Are the new XBox 360's on the market surviving?
I’m thinking about buying an Xbox 360, Fable was my favorite game ever and I’m really jealous my friends get to play fable 2! I’m looking into buying a new X-Box 360, where would you recommend I buy it and what model would be a good long-term investment? My boyfriend keeps complaining that the one he has died last week! He keeps talking about the Red Ring of Death. I did some investigation and apparently it’s a problem with soldering (lead-free) on the motherboard, and i’ve heard that the ‘towel trick’ does long term damage to the console.
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You’ll be fine. Chances are you won’t have to worry about the Ring of Death. However, if you’re really paranoid, consider this: if you buy a new one or even a refurbished one, Microsoft’s warranty will serve you well. The guy who lives next to me is on his 4th Xbox right now. I know that sounds bad, but he only paid for the first one and they’ve replaced it for free every time.
Good things:
1. That’s not very common for it to happen multiple times.
2. He’s gotten a free game, a free wireless controller, and a Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 out of it.
Microsoft will be good to you as long as you communicate any problem.
It’s very true what chutterhanban said: the chances of you getting a “bad” console is very low. You have to remember that most people that get the RoD are hardcore gamers who have it on 24\7 (or close to it) pushing the poor CPU to its limits with games like Gears of War and Halo 3. It was also a problem with the first few generations. If you goto your local Gamestop and pick up a brand new 360, you should be fine, just don’t put it on your rug or your cat (long story) and it won’t die, (most likely; 80% chance of survival.)
As for the “type” of 360 you should get?
They are all basically the same, with only one major key difference: The Hard Drive Space. Don’t bother going with anything bigger then the “basic package” unless you plan on recording a lot of game videos of you “pwning sum nubsxors in Haloxors 3’s!!11!!1!!” or downloading a lot of movies or TV series (like Transformers or Family Guy.)
Should you decide to upgrade, I can tell you how you can easily take the HDD out of your console and put in a hard drive of any size you can afford (I bought a 360 without a hard drive, took a case from my game store [they gave it to me] and put in my own 250gig HDD) and I did the same thing with my PS3, I bought the 40gig version, got my friend from the pawn shop to give me a USB hub, wired it in to the PS3 and then installed a 500gig SATA HDD that I got on NewEgg.
I don’t know about what @jtvoar16 said; unless I’m a freak for defects (not outside the realm of possibility), I know far too many people who have gotten the red ring of death. Even people who have replaced their first 360 with a new on have gotten it on the second one. Try your luck, but I would expect and dread the day when the thing just breaks down…
As to whether or not the newer 360s have more advanced mobo soldering techniques…
I don’t really know. I’ve never had an interest in taking one apart. I wouldn’t expect any real change. It’s probably cheaper to replace all of the defective consoles than it is to re-tool the factories. Sad truth…
You really can get a better deal on HDDs that you install yourself than what you get with the elite. The only thing you get with the elite that is really special is the HDMI out (which is really only good if you have a super special awesome chocolaty fudge-coated super TV). I don’t know about your specific situation, but I don’t really think that the “elite” is worth it. My 2 cents.
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