MTV Explains 360 HDDs High Cost
Chances are you’ve pondered upgrading your Xbox 360’s harddrive in hopes of unlocking it’s full potential as a home media device. Chances are, you didn’t do it due to the 120 GB harddrive costing a staggering $180.Well, it seems that the ridiculously high price has been picked apart, analyzed, yet still not justified.
MTV Multiplayer has recently contacted hardware analyst iSuppli to find out that several factors go into inflating the price to that far beyond of which you would expect to pay for a regular 120 GB harddrive.
The first price inflating factor is that the HDD comes pre installed with various software, including bits and pieces of the consoles OS itself.
Secondly, the drives are shipped off to another company who then supply casing and retail packaging for the drives, ensuring a perfect fit.
After these procedures are finished, the drives run at an estimated $100 per drive to which Microsoft adds an additional $80 to the suggested retail, leaving us with the infamous $180 MSRP.
While learning this probably won’t make many people run out and purchase the high-priced harddrive (it certainly doesn’t make me want to) it lets us know that Microsoft isn’t exactly as money-crazed as we initially thought. Hell, I’d rather pay $180 for a chrome (or gold) plated harddrive like pictured above.