Richard over at Aeropause wrote an article praising how quiet his new Xbox 360 Elite compared to his old 360. After purchasing an Elite of my own I am proud to report that I have experience the same with my unit as well. After reading all the initial reports that the Elite wasn’t any quieter when compared to its earlier predecessors I was expecting the hear the same from my Elite. Maybe they are placing the newer disc drives in each Elite which could help explain the decrease in noise emitting from the box, but none the less I am happy with my new 360.

I have heard similar reports from other gamers as well and those same reports say that the games look much better through HDMI, contradicting earlier reports stating that there wasn’t a difference. Although, he states that the upgrade to the Elite is not necessary unless you are a new owner because the upgrades alone are not worth dropping the dollars on a new box when you can simply upgrade your Hard Drive for a fraction of the cost. I upgraded simply because my Premium seemed like it would die out any day and my warranty had expired two months prior so the extra costs justified the purchase, and I have to admit that the black look is “friggin’ awesome.”

He is taking a poll and I would like to join in by asking who else has experienced a quieter gaming experience after upgrading to the Elite?

It seems like most people are still on the fence about whether to drop the money to upgrade to the Elite so my best advice to you is surf the net a bit and see what people are saying about it. If you like what you see and believe that the upgrade would benefit you then you have your answer. Although, the upgrade will be costly whether you choose to trade-in your premium for $250 at Gamestop or try to get a more lucrative offer it will cost you anywhere from $150-250 extra for the upgrade. Also, take into account that you will have to wait an additional week or so to receive your free transfer cable from Microsoft after you send in the order form.

So far the best deal I have seen, other then to sell your 360 on eBay is to go to estarland.com and get $300 trade-in toward the Elite, but you will still have to wait to receive your shipment in the mail either way. I agree with Richard that there are some pros and cons to upgrading and regardless of whether you think this is simply a way for Microsoft to make more money or not, I have nothing but good news to report about the Xbox 360 Elite gaming system.

[via: Aeropause]

-Brandon “Hoosierdaddy812″ Petesch-