(This is Part Two of my hands-on. .)

Silent Running

Installing games to a console's hard drive? I know! What's the difference between a game console and a PC these days? (Hint: Not lipstick.) Still, if it means I don't have to listen to my 360 buzz like an old window-propped air conditioner and my games load faster and run smoother, sign me up, with or without the optional mouse and keyboard.

How's it work? Easy. Pop the disc in the drive, scroll to the "My Xbox" view, click on disc options, and voila, there's one to "install game to hard drive." A button press and about 10 minutes of thumb-twiddling later, you're in business. Regrettably, you still have to leave the disc in the drive, but that disc never spins up again (it's really just insurance that people won't "buy once, install many" in violation of basic licensing principles).

Be aware that if you're sitting on an old 20GB hard drive, you'll quickly fill it to capacity with just a game or two. Any more and it'll cost you. The NXE may be free, but the price of Microsoft's official 120GB hard drive upgrade is $150. That's not a typo. I've , because it is, especially when you consider the fact that you can buy a laptop-sized 120GB hard drive for less than a third of that price (if you can even find one that small anymore).