Reports: 'Jasper' Xbox 360s Now Shipping, Pack Redesigned Hardware and More Internal Memory
The revision is said to shrink the Xbox 360's GPU down to 65nm, reducing internal heat and power consumption. With reduced power consumption comes a redesigned power unit that only outputs 150W--one of the supposed identifying characteristics of a Jasper.
Problems stemming from internal heat are widely believed to cause the "Red Ring of Death" hardware failure that afflicts Xbox 360 owners and caused Microsoft to extend the system's warranty. The arrival of Jasper hardware has been anticipated by many, as some speculate the model will be less prone to hardware failure.
The Jasper units are believed to have entered production in August, with various Xbox-Scene posts specifying that the first Jasper systems have been the Xbox 360 Arcade model, which pack no hard drive and were made on 10-23-2008 in Lot #0843X.
Arcade versions of the Jasper units appear to pack 256MB of internal memory for game saves and downloads, going by this YouTube video and this post from Shacker sun and moon. It is not yet known if Elite and Pro models have the new internal memory too.
The last major revision of internal Xbox 360 hardware saw the addition of HDMI ports to all versions of the system last August, after the functionality debuted with the Elite.
Microsoft has not officially confirmed if the new Jasper motherboards are indeed shipping. The company has generally refused to comment on specific hardware modifications, in the past telling Shacknews that it is "constantly updating the console's more than 1700 internal components and therefore will not comment on details of specific components or manufacturing processes."
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Harbinger
replyNo HDMI, RRoD, 20GB HDD allowing for only 1 game install (2 if the 2nd game is small and you have no other downloads) , high power draw and heat, loud DVD drive, $400, etc.
Hooray for early adopters.-
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LOL!
True.
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the value for early adopters is the enjoyment you get out of it, not the initial cost 3 yrs later. my launch 2005 unit RRoD'ed 2 years later. yeah, it sucked, but i got some good games out of it.
i also picked up a samsung 26" HDTV for $1600 back in 12/2005 to go along w/ the 360. if i compare the prices of HDTV today, then of course, $1600 is way too much. -
couldn't be happier
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Seriously people, demand better. 360 may have the best online and game library, but the overall sytem has some large failures. No built-in HD-DVD/Blueray - either for movies or for more game content/less compression/less disks. RRoD, which they handled great but is $1 billion less to spend on other things. HDD-less arcade model making it harder for devs to support and responsible for the 64MB limit for arcade downloads (later increased). No true keyboard+mouse support. The MS driving wheel has a recall for catching on fire. A full 7GB from the 20GB hdd is "reserved". $130-150 for a legit 120GB hdd upgrade, with no option for using any size 2.5" drive (because 0/20/60/120GB is plenty of space for the home media center they want the 360 to be). Lack of HDMI which was latter added (adding hardware is completely different than a die shrink). Canceling backwards compatibility support. MS allowed the GH3 wireless guitar to use a non-360 standard battery interface making your rechargeable power packs worthless. Greedy accessory bundling and pricing (can't buy a 60GB drive standalone without an Ethernet cable and another headset, $40 for the 512MB card, etc.)
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You can make lists like this about every piece of hardware in existence, I'll wager. Certainly game consoles for the last couple of years.
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Most importantly, most of Harbinger's list is 'stupid design decisions.' While I'm not pointing any fingers, this is something all of the companies are full of. Is anybody going to seriously try to argue that MS is alone in that?
As far as the hardware failure goes, it's going off of my own subjective opinion from personal experience, but the PS2 was sure as hell guilty as massive failure rates for the first generation w/ the optical drive.
My cynical ass says the major difference was they didn't warranty it past 90 days, so there -were- no 'hardware returns' to be kept track of. We just took it up the ass because we didn't know any different, and by the time the first gen were failing we could generally buy the slim PS2 for cheaper.
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I dunno "steering wheel catching fire" is pretty fucking bad (and hilarious). I hadn't heard that one before, though.
