One of the biggest moments of Microsoft's Press Conference at this year's E3 was the proud introduction of the new Xbox 360 hardware. Not only was it smaller and described as "whisper quiet" but it would be available within the week. Well we've got our hands on one and as a service to all you early adopters out there we're comparing every inch of that device to the previous pinnacle of 360 hardware: The Elite.

The Hardware
Right off the bat the console is noticeably shorter and slightly thinner. It is however, also very slightly deeper. That means you won't be pushing it any farther back in your entertainment center than your current console. The finish is shiny and easily picks up finger prints so you'll want to wipe it down after setting up. The new proportions extend to the new power brick as well, which is noticeably smaller, lighter, and has a nice smooth finish.

Follow up:

The hard drive is 250 Gigabytes and can be found behind a latch at the bottom of the system. It isn't difficult to remove, but it isn't easily accessible if you stand your console vertically. Remember that Microsoft now allows gamers to use flash drives to store game saves and profile data so this shouldn't be an issue.

The new Xbox 360 is also slightly lighter. On our high-tech mail-room scale we detected a difference of about a pound. The Elite came in at about 6.8 and the new model came in at about 5.8 lbs.

Ports
There are five USB ports on the new model Xbox 360. That's two more than on the Elite. There are still two up front behind a spring-loaded flap and then three in the back. There is also a built-in optical audio port which means you no longer have to use a silly dongle to attach an optical cable. The other new addition is another port for Kinect – which is what Microsoft was referring to when they say the new model is "Kinect ready."

Start-Up
The touch sensitive start-up button makes a pleasant "ding" noise when you touch it. We clocked 17.2 seconds from that sound to the welcome screen in the Xbox 360 menu. We clocked one of Elite units at 21.2 seconds for the same functionality. Anyone who has used many Xbox 360s knows that the start-up time can vary by a few seconds depending on the state of the unit, however we like to think that the new model has an edge in this department.

Load Times
We loaded Pure Futbol onto the hard drive in 3:10:00 on the new model. On the Elite it took 2:41:00, about 29 seconds faster. Then we tried installing UFC 2010. It took 10:41:10 on the new 360 and 9:05:60 on the Elite. This could point to the old hard drive being slightly faster. Of course the times will vary from game-to-game and installing a disc shouldn't be too common of an action.

We also measured the time it took to load certain game modes in Halo 3 and the times were nearly identical. What was very noticeable was the extreme difference in noise levels between the two consoles. The new Xbox 360 is extremely quiet, and I was sitting directly next to it. Of all the advantages presented by the new hardware this might be the most attractive.

Be sure to check out the image gallery for up-close and personal shots of the console.