After officially announcing a price drop for all editions of its Xbox 360 console, Microsoft also began rolling out a quiet refresh of the Xbox 360 Premium's hardware, adding an HDMI port, previously only available on the Xbox 360 Elite.
"Yes, we are offering an HDMI port for Xbox 360 simply as another choice in Xbox 360 owners' games and entertainment experience," a Microsoft rep told Shacknews in an statement. "Retailers are gradually introducing HDMI-enabled Xbox 360s into the channel to meet demand."
HDMI allows for higher audio and visual fidelity when connected to HD-enabled TVs, delivering up to 1080p resolution. This is great news to new Xbox buyers who will get better features, at a cheaper price. Microsoft says they haven't announced plans to add HDMI to the $280 Core system, and declined to comment on the claims that these new systems would also feature cooler 65 nanometer CPUs.
Now, at $449, the 120GB hard drive (and a black chassis) is the only thing that sets the Elite apart from the Premium and limited-edition Halo 3 variations of the Xbox 360 console.