Demonstration Xbox 360 case SKU B4J-00019

Quite possibly the most useless part of my entire collection. This is the pre-release SKU-B4J-00019. Better known as the Non-working retail console shell.

Precisely why the buttons are wrong, I don't know, but as you can see it has a silver tray button, but a white tray. I have looked at the unit closely and it has not been tampered with. This was how Microsoft shipped it!

My initial intention was to strip it and put a working board into it, but frankly what would be the point of that? The faceplate is solid, the memory card slots don't open & neither does the USB controller door. The on/off button is glued tight, but curiously the tray is complete. It goes into the casing. Looking closely through the fan grills the inner casing is complete & the DVDrom seems to just be a metal box strapped to the casing.

It has the ports on the rear, but with no motherboard they are just mockups. The HDD is included, but glued tightly to the top. I removed it and the top and bottom plates could be prised away.

It remains a fairly large, if not terribly useful paperweight.

I felt that having seen OE's Xenon proto I should release my images of the SKU into the world! No comparison in the slightest, but just another part of that beaut, the 360. OE, yes, I would even consider a trade - your Xenon for my empty bucket of plastic ;-)

<Loving that console mate!>

 

how much did you get that for, if I may ask?

 

Useless, yes. But very nice indeed.

 

Not much, it's an empty case! It was listed on eBay, I put in a relatively low bid and was stunned to see it reach £40.00 before being pulled. Apparently the poor seller was being bombarded by people asking things like "Can it be made to work again?", "Is this an empty case or does it have parts in it?" and the like. So, in the end I noticed it back on eBay for £9.99 and emailed the guy as those same questions started to appear yet again. We did a deal et voila!

It's nothing special, just an empty 360 case with a few oddities about it that make me think that MS were not 100% about the design prior to it being shipped as a demo unit. There are no dates marked on it, so I would like to know whether anyone spotted these units anywhere. I am positive there was a similar unit on display before the launch in 2005 locally. Memory may be failing me.

If you think what I was prepared to pay was a bit daft, then search for the Atari proto on eBay at the moment. Now that IS a rare item!

 

That's pretty cool though, hehe.

 

You need to bust that open and stick a micro-ATX board in there.

That'd be awesome as a fully functioning PC (and the case is plenty big enough to handle everything).

-hl718

 

I couldn't agree more on that with you hl718 Actually most girls that come into my room think that my 360 is my PC case, and they comment on how beautiful a PC it is :lol:

 

My wish is your command - at least as far as busting it open. As you can see it came equipped with fake i/o boards.

 

*waves the TV manual in front of Parris*

Gotta love the use of french on the PCB (Faux!)

 

Hahaha, it says Faux!

 

Pretty interesting item mate,a real oddity I must say.

 

Very slick indeed.

Still, would be better served as a PC case methinks.

-hl718

 

Nice piccy's Parris, great piece of history, thanks for sharing.

...I think Virtual Alan bought one of these a while back on ebay for summat like 99p, very nice.

 

Thanks for the comment!

99p?! Nice!

 

Very nice item Parris and for such a low price! but not as much as virtual alan :110:. Really great pics you took and thanks for sharing

 

Faux!!
nice one!

 

There was a another dummy system I've seen which had a different front, the main difference was that the USB slot was two seperate flaps (rather then one) and it has the USB symbol on the flaps too. The unit was empty with nothing in it at all.

Anyone know more about this?

 

Never seen that one, but as you mention 2 separate flaps it sounds very close to the Xenon casing.

 

Well it looked like a standard Xbox just the USB flap was cut in half so it was two seperate flaps, I nearly bought this but thought $80 for a empty plastic box was bit too much.

 

Indeed