new xbox 360 with HDMI on the way?

I would only consider buying an xbox 360 second hand, when 2nd hand boxes are pleanty full as not to force someone else into buying a new console. even then i would only try to use it as a real computer.

Games console's are on of the biggest examples of vendor lockin, and there :swear: expensive for what you ca do with them.

 

Consoles are great. They allow the user to be guaranteed compatibility, not like PCs. If playing Gran Turismo means I'm locked to the PS3, I couldn't care less.

If you wanted to use a 360/PS3 as a real computer (excluding experimental uses) then might as well buy a REAL computer wouldn't you?

 

no, i can get xbox's for £30-£40's (probably less now the 360 is out). As there all the same, if you've set up one... you can set them all up (and since there all the same...)

Hardware
Intel Celeron 733 MHz CPU, an nVidia GeForce 3MX, 64 MB of RAM, a 8/10 GB hard disk, a DVD drive and 10/100 Ethernet.

You try getting a computer with = > specs than that for £30.

 

It's not worth the hassle, using xboxs for clustered computing basically says "I can't afford a proper server farm".

For me, I would pay £500 for a PS3 to perfect my driving technique in GT and gawp at the graphics. It's worth it for me. Installing Linux on it is a plus, I suppose I could create some interesting programs for the Cell architecture and study it in more detail, but I certainly wouldn't say they're not worth the money for games alone.

 

I'll buy the PS3. It even has an SD-card reader. And looks much better than that ugly 360.

 

and just how many people can afford a 'proper' server farm? (not many individuals would have a use for one tho ). and you can use them as desktops, they work quite well for kiosks

 

whats HDMI, the ability to play HD's?

 

It is a connection on HDTV's to see HD content (you can connect a game console, HD DVD player or Blu-ray player on it). More information here.

 

And of course the nice thing with the Elite model is they throw in the HDMI cable too. Hopefully Sony will smarten up and decide to do the same for the PS3.

For HDMI it's basically an all digital connection between two devices that carries both audio and video signals. Most cables also incorporate HDCP which protects the contents from duplication, so the movie studios have pretty much said it's the ways things are going and in Vista you are actually unable to watch HD based discs without and HDCP compliant graphics card & monitor.