Is it really?

^^^^ Uhh... yeah, you DO have a 360 don't you?

Actually, I prefer this design (same as with the Wii), to the "inbuilt" design:

 - if the power supply breaks, easy to get a replacement
 - reduces heat generated by the console (internally)
 - safer grounding (if your power supply gets zapped by lightning or something similar, less chance of frying your console)
 - allows the "core" console to be smaller (can hide the power brick out of sight)
 - less risk with international issues (taking console OS, etc..) - just buy a new power adapter
 - safer device (you *never* have mains voltage running to the console itself)
 - its potentially more "portable" - in the unlikely event that you want to make the console portable - its possible. You can put together a battery (or other) powered supply that delivers the right voltages straight to the console. Something like a car charger *could* be possible.

...

Apart from all that, that 360 brick looks poorly designed and very cheap. I wonder what the peak current that thing delivers - its probably quite scary :P

@Shams

Here is what it says on the back of the Power Brick:

Input AC
100V-127V~4.8amps 47-63Hz

Output DC: 203 watts

Holy huge capacitor batman!
When I had a 360 (I had one from March '06 - Jan '07, sold it) I never heard any fan noise coming from my power brick. Is the fan a more recent addition than mid '06?

As a SMPS designer, I cannot see any problems with this power supply.

I don’t think that the Power supply brick was rushed and it was most likely designed outside of M$ to a specification and price. ( an obvious part which could be outsourced to professionals) This power supply contains a lot of tech and the layout looks good.

I would not expect anything better than this in any other SMPS used for computers or laptop power supplies.

Nidan

ok so with all the talk of the internal heat of the 360.. why would you want more heat inside the case by adding the power supply?

my ps3 doesnt need a "brick" ... and it doesnt overheat.. and its ALWAYS on.



kinda off topic but why dont these machines run on AC?

@Splatman
True, but if you look at the PS3, its bigger then the xbox360. MS was trying to make up for the mistake of the big monster the original xbox was. Also its not unusual large power supplies nowadays with the electronics we have. Hell, i dont even have that powerful of a PS on my computer (i think its around 550W), yet its still has two 80mm fans built into it(one forcing air in, another pushing it out) Hell, if you remember, N64 had a decent sized brick that you attached to the unit, remember that thing, it was a monster for its time, haha.

Eeek. That's right, the 360 sucks a lot of power as well.

4.8amps on the input is a lot of joice as well.

It probably has multiple voltage pins on the output, but at 10V - that is 20amps. Juice baby, juice! 

(I think that is a hell of a lot for a specialised electronics device).

(note - isn't the PS3 rated around 50% more? And the Wii around 20watts or something like that?) 

About having an internal power brick or the power brick being loud:

Yes, internal would be nice, but think about how many 360s overheat ALREADY.

I don't pay that much attention, but I'm pretty sure that the power brick is nearly silent and the disc drive is what makes all the noise. If you have a loud power brick, maybe there's something wrong with it?