help with buying a X BOX please?

Question

hello, my son has asked for a x box for christmas and I am confused about the different ones, and the red light problem.

Does anybody please know the difference between the arcade and the elite and the normal x box? cheers, karen

Answer 1

Ok, you seem to be getting a lot of bits and pieces from previous answers, and several of them are not entirely true. Especially where the Elite and the red rings are concerned. Let me break it down in detail for you.

1. There is no "standard" xbox 360. The versions are "Core", "Premium", "Elite", and "Arcade". I'll describe those in more detail shortly.

2. Xbox live is available on ALL of the versions of the 360 despite what one of the previous posters said.

3. The Red Rings of Death is a general hardware failure and has been a big problem for the 360's. It is usually due to overheating. The most recent production line of 360s (those manufactured since about September) have redesigned processors and heat sinks that help it to run cooler and reduce the chance of having this problem. The Elites started coming out around this same time, but the Arcade and newer versions of the Premium also have the new hardware. Pretty much all of the Core and some of the older Premiums still on store shelves will have the old hardware. Also, Microsoft has extended the warranty for the Red Rings problem to 3 years for all 360s (even if you had bought it before).

4. The different versions:

Core: Bare bones 360 with no hard drive and a wired controller. This version is being discontinued. I do not suggest getting this version.

Arcade: This is replacing the Core system. It does not include a hard drive, but has a small memory card loaded with 5 or 6 games from Xbox Live Arcade. I do not know off hand if the controller is wired or wireless.

Premium: Includes a 20GB hard drive and a wireless controller. This is the one I have. You may also find some Halo special edition 360s in store. These are essentially modified premium special editions that came out with Halo 3.

Elite: Black (all other versions are white except the Halo 3 special edition. 120GB hard drive and a wireless controller.

5. My recomendation: If your son will be dowloading a lot of movies/tv shows/games from Xbox Live (each costs varying abounts of $) or just absolutely has to have a black system, then you should get an Elite. Otherwise, the premium should do the job for a good deal less money. I would avoid the Core and Arcade because of the lack of a hard drive. Having the hard drive lets you download demos, Xbox Live Arcade games and other content from Xbox Live.

Answer 2

Do not get the arcade, it the cheap stripped down version of the xbox, sure its fine for just the basics, but if you're already coughing up that much case go for atleast the standard. The elite is just overrated and over priced.

Most if not all Elites have a new motherboard with a SLIGHTLY better cooling system, they also include BenQ DVD drives...

(The Xbox 360 is made of components which are manufactured from several different manufacturers, the DVD drive, motherboard, CPU, GPU. The first year Xbox 360s had either a Samsung or Hitachi drive in them, all depending on the month in which it was manufactured, Microsoft likes to change things around every now and then.)

... The BenQ is the newest DVD drive that can be found in Xbox's and it is also the QUIETEST. Microsoft still uses the two other manufacturers in the standard (non-Elite) Xbox's although it is completely random, or at least there is no way to tell before you open the box. I recently purchased a regular xbox 360 and it had a BenQ drive in it with upgraded cooling.

As for the red light problem (a.k.a. "The ring of death"), the cause of this has been determined by the xbox modding community to be the result of cheap quality motherboards which warp when hot. The warping causes the very sensitive components of the Xbox to stop functioning, and even after the system is turned off and cools down the damage is already done, yet it is still reversible. Microsoft does provide full warranty support for this problem and will fix it free of charge as long as the warranty is not void. Often times it can take a month or more to fix and you may need to send it in more than once. The modding community has found a solution which addresses the problem directly by replacing the "X-clamps", (Google Search: Xbox 360 x-clamp replacement). This will void your warranty and will leave you ineligible for future support from Microsoft, if you are experienced enough and can find the time to tinker with the system yourself it is recommended you do so.

Microsoft keeps changing the names of the packages in which it sells the Xbox, so I don't know if its called the "premium" or "pro", but what ever you get it should include:
- Xbox 360 Console (included in all Packages)
- Hard Drive (20GB) (not included in all Packages, such as the "Arcade"
- Wireless Controller (not included in all packages)
- Power Cable (included in all packages)
- Video Cable (included in all packages, Arcade does not have HiDef support)
- Xbox live headset (included in all packages, except Arcade (i think).

E-mail me if you have other questions.

Answer 3

You should ask your son which one he wants. How old is your son because my son asked for an x box when he was 8. He didnt realize that there was a difference between the original xbox and the xbox 360. it is unusual but some people still want the original xbox even though is is pretty much a dead system. they are not making any more games for the system and finding games for it is pretty hard (good ones anyways) as far as the new systems the elite system is the best one to get, it has so far had the least problems. there is also a Halo version of the 360 which a lot of halo fans got but honestly unless you are a die hard halo fan it is not worth it. The red ring of death is from overheating in the system.

Answer 4

The Arcade Model has arcade games included with it.
The Elite Model is black instead of white and has a 120 GB hard drive. The normal one is white and has a 20 GB hard drive. The Difference in sizes of the hard drives allows you to store a lot more information, game saves, videos, downloaded games, music and other things on it.

Answer 5

i have a xbox 360 myself but not everyone has the red light problem coz i havent had that and even if you did then you can send it to a company who will sort out the problem.
the difference between the normal xbox 360 and the elite is that the the 360 has live (if u want to pay for it) marketplace, a certain amount of memory and the elite has more memory space and is black. hope this helps and good luck

Answer 6

so which you desire to purchase a 360 just to pass the time? till you may ditch it and get a PS3 on each occasion that game comes out? sounds like a lame financial plan in case you may cope with to pay for a 360 now, what's to assert you do no longer in basic terms save up for 3 years and purchase a PS3 as properly, they're going to in all risk be much greater low fee via then. And confident 360's do now and lower back injury down, yet they're surprisingly good presently, and in the event that they do injury down, in case you are not getting a guaranty from someplace like maximum suitable purchase (like I did) as long as you do no longer innovations waiting a week or so, the producing facility one works properly adequate. the unique one i bought 3 yrs in the past did injury, yet I had a maximum suitable purchase guarantee and that they only replaced the console no questions asked, the only i've got have been given now has labored completely considering that then. and that i do no longer understand lots approximately PSN, yet XBL is surprisingly cool, in basic terms draw back there is it fee greater to the two get a on the spot adapter, and sign in for XBL ($7 a month or $50 for the twelve months)

Answer 7

the arcade / standard xbox: approx £200
Comes with 5 demos games, a wireless controller, standard connection cable, and a 256mb memory card

The xbox 360 full / pro console: approx £249
has 20gb of memory,a wireless controller, better HD connection cables and a headset to chat to other players if playing online

The ELite console: approx £300
Is block in colour, comes with a wireless controller, full HDMI connection cables and a lot more memory.

Answer 8

i had a 360 and had the red light problem send it back if it has it and they just give you a new one for free go for the elite

Answer 9

Standard= No hard drive.

Premium= 20 Gb Hard Drive, Head set for chating to other players.

Elite= 80Gb Hard Drive and better visuals....

Answer 10

xbox elite is the one you want.
its black and is much more less likely to brake down (red light) like the others do

i dont know why, think its something to do with having more fans so it dont over-heat like the others do