Xbox 360 Hardware - Connectivity To Accessories

Connectivity To Accessories

The Xbox 360 features three USB 2.0 ports (two on the front, one on the back). The new Xbox 360 S, however, has five USB 2.0 ports (two on the front, three in the back) along with a dedicated Kinect port. These are used for connection of accessories such as wired controllers, the wireless networking adapter, the Xbox Live Vision camera and USB storage devices. Although the number of wired controllers is limited by the number of ports, up to four may be used through the use of a USB hub.

The Xbox 360 also features wireless connectivity of accessories via a proprietary 2.4 GHz radio system. This is mainly used to connect the official wireless controllers, but is also used for other devices such as the wireless racing wheel and wireless headsets. With the exception of some rhythm game controllers, this wireless connectivity is limited to first-party Microsoft accessories.

The Xbox 360 can connect to Xbox Live over the Internet through the built-in 100 megabit Ethernet connector or an optional wireless network adapter. These can also be used to connect two consoles together directly for LAN play on supported games.

Original style consoles also have two front-mounted memory card slots for the system's proprietary Memory Unit. These can be used to transfer profile and game data from one Xbox 360 to another. Memory Units up to 512 MB are available from Microsoft. The "Arcade" model formerly came with a 256 MB Memory Unit, but with the Jasper motherboard revision of September 2008, the "Arcade" model began to include 256 MB of built-in flash memory. This was later increased to 512 MB. The memory card slots were replaced with USB ports on the newer Xbox 360 S models.

The Universal Media Remote can be used to control several functions of the console, including the Windows Media Center functions if connected to the network. It communicates with the console via infrared through a receiver port on the front of the console.

All standard controllers for the system feature a 2.5 mm headset jack to allow the use of wired headsets for voice chatting. They also feature a custom USB connector, which is currently only used for connection of the chatpad keyboard accessory.

Various other accessories for the console exist, such as decorative faceplates to change the physical appearance of the console.