Frankly, the fact that this is indeed news is quite laughable and very sad at the same time. “New Xbox 360 might not die like all the others,” really isn’t good news, because we shouldn’t be in a position where such news is even possible. Sadly however, it is, and for that reason alone I am not welcoming news that the Elite is designed to withstand the infamous red ring plague with open arms. Citing design problems with the original machine, Microsoft’s president of the Entertainment and Devices division, Robbie Bach, has told shareholders that the Elite is different. Like, you know, it should be. While you’re at it, why don’t you recall the machines you’re still knowingly selling with faults?
“It’s a design challenge that we’ve had to work around and create a new design to solve that problem, and for the interaction of a variety of different components. And so that’s a Microsoft design question, not some component manufacturer’s problem or our manufacturing partner’s problems,” Bach recently said, as confirmed by Spong. “It’s something we’ve had to work on. We know we have a much better design in the market now. We verified that.”
If Microsoft knows it has a much better design released now, then really there should be no excuse for expecting customers to maintain its prior shoddy hardware. Honestly, I love my Xbox 360, but this news makes me even more angry, simply because it doesn’t solve the problem of countless condemned consoles still floating around the marketplace, and earlier adopters still greatly inconvenienced.
In light of these claims, has Microsoft truly fixed the problem? There are those who have their doubts after looking inside the 360 Elite themselves. Hit the jump for more.
Llamma.com recently cracked open an Elite to take a look at what changes are inside. Most of what the guys there said is far too technical for this humble Englishman who still rides in a horse and cart (seriously, what are wires?), but details on Microsoft’s red ring fix are interesting to say the least:
One a side note, we all had a good belly laugh here at the shop when we saw Microsoft’s most creative measures to minimize the dreaded Xbox 360 3 flashing red lights “ring of death” error caused by poor BGA connections of the CPU and GPU. It seems that that the good ol’ a dab will do ya methodology applies here. Take a look at the epoxy surrounding the CPU and GPU which is intended to prevent the BGA connection from popping as the board warps. This has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Will it do the job, we have our doubts, but it will remain to be seen. It certainly seems like taking the easy way out instead of fixing the real problem.
Microsoft taking an easy way out? Never! Check out the site for the full gory details on the Elite’s guts and giblets, but I felt that was a pertinent paragraph to share. The ‘Soft really doesn’t need to design itself into yet another black hole, but whenever there’s a cheap alternative, the company that spent millions of dollars for downloadable content will always take it. Very poor.