The problem isn't just the RROD though it's that everything about the fucking system is janky. Before NXE, there was the dashboard which wasn't exactly the most responsive thing in the world. It's the MOST finicky piece of consumer hardware OR software with regards to NATs and firewalls I've ever used in my life. The disc drives are all fucked. For a while it was a crapshoot as to whether an unopened system you bought at retail was refurbished or actually new. A couple months ago I had a hardly-used wireless controller just fucking BREAK on me. There isn't a single thing about the system that you could say works 100% right. It's a mess. I can't even imagine how more uninformed consumers feel about the system, it must be ten times worse for them. No wonder people buy wiis. -
I have a launch-Xbox that still works, even tho the optical drive is somewhat picky
I have a launch GameCube that still works np
I have a Dreamcast that still works perfectly
I have a V9 PS2 that is used excessively until today and still works flawlessly
I have an Xbox 360 that RRODd less than 1.5 years after I first set it up, almost three years after the console was first released, any a year before that a mandatory firmware update screwed with my RGB output and forced me to fall back to S-Video. A stellar track record for the 2nd and last Microsoft console I will buy for a while.
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HD-DVD and BR were not ready when the 360 shipped. The old Xbox also had space reserved for games to use. They didn't cancel BC like Sony did, they just have slowed/stopped providing updates because they felt the BC list was adequate. You have some valid points, but you also make some leaps. You are also complaining about the past. They fixed a lot of what you bitch about, so why bitch about that? Early adopters often get shafted. Talk to people with profile 1.0 BR players.
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But the game library is pretty much what a system is judged on. I own all three systems and I'll be the first one to say that the 360 has the best library and if this one I have RRODs I'll buy another (I already had it happen once with my launch model...I went and bought another and just used my old HDD in it). I get a lot of use on all my systems...and I have some real gripes about the 360 like any of the others (the way they've pretty much locked out a lot of third party peripherals comes to mind...I'd love a real X-Arcade adapter rather than having to use a hacked together method to get my arcade joystick working with the system...and I'd love a nice logitech wheel I could use on my PS3, 360, and PC with 900 degree turning...and I'd love to be able to use some of my old specialty controllers as well (I can use an NES controller with a USB adapter on my PS3...same with my SNES controller and my Saturn controller...but MS won't even let a lot of companies make 360 specific peripherals...on that particular front I think MS needs to catch up...Sony does a lot wrong with the PS3...but it handles controllers the best IMHO).
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Also, wtf with the steering wheel. I hadn't heard that and almost went out and bought one for my 360 (but talked myself out of it because I don't really have room for 2 steering wheels). I'm glad I read this, as I'll definately keep from buying one for the time being (or until I lose will-power).
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The steering wheel issue was fixed long ago. It's only a problem for people with early versions who can send the wheel off for the "retrofit" which fixes whatever the problem was.
(My wheel is one of the earlier ones. I've only just arranged for it to be sent off as I was too lazy to schedule a collection for the last year or so. :) After a few weeks of solid forza2 I hardly use the thing.)
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If MS waited for HD-DVD/BR to be ready then they console would probably:
1) Have been delayed for a year
2) Have broken its promise of a global release
3) Have costed more
4) Have had worse load times or mandatory installs due to the slower drive
5) Offered no real benefits for most games, with a handful of exceptions
6) Have been lumbered with HD-DVD which then died (though maybe if the 360 had it it then it wouldn't have died; who knows).
None of those seem worthwhile for a *games* machine.
If you want a machine that is late, costs more, has slow read-times and mandatory installs, and is as much about playing movies as games, then the PS3 is your option.
And HDMI doesn't exactly make much difference at 720p resolution for games. Component is just fine.
Keyboard & mouse support is IMO a bad idea in a console that's aimed at people playing on the sofa in front of their TVs and which has mutliplayer as a big part of it. Nobody wants an unlevel playing field. Maybe it would make sense to offer it for single-player games but, honestly, I think the only people who really want it are diehard PC whiners who should stick to the PC anyway. For single-player games a joypad is *good enough*.
I agree that the RROD and driving wheel issues were mistakes. MS should do better quality control on their hardware and I've bitched about both issues myself in the past. Still, they'll repair both things for free so neither are the end of the world.
20GB HDD was fine initially. It's only now that we can optionally install games that it's feeling small, but we can always choose not to install them. I agree that the 120GB HDD prices are an absolute rip-off. (There's some excuse that it's a laptop HDD for smallness and robustness but, meh, even then it's a rip-off and I'd choose a normal size HDD over price any day.)
"Cancelling backwards compatibility support?" What? When did that happen? And have you not noticed that Sony's BC isn't exactly brilliant?
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Scroll down the comments in the rest of this topic and tell me no one upgrades their console...
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