Consumer Reports on the Xbox 360
Consumer Reports just wrote up their take on the new 360 console.
Here's a summary of what they thought, with my own thoughts in (parentheses):
What they liked:
Stunning images and sound (The HD generation baby!)
Expanded online capabilities (Yes, Xbox Live is the bomb)
Multimedia versatility (MP3 players, Windows streaming, custom soundtracks, etc.)
Sleek Design (well yeah, she's purty! Controllers are perfection)
What they didn't like:
Limited gaming content (umm, it just launched, so that's expected - but point taken)
Extras that can add up (yep, get the "Premium" bundle to start with, and this won't be so bad)
Short warranty (Very good point here. 3 months? Ridiculous)
The Bottom Line
"The gaming enhancements of the Xbox 360 are too much for some rabid gamers to resist. Despite the unit's drawbacks, including limited content, they or their loved ones are likely to scour stores, online and off, to secure a unit for the holidays. If you're among those aficionados, buy the $400 version of the 360 if you can. Also consider taking the $60 extended warranty. Although we're generally skeptical about such warranties for most products, there are exceptions, and the new Xbox is one of them.
Less gung-ho gamers should probably pause before going 360, at least yet. New (and increasingly advanced) games continue to appear for the old Xbox, albeit without the dazzle of HD or the community coolness of Xbox Live when used with the 360. Also, by some point in 2006, Sony and Nintendo should have introduced their own high-octane competitors.
Of course, you could all but ignore the 360's gaming capabilities and buy it as a DVD player that allows you to access other content elsewhere in your home or from handheld devices. For those uses, you could settle for the $300 version. That's pricey for a new DVD player these days, especially when high-definition DVD is on its way in early 2006. But you'd pay $100 and up for a media receiver that would carry out many of the 360's networking capabilities. The Xbox 360 offers an interesting and fairly simple one-box solution for a household that's interested in networking content. "
A good article, but don't buy into the "buy the $300 version" nonsense. Get all the goods and get them up front, it will save you in the end.
Consumer Reports - Microsoft Xbox 360
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Comments (11)
short warranties and how it brakes right away and you don’t get a refund
The Warranty is 3 years long on ALL xbox 360s
“The Warranty is 3 years long on ALL xbox 360s” that is not true i work at xbox
The Warranty for 3 years is for anyone who has the Ring of Death (Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light)
but if you are out of Warranty the price has dropped to $90 US.
All other Warrantys remain the same
Article ID : 907534
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907534
yes i agree. but once you get that “fixed” which is them sending you a new or referbished xbox and give you a 1 year warranty. my “repaired” xbox 360 just broke again 3 weeks after the warranty expired. I think they a cheeply built product that are only built to last 1 year so that you rush out and buy another one to replace it. however the new 360 elite seems to be a longer lasting product with a bigger hard drive. it would definately be a better investment to get the 360 elite than the original core 360.
I got a 360 arcade mainly for gears of war 2. They same day the game would not play it keep frezing and saying disc unreadably. I called microsoft and they said that they would send me a new game to replace that one, still waiting on it.
I spent 40 minutes with XBox support trying to get some satisfaction from their poor hardware. My son’s first purchase only worked for a few weeks, we returned it to the store for an exchange. The second system had the “red ring”. XBox sent a new one which did not work just after the warranty ran out. The guys at the store believe it is a lens out of calibration. Now it will cost $90 plus shipping for XBox to fix it. If you ask me, the manufacturers of XBox are taking advantage of you gamers that love their games. You need to stop buying their products and demand better customer service. They are creating a throw away product so you will purchase new ones. I wish some of the people that work at XBox would start their own business repairing this crap. They could make a lot of money because there are so many systems that need to be fixed! XBox hardware is made for the trash! The government should fine them for filling our dumps with litter. Their games are good (I felt I had to add something positive).
Typical Microsoft to make something that doesnt work right. I have been playing video games since I was a kid, and this is the first problem I have had with a console (I actually have two Xbox 360’s, both with the “ring of death”).
1) Original Nintendo (still freaking works after 25 years)
2) Gamecube (7 years old, works fine)
3) Playstation 2 (still works, about 6 years old).
4) Original X box, still works.
Long story short, I just recieved a Playstation 3 for christmas (because of the blu ray capabilities), and as soon as I get both of the refurbished units back, I am trading all my 360 stuff in for PS3 games and equipment. F microsoft, I also bought a mac.
I also purchased 2 XBox 360s. They both ended up with Red Rings of Death, just a month or 2 after the warranty. This console is a piece of crap in just over a year’s time. The sad part is, I only played them once or twice a week. They have dropped the price to $199, they need to be $99. I also purchased PS3 too. I just read that they are having problems with the Blu Ray not reading discs. I can confirmed that. If you want a system that works without problems, buy a wii.
The elite is still liable to the same faith as the original 360, i have my elite 11 months and its now broke, 1 red light and very bad colour issues, why are microsoft getting away with this?
After having an xbox 360 for almost 90days, the consule has been mistreating the disc’s by placing Arc scratch’s, which seems there is poor durability in the disc slot.