An Xbox 360 with its case open.

OCT. 9, 2007 • The San Jose Mercury News reports that production Xbox 360s will not receive another motherboard upgrade until the third quarter of 2008. At the time, a more efficient graphics chip from ATI, plus smaller memory chips, will be used. The changes are expected to further reduce heat issues, plus lower the production cost of the console.

Impact: Given the heat problems generated by the original Xbox 360 design, and the multi-stage approach Microsoft took to fixing the problem, consumers have been left unsure of exactly what to expect from their purchases. Such scenarios often lead well-informed consumers to put off their purchases until the latest hardware update arrives. With a year of architecture consistency, those concerns evaporate.