A smaller, cooler Falcon should be soaring this Fall
by Dustin Burg 
{ Jul 9th 2007 at 3:30PM }
Falcon. That's the code name for the project that'll not only make future Xbox 360s more reliable and make the hardware cheaper, but will also help Microsoft sleep better at night. Over at The Mercury News, Dean Takahashi talks about the Falcon project and how the new 65nm technology could be the answer to Microsoft's red ring woes. It is expected that the new 65nm CPU/GPU combo could be implemented as soon this Fall and would seriously help with hardware stability as the smaller chips produce less heat. The benefits are enormous and range from cheaper hardware, to more reliable chips, to less heat being generated. With project Falcon being so beneficial it'd be hard to believe that Microsoft isn't pushing to get the technology up and out the door as soon as possible. This Falcon could very well be the single best thing to ever happen to the 360.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Xanto @ Jul 9th 2007 3:41PM
Let's hope so.
Joe @ Jul 9th 2007 3:42PM
I'll take 2 :)
DjDATZ @ Jul 9th 2007 3:44PM
I think once they're officially confirmed to be in the elites, I'll pick up an elite.
russny @ Jul 9th 2007 3:48PM
Once the 65nm chips are in, I will definitely buy an Elite. I wish there was a more accurate deadline though, "fall" is a pretty vague and general term.
Leatherface @ Jul 9th 2007 3:57PM
Hopefully they'll make the UK/Europe Elite. If they do, I'll definitely be getting an Elite (I was already thinking about it anyway).
Tony Bowman @ Jul 9th 2007 3:54PM
it makes perfect sense that they would extend the warranty, then put out consoles that won't need to take advantage of it. saves them money in manufacturing and repair costs, but they get the PR boost of lengthening the warranty period.
it's just good business.
THA1icarus @ Jul 9th 2007 4:44PM
They better do it fast cause the 360 life span isn't as long as expected.
Deano @ Jul 9th 2007 7:21PM
Can't wait to see some Falcon video :)
drdre74 @ Jul 9th 2007 8:28PM
man they need to hurry and do something. My xbox is acting up already. this sucks. Screen goes black when I'm playing and it freezes up at start up now. I have to keep restarting it. Time to send this crap in. I was hoping to be one of the lucky ones but I guess not.
Jeramy @ Jul 9th 2007 11:20PM
once the falcon is implemented, the price drop will be a done deal. i think ms will drop the price before hand in anticipation. while it is a bit off the topic, they should knock down elite to 400 and add built-in wifi. that would definitely make it a much better deal.
Furen @ Jul 10th 2007 12:42AM
As far as I know, there will be a price drop during the fall
as well,
$399 Elite, $350 Premium and $249 for Core. Nice price on the core
but I kind of wish the price on the premium was a bit lower ($300 for
a premium would be just great). 65nm parts will do wonders to power
consumption, so we may even see a smaller power supply which would
also lower costs nicely (a 30-50% power draw reduction is completely
possible, maybe even more depending on the tweaks thrown into the
process).
Furen @ Jul 10th 2007 12:46AM
Meh, here I was thinking that I was one of the first to hear the price drop rumors and I scroll down and see that there was a posting about it WAY before I learned of it, lol.
Jeff @ Jul 11th 2007 8:07PM
Yeah, in response to 9, I AM one of the lucky ones :). No scratched disks, minimal overheating problems (once on a 6 hour gaming session), no RRoD. The early adoply adopters must have been unlucky in this case.
Sircolby45 @ Jul 10th 2007 10:11AM
Nothing new here. I have known it was coming for a loooong time now. I was thinking it was coming this summer, but I guess not.
Kelly Gorga @ Jul 10th 2007 11:12AM
With all these rumours of upgraded systems, is there any talk of current 360 owners getting an upgrade for a discounted price? As happy as I am that they're making a cooler, more reliable system, I'm going to be really pissed off if they make me shell out another $400 for it (even another $300 would be out of the question). Something around $100 might be acceptable...I'd prefer even less than that, but it's probably asking too much of money-hungry executives.
I just think it's ridiculous that they'd expect us to pay double for their faulty hardware mistakes.
NeoteriX @ Jul 10th 2007 5:26PM
"I just think it's ridiculous that they'd expect us to pay double for their faulty hardware mistakes."
You're not paying double. That's what the 3 year warranty is for. It's silly to think Msoft should be taking back units so that early adopters can upgrade. What are they going to do with all the old units? No one is going to want them and a significant population will want to upgrade.
This does not happen in any other industry. If you buy the first generation of a car, you will expect it to have bugs and you will deal with it. You paid to have the first new "X" car, and you can cry as long as you want as to why next year's version has more power, a sunroof, xenon lights, etc. and no one will give a flying CRAP.