With the new PS3 slim making its way to stores at a lower and more competitive price point of $300, Sony has dealt a severe blow to Microsoft’s key price and value strategy for the Xbox 360. Comparing the head-to-head value of the Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 Slim, Microsoft no longer has the advantage.
The Debate
Let’s start with the systems themselves. It’s no surprise to gamers that the Xbox 360 is prone to hardware failure. Even with the latest Falcon and Jasper revisions, reports of red-ringing, energy sucking, and hot running 360’s are still reported regularly, even at important press events. Meanwhile, the PS3’s Slim’s cooler 45nm processor and slimmed (excuse the pun) down components have helped cut its total power consumption by 50% compared to the original and thus extends the system’s life, reducing overheating hardware failures, and saving you money on your electric bill.
Hardware Advantage: PS3 Slim
Taking a closer look at what’s inside the systems, both come packed with a 120GB hard drive. If you're the type who downloads a decent amount of content from either consoles Marketplace like the latest demos, DLC, videos, etc. a hard drive can get filled up in no time and especially the PS3's with their massive mandatory installs to make up for the slow Blu-Ray drive.
Storage upgrade options for the Xbox 360 are slim and expensive. Buying another hard drive is limiting since you have to buy MS specific HDD’s and a 120GB hard drive will run you around $120. On the flip side, the PS3’s more open architecture allows you to easily swap out the current hard drive with any SATA notebook hard drive. A standard 500GB 5400RPM SATA notebook hard drive runs around $90.
What we have is a 380GB difference of an upgrade PS3 users can do compared to the 360's 120GB HDD (and the highest you can buy on the market until the 250GB is made available) and it costs $30 less. When it comes to convenience to upgrading your storage, the PS3 wins this one as well.
Upgrade Advantage: PS3 Slim
One of the PS3’s main advantages (and a disadvantage to loading times) is its built in Blu-Ray drive compared to the Xbox 360’s standard DVD drive. Until now, the PS3's Blu-Ray had been a big factor that contributed to the $100 price difference but since both systems are at an equal $300, the PS3 Slim has another scale tipper..
Throw in the fact that the PS3 also has Bluetooth capabilities so that most headsets with Bluetooth functionality will work with the system, again, we have another advantage over Microsoft’s closed off architecture where you can only buy specific console accessories.
Taking the Xbox 360 online wirelessly will run users an extra $100 for the official Microsoft Wireless Adapter, while the PS3 Slim (and previous PS3’s) already have wifi out of the box. There are some DIY methods for the Xbox 360 that are much cheaper than Microsoft’s adapter, but is not exactly something for non-tech savvy people.
Both consoles come with an HDMI port for HD gaming but, oddly enough, only ship with standard composite cables. The 360 Elite used to come with an HDMI cable packed in, a huge value compared to the $40 cables you’d find at retailers like Best Buy, but alas that’s no more. In order to cut corners and save on money, the HDMI cable has been nixed from the newer Elite’s.
Component Advantage: PS3 Slim
Judging the online play for each system is a tricky one. Even though the PSN may be free, that doesn’t mean Xbox Live’s fee automatically makes it the loser. Quite the opposite actually. With Xbox Live’s Gold membership, you do get your money’s worth with features not present on the PSN such as Facebook/Twitter integration, Netflix Streaming Service, Party features, Last.fm radio, a somewhat secure but closed off gaming network, and so on.
And that’s not to say the PSN is completely free either. The PSN charges an annual or single-purchase subscription fee for its Qore service, a monthly video feature that previews that hottest games coming out and includes chances to beta test games for a price of $2.99 a month. Buying an entire 13 episodes subscription will run you $25, half that of Xbox Live. Aside from the beta openings, these kind of video features are available regularly to Xbox Live Silver members. It really comes down to preference and the person, depending on whether they use these extra features or not since the online gaming expierence for both is mostly the same.
Online Advantage: PC Gaming… just kidding. Neither.
For the overall bang for your buck, the PS3 Slim beats out the Xbox 360 Elite. There’s no fanboy talk here, just pure facts concerning the hardware. The PS3 slim simply has more features and is no longer charging them at a premium price now, putting it ahead of the Xbox 360 Elite in total value.
In the end, what really counts is the game selection and that’s completely up to the gamer to decide. Some just don’t care for wi-fi, which system has the better online service, or whether it will link up with their Bluetooth device. Just look at the Wii. What’s the point of having all of those features if the system doesn’t have the games you want?
The Better Console: That’s for you to decide.
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Facebook/twitter... I DONT HAVE
Netflix... i download movies via torrent.
Last.fm... i download music via torrent.
etc...
Dude no offense, but it would kick my a*s to pay for xbox live... I did, back when i used to play halo 2, but 3shitty broke on me since day 1 with a faulty disc tray, then a faulty HDD and 2 RRoDs. My launch PS3 has never broken on me, and its as strong as ever.
That to me, is the most important factor cause most of the games are multiplatforms nowadays.
So i ended up selling my 360, and with that cash, im buying another PS3 (slim).
EX-XBL: frenrihr/necronzero
PSN: necronzero