Xbox 360 Hardware
 |
| The Xbox 360 shown above includes
wireless controller is a sleek, customizable entertainment
system. |
Xbox 360 is much smaller than its predecessor he XBOX. It is
powered by custom designed IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical
cores each running at 3.2 GHz. It also includes a custom ATI graphics
processor 10 MB of embedded DRAM. This is powerful enough to draw
500 million triangles per second. In other words, it makes for great
looking games in standard TV definition, and even better thanks to
built-in support for HDTV 1080i televisions. It also supports the
widescreen 16:9 format.
The XBOX 360 has a 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM drive, which plays both the
game media and progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. For
game-save and media storage, users can choose between the detachable
and upgradeable 20GB hard drive, or a separately sold 64MB flash
Memory Unit. Along with storing files, the hard drive will make the
Xbox 360 backward-compatible with part of the existing Xbox game
library.
Xbox 360 uses an advanced button layout for its controllers. Back
and Start buttons sit at the center of the controller and between
them is a new Xbox Guide button, which instantly takes the user to
the Xbox 360 user interface. From there, they can check for friends
online, access personal digital content like photos and songs, and
more. The black and white buttons of the first Xbox controllers have
been replaced with new shoulder buttons placed above the left and
right triggers. Xbox 360 can accommodate up to four wireless
controllers and has three USB 2.0 slots to use for wired controllers
or for streaming your digital media from digital cameras, MP3
players, and any Windows XP-based PC. Microsoft has announced plans
for a upcoming video-conferencing camera that will work with the
system.
