanks

This is going to be annouced at E3 2010 !

This is what I've been waiting for. With this possible revision, maybe, just maybe, it will abolish the red ring of death once and for all.

looking likely imo.

i predict a proper facelift but not an overall diff design.

it would suck big time, if you cant use older HDD

@WarmachineX

this is a very good point. What about owners of previous versions? I suppose that maybe they'll include a transfer cable in the box so you can move all your info to the new HDD, that or maybe somehow the HDD will still fit right on a slim. Who knows but either way that'll be an important issue to work out.

but what about my HDD? will it work on a slim?

yme,

I think they meant that the IDEA of a slimmed down console was sony's. You can say that microsoft copied (which is likely) sony's busniess strategy in getting consumer interest.

I'll buy an Xbox 360 slim. I'm going to wait for all the first revisions to move out though.

Would have to be a completely different chassis (to anyone who says its just a MB revision). Look at the mounts (in different places) and the I/O (moved as well). I like the look of this and will get one if this happens (always had a softspot for good board layout :)

MS copying Sony? Just about every console manufacturer from Atari, Nintendo, and Sega for example released smaller versions of their consoles. Sony fans and their selective memory syndrome strike again.

I already have a 120 gig elite but if MS do release a Slim+Natal bundle I'll but it day one

lol ps3 slim copy CONFIRMED!

Mazty. The price cut on the slim was BECAUSE of the slim being cheaper to produce. You make a console slimmer to reduce production cost. The combination CPU/GPU chip should save them loads of money right there. Then you have the power supply which again can be shrunk to save more money. And finally the chassis itself is being redesigned to save more money on those materials as well.

What's the point? The PS3 slim was released alongside a price cut. Unless they make the 360 cheaper, what's the incentive to buy one?

maybe its a new motherboard so the RROD wont happen as much? i dont think its a slim

Lol its a good thing no one is saying MS is copying Sony, because Sony wasn't the first company to make Slim revisions of consoles!

OT: I can't wait. The board does appear to have Microsoft on one of those ram/chips. The only thing that makes me think this is fake is that I see like 5 other pin slots for like SATA plug ins and fan controllers....

I would replace my current one with a slim for sure simply because the current one takes up a lot of space in the tv cabinet.

New 360 slim + price cut + Natal + Halo Reach = +1 sale at least from me.

I don't know if this should be considered a copy or not. Because a slimmed downed console was solely sony's strategy.

haha yeah dirkd2323 is right. Its a good thing nobody is saying that...

I would actually consider buying a slim 360 and trading in my current one. I need a bigger hard drive anyways cause mine is just 20gig so I may as well wait and see if a slim is coming.

Sounds like a good idea, Good thing no one is talking about MS coping Sony with a slim model, It would sound to much like a Nintendo thread lol

come on quieter machine! I hate having to install games so the system isn't so loud.
I hope my system lasts till the 360 mini (haha Squall_Leonhart) is released. not knocking it, but ever turn yours on and not have it work right? yeah that's mine sometimes.

Point stated... and missed completely... oh well

I don't need a smaller 360 but I can imagine that in a family's living room the 360 is a bit too big. Not to mention that if your going to get it for Natal then the 360 is a lot bigger then the Wii. It's a smart move even more so if it actually cuts costs, perhaps fanboys will use it in their little comparison war although nobody on the true playing field will notice.

Yeah Vergis, God forbid MS create a new design smaller more cost effective 360 because it saves them money, help to draw interest in their pocket. I guess everyone forgot that Sony has a patent on redesigning consoles to help save cost.

DANG IT! it better not be because I just planned on buying that ODST Forza bundle.

@Vergis- Just like your comment is like a photocopy I've seen a million times. . .

OT: Now THAT's a fan! No more RROD?! We'll see. . .

AMAZING! id love to buy a slim xbox!

im pleased though that the xbox has been out for ages now and they havent had a redesign. it ALWAYS anoys me when companies make slim models just to sell a few more machines rather than making a slim because the system actually needs it.

AAMMAAZZIINNGG Natal and a new xbox360.... that would make me SO happy id feel like it was a totally new console.

I wonder will they keep power supply external if the slim is coming like rumoured. I would prefer to keep it external as then they can make console itself even more smaller. I wonder why Sony didn't do this with PS3 Slim..

If true it would be yet another example of Microsoft's photocopier in action....

Call it a 360 mini LOL :-D