Quiet, sleek, easier HDD access, and Wifi. Worth upgrading? Up to you.

After hearing about the features of the "Slim" revision of the Xbox 360, I figured I'd go ahead and buy the 4GB Matte Xbox 360. The revision touts a quieter fan, a smaller size, integrated Wifi, and touch activated controls. The fan, first of all, is indeed an improvement. They reduced the fan noise from the jet turbine-like sound of the original model to a gentle hum in the updated model. Compared to the original Xbox 360, it's about 10-15% smaller in height. The integrated Wi-Fi is a plus and a much needed feature, so thankfully there's no more proprietary accessories to buy or jimmy-rigging a shared internet connection with a laptop. Touch activated controls are neat but slightly annoying. If you are reaching around the console, you'll find that your forearm can accidentally turn on the console or eject the tray. It probably depends on the game, but you'll find that the DVD drive is rather loud when it is spinning the disc at the fastest speeds. It can be made worse if the console exterior vibrates with the DVD drive, which creates extra noise, thus making it as loud as the old model. This can be averted if you install games to a hard drive, which brings me to another point. To save money, I hooked up a WD2500BEVS hard drive inside (after modifying the HDD firmware with "hddhackr") so I can have plenty of space to install games and not have to deal with the DVD noise. Luckily, you don't need a proprietary enclosure for the hard drive, as the bare drive directly hooks into a standard SATA connector in the bottom of the system. If you are worried about the HDD wobbling, you can buy a replacement enclosure caddy (for really cheap) to hold it still, if it eases your mind. One thing to note is that the internal hardware is exactly the same as the old Xbox 360. There is NO technical speed difference in the components. I compared this head-to-head with my old Xbox. My guess is to keep the price low for manufacture by continuing to use the same components from 2005, keep game development/compatibility constant, and keep multiplayer on Xbox Live fair. My controller didn't have the special DPAD thing where you can lower the diagonal parts, so it's pretty much the exact same controller. Word of advice, buy a rechargeable battery pack immediately so you don't need to constantly replace batteries. Also, if you like less cable clutter, buy a cheap HDMI cable, it supplies both great sound and the better HD video output than Component or VGA. Overall, if you want a quieter and slimmer system, then by all means sell your old Xbox 360 and go for this model. If you don't care much about the fan noise and just want to play your Xbox vidya, don't bother upgrading.Read full review