"The Xbox 360 is nearly upon us, but here are some impressions on the hardware itself to add to the hype.

Heavy Duty
When UPS delivered it, I was surprised by the weight of the box. The system itself is heavy and very sturdy (though, perhaps not as tough as the first Xbox. The power brick weighs about as much as the system itself and has a fairly large footprint which could be an issue for people with a mess of wires and power strips behind their entertainment center already.

Setup
Setting up the system is easy, just like any other game system. One thing of note, though, there is a clear plastic sticker over the DVD drive. It is there, presumably, to protect the shiny chrome of the tray. Make sure you take it off before you try to open the drive. Once everything is hooked up, you can just turn on the Xbox 360 (and turn on the controller) and you are then whisked through a setup process that sets the time and lets you set up an Xbox Live account by either creating a new one or transferring an old one. Your gamertag becomes your gamer profile on Xbox 360 and keeps track of all of your accomplishments along with a lot more." [more]