Five years ago we dissected the original Xbox 360. Today we're back with the new, slim Xbox 360 and have put together a similar guide to disassembling the console. In addition we've gone in and looked at the power savings and noise reduction made possible by further integrating the CPU and GPU onto a single package.

Moore's Law delivers as the new Xbox 360 uses roughly 80% of the power of the previous generation (and less than 50% of the original Xbox 360). Noise characteristics are also improved. We measured a 4 - 5 decibel reduction in noise when using the system.

Read on for the full guide!

Today UPS dropped off my Xbox 360 Slim (codename Valhalla) and I did exactly what you'd expect me to: run power numbers on it and take the whole thing apart. I've posted pics of the system compared to the old Jasper Xbox 360 here and a gallery of my dissection of the system here. Expect to see some power and noise data soon followed by a detailed dissection guide. And if you're looking to get your hands on one the Microsoft Store apparently got a shipment of around 20,000 boxes and aren't anywhere near selling them all out.

Enjoy :)

Update: Our guide is live!

A few months back, Anandtech carried the review of the Patriot Box Office media streamer. Pursuant to a very good reception from readers, we have decided to start a dedicated home theater section where we will be covering products in this space. Of primary interest will be media streaming boxes, but we will also cover other DLNA enabled products, media extenders, PVRs and DVRs.

We will formally inaugurate this section with a roundup of the various platforms in the media streamer space. Towards the end, our methodology to evaluate the various media streamers will also be presented. Readers are welcome to give feedback and let us know areas they would like reviews to concentrate more on. Read on to find more about the history of media streamers, the current state of the market and where we think it is headed.

While we're still waiting on our EVO 4G review sample, AnandTech Mobile Editor Vivek Gowri got his hands on the HTC EVO 4G. Android 2.1 running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC with a giant screen and 4G network support makes for one beast of a phone.

Read on for Vivek's thoughts.

Intrinsity is not a name immediately recognized by today's average consumer. However, keen followers of the application processor market recognize its claim to fame as the firm behind the Cortex-A8 implementations (called the Hummingbird) in the Apple A4 and Samsung Galaxy S.

Apple's acquisition of the semiconductor firm Intrinsity has been doing the rounds on the Internet since the beginning of April. With many former Intrinsity employees publicly disclosing their employment with Apple now, Apple's quarterly earnings report indicating business acquisitions for $325 million, and NYTimes confirming the acquisition from Apple's side, the only unknown quantity in the whole transaction seems to be the amount shelled out by Apple for the purchase. The acquisition wasn't entirely unexpected once it was realized that PA Semi had nothing to do with the A4, and Apple had plans for the A4 family much beyond the iPad.
 

Microprocessor Report's Tom Halfhill has an excellent piece on why Apple wanted Intrinsity, and suggests that the purchase price was around $121 million. Another group of industry insiders, however, believe that Apple may have actually got a far better deal by completing the asset acquisition for a much lesser amount. How did Apple manage to gobble up Intrinsity? What is the cause for people's varied estimates of the purchase price, and why would both Apple and Intrinsity want to keep the purchase price a secret? How would the acquisition play out for the two companies, considering the fact that Apple's two previous semiconductor acquisitions haven't been especially successful? More importantly, what would the acquisition mean for the rest of the players in the market? Read on to find out the winners and losers in this transaction.

A week ago we did our best to demystify Apple's latest creation: the iPad. What we found was that it provided a wonderful touchscreen experience, but was very limited in ability. Particularly from the productivity standpoint. You could type on its virutal keyboard, but ergonomics issues prevented it from being a real productivity machine.

It's not often that we see Apple admit to a limitation in one of its products. But by offering a keyboard dock for the iPad, Apple is effectively doing just that. Can Apple's Keyboard Dock bring greater productivity to an otherwise consumption-focused device?

Read on to find out!

Patriot sent us its first foray into the streaming media market. This tiny little box will let you stream everything from ripped movies to full blown Blu-ray images to your TV. We took it for a spin.