Xbox 360 Slim Impressions

19 Jul 2010 at 19:31:28 by Paul Younger

Sony did it with the PS3 and Microsoft is playing catch-up with their own ‘slim’ version of their console which has just been released. Over the past week we have had the pleasure of tinkering about with Microsoft’s new 360; we were not really sure what to make of it before it arrived.

The new 360 was revealed at E3 with much fanfare along with Kinect. We managed to get a good look at the console then but we didn’t get a chance to really mess about with it. At E3 the console didn’t look that much smaller than the original 360, it looked a little stumpier but to call it a ‘slim’ is a slight exagertion, it’s not exactly “waffer thin”, just slightly slimmer.

The new 360 comes with added features and the ‘Kinect  ready’ tagline is being pushed on all Microsoft’s marketing materials at the moment before Kinect launches later this year.  The Kinect is still a few months away so housewives who think they’re going to get fit with Kinect are going to have to wait to make use of that, but the new console does have some nice new features.

Finally, built-in Wi-Fi, why it has taken so long to add built-in Wi-Fi is puzzling, and while not exactly pushing the boundaries of innovation, at least that old USB Wi-Fi connecter can be chucked to one side. Not being a great believer in Wi-Fi actually working half the time, it was great to find the new 360 hook straight onto the router with no problem at all.

Storage has always been a bit of an issue with the 360 with hard drive sizes slowly increasing over the years. Not being one to fall for the ‘line our pockets and upgrade’ scenario,  the new slim would be replacing a first generation 360. Yes, I didn’t bother to upgrade and it had a poultry 20Gb drive on the top which was a right pain. Finally, the end of my storage woes arrived with 250GB nestling inside the shiny black box. The hard drive is cunningly hidden and built into the console, but by removing a panel on the top grill, the hard drive can be removed with ease.

A question many 360 owners may be asking is “how do I get my content from the old 360 no new?”. Not wanting to miss a trick with peripherals, Microsoft released a transfer adapter which is sold separately. Simply slot your old drive into the adapter and hook the adapter into one of the slim’s USB ports. I was waiting for a whole world of pain to strike, I didn’t want to lose all my Rock Band tunes! When the drive was slotted in and the USB connected it was a doddle to transfer. The Slim detected it and moved everything across with easy to use menus. Your gamer profiles are also transferred although you do need to authenticate again with Xbox LIVE with the email address and password on your account.

One of the biggest complaints of the first-gen 360 was that it's sound was as subtle as a tumble dryer.  This irked other family members when using it as a DVD player and we had to have the movie volume cranked up to drown the whirr out. The slim on the other hand is as quiet as a kitten, you would hardly know the thing was turned on. To illustrate we shot a quick audio test comparing the old and new. What a difference.

Video comparing the original 360 noise level and the new Slim 

Onto aesthetics, and while Microsoft released a later black version of the 360, the white has been usurped by black with the slim. Instead of opting for something low-key, the new console is quite shiny and doesn’t feel or look too plasticy. The shape is also slicker looking more like an X (see what they did there?) and there are now smoother touch sensitive buttons to open the CD tray and power the machine up. When standing up it looks a little top-heavy but it’s actually pretty sturdy. The console can also be placed flat thanks to four rubber feet on one side.  

Overall the new slim is an improvement on design, it’s shorter by about an inch and just slightly slimmer than the old machine and comes with extra functionality. There are now five USB ports, two on the front and three on the back, an optical audio out port, LAN port and a Kinect ready port.

So what do you get in the box? Included is a wireless controller, a microphone headset, new smaller power supply and a standard definition video cable. It’s a shame Microsoft has again not included an HDMI cable, that should be standard these days and a mistake to not do so.

You have to commend Microsoft for holding out as long as they have before redesigning the 360. In an age when console manufacturers are looking to repackage the same thing year in year out, this is the first full makeover since the 360 was launched back in November 2005.

To sum up, Microsoft has done a great job with the new console but should you buy one if you already have a newer model? The answer is probably not, the slim does offer new features but nothing that will really concern an Xbox gamer at the moment. If you must have the latest tech then we highly recommend you snag one.

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