I don't think we'll see a price drop on either the Core or Premium SKUs, at least in the near-future. Maybe before the end of the year. Although, GH member OKWORDYODA
mentioned that he was able to snag a Premium unit with Gears of War for $380 shipped through Dell, which isn't too bad a deal.
As for me, I've been waiting for "the upgrade" to get a 360, but I'm just really not that enthused about this Elite version. I mean, the black's nice, the HDMI is nice, and the bigger HD is nice, but it apparently won't be using the new processor, which is supposed to run quieter and cooler--that's what I was looking-forward to most. And the price bump's kind of disappointing, too. This would have been a great opportunity for them to put the squeeze on Sony a little by lowering the other two SKUs in price (or, better yet, getting rid of one of them altogether), and releasing this one at or closer to the Premium's price of $400.
I'm sure I'll wind up getting one before Halo comes out, anyway. Hopefully there'll be some good promos on it between now and then.