Xbox One Designed For Ten-Year, Always-On Lifespan

[Andy Chalk]

Xbox One Designed For Ten-Year, Always-On Lifespan

Microsoft sources say the Xbox One is designed to be turned on, and left on, for ten solid years.

The Red Ring of Death: It's like the Black Plague of the modern era, except that nobody died and Microsoft was pretty generous with its warranty support. So really, it wasn't anything like the Black Plague at all. But it was definitely a hassle for 360 owners and a black eye for Microsoft, and so it is that the company is being a little more careful with its next-gen release.

The actual dimensions of the Xbox One haven't been announced but according to Eurogamer it will be "noticeably larger" than the launch version of the Xbox 360. The reason for that big footprint is simple: Microsoft is determined to avoid a repeat of the Red Ring fiasco, and so it's designed the system with a focus on heat dissipation. A "highly-placed source" said the Xbox One is intended to have a ten-year life cycle, switched on the entire time.

Despite putting a priority on cooling, it's also reportedly very quiet, and is "entirely silent" in idle and low-activity states. The fan only kicks in at an audible level when the CPU is under strain, which generally happens only during gaming sessions, and because of its large size it can spin relatively slowly while still providing effective cooling. The optical drive will also be idle during gaming, reducing the noise factor and heat generation even further.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-why-xbox-one-is-cool-and-quiet]


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[Covarr]

You mean they hired an engineer to design it instead of an artist? That explains why it's so much uglier than the 360, but it also speaks quite well to its potential to not completely die.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Best of the 3]

Pretty sure though, with cars and PC's though I may be wrong, the most wear and tear actually comes from turning them off and on, unless you're one of those nuts that would keep their console on for 10 years.

Actually if you use it for the all in one entertainment purposes, you might need it to be on for 10 years straight.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Holy cow, an Xbox One article without a negative spin? I must be having a stroke.


EDIT: Just to clarify, that isn't a dig at the Escapist. It's just been a rough couple months for MS is all.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Holy cow, an Xbox One article without a negative spin? I must be having a stroke.


EDIT: Just to clarify, that isn't a dig at the Escapist. It's just been a rough couple months for MS is all.

Actually, to be fair, when I saw the article name I immediately thought "Always On? ALWAYS ON!? ALWAYS ON THE BOTTOM OF MY BOOTS!". Obviously thinking of the always-on drm scheme heh.


Could of been fixed with "Xbox One Designed For Ten Years Powered On", or the like.

"Designed for ten years of continuous operation," perhaps?

Anyway, this is actually pretty good news for people who want this console. Lord knows my 360 couldn't stand up to it.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I wouldn't want to see the electricity bill for leaving the xbox for 10 years

But anyway nice to hear build quality is a priority this time.

 

[MiskWisk]

I bet they got rid of the red ring of death by colouring it orange.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[...] The fan only kicks in at an audible level when the CPU is under strain, which generally happens only during gaming sessions [...]

How long did they say the sessions was? Just that could be anything from a half an hour to the entire day.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Pretty sure though, with cars and PC's though I may be wrong, the most wear and tear actually comes from turning them off and on, unless you're one of those nuts that would keep their console on for 10 years.

Actually if you use it for the all in one entertainment purposes, you might need it to be on for 10 years straight.

It depends on how often you're turning it on and off. If you only use it for an hour every couple of days, turning it on and off is going to hurt it less than leaving it running. If you're shutting down and restarting your computer ten times a day, you're probably hurting it more than if you just left it running.

I leave my PC running 24/7, just because I jump on and off it often enough. I shut my Xbox down when I'm done with it, because I only sit down to play a game a one or two times a day when I'm actually playing a game on it.

EDIT: Note that it depends on the device as well. If the Xbox 180 is being engineered specifically to be left on continuously, turning it on and off might go back into "greater risk" territory.

[...] The fan only kicks in at an audible level when the CPU is under strain, which generally happens only during gaming sessions [...]

How long did they say the sessions was? Just that could be anything from a half an hour to the entire day.

CPUs heat up pretty fast. You're talking pretty much as soon as you're playing any game that puts strain on the CPU, which is going to be most of them.

 

[Denamic]

Pretty sure though, with cars and PC's though I may be wrong, the most wear and tear actually comes from turning them off and on, unless you're one of those nuts that would keep their console on for 10 years.

Actually if you use it for the all in one entertainment purposes, you might need it to be on for 10 years straight.

You're correct. It's called heat cycles, and it causes more stress on the hardware than anything else, save overheating. Leaving a computer on 24/7 makes it have a much longer lifespan than one you turn off every day. That is, generally speaking. Hardware failure can happen regardless of treatment. Ironically, letting the computer 'rest' overnight actually hurts it. This is by the way one of the reasons laptops have a much shorter lifespan, as they are generally turned on and off more often. The same hold true for consoles, even smartphones and essentially every other electronic device that has sensitive computer hardware.

It depends on how often you're turning it on and off. If you only use it for an hour every couple of days, turning it on and off is going to hurt it less than leaving it running.

Nope. Computers last longer the less heat variations there are. Booting up once and then turning it off causes more strain on the hardware than if you leave the computer running idle for a week. If the heat level remains stable, wear and tear is virtually nonexistent. Well, except for the fans. Moving parts do wear out.

 

[Evil Smurf]

So that's one thing that the Xbone 180 does right.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Why would you keep it on 24/7 for 10 years? Apart from wasting electricity it cant do the components inside good. I know it needs to be on so the kinect2 can hear you say "xbox on" when you want to play games. But me, i will just plug it in when i need to use.....will only take a second.

 

[ThePS1Fan]

I hope this doesn't mean they expect this generation to last ten years.

 

[oldtaku]

And then at the end of 10 years, they would have turned off the servers and every single XBox One on the planet would be a dead useless lump. They could still cause that to happen, but it's at least less likely now they've removed the 24-hour checkin requirement.

 

[flarty]

I must be having a stroke.

We dont want to know what you are doing with your hands.

OT: "Designed" to? well im going to go out on a limb and bet the original 360 was "designed" to last longer that it did. Or are they trying to tell us they intend it to have a 10 year life cycle like the ps3?

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I must be having a stroke.

We dont want to know what you are doing with your hands.

OT: "Designed" to? well im going to go out on a limb and bet the original 360 was "designed" to last longer that it did. Or are they trying to tell us they intend it to have a 10 year life cycle like the ps3?

Holy shit, that actually made me laugh out loud.
Nice one.

 

[Jinjer]

TBH, my first thought was "Xbox is going to sit there for 10 years creeping on you via Kinect. Pick a different place to watch porn". A 10 year old lifespan sounds... impressive, but the continuous running not so much

 

[Antari]

10 year powered life cycle? Is this supposed to be impressive? Because electronics have had decade long powered life cycles for atleast the last 20-30 years, if they are of average quality.

 

[Vzzdak]

Ah, then Microsoft will have no issue with providing a ten year warranty for the 180.