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Want to buy an XBox

T

teddyv

Senior member
Hi Folks - I am thinking of buying an XBox, my first game console in many years. The prices go $199 for the arcade with a whimpy 256megs, a regular XBox for $299 with 60gig HD, and an Elite for $399 with a 120gig HD. Other than the memory and the elite being black instead of white, are there any real differences? I have component and HDMI cables so that isn't an issue. I don't plan on gaming 24/7 but I would like an alternative to UO and WoW.

Thanks,

Ted
 
OK, you realize that it doesn't use standard component video cables right? It comes with a special cable, and the Arcade comes with composite only. It uses standard HDMI cables though. The 60 GB model is the best value right now IMO, although you can the arcade and Microsoft will sell you a 20 GB hard drive for $30.
 
i went for the $300 pro. the arcade is good for casual gamers. the pro is backwards compatible and has the space required for DLC.
 
Originally posted by: Matilda
i went for the $300 pro. the arcade is good for casual gamers. the pro is backwards compatible and has the space required for DLC.
Click to expand...

Right now Target is doing Arcades for $199 + $20 gift card. I bought one through Dell for $165. Slap the $30 HD from MS offer on there and you have BC and enough room for a decent amount of DLC.

Depending on the deal you are under $200 for a decent setup. Only thing you are missing is the headset and component cables. And the bundled holiday games if you are interested in those.
 
arcade: (best if you are a casual gamer, want the easy way to finding a jasper right now, or just want something to play a certain 360 only game)

$199
white wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - no play/charge kit
comes with a 256MB memory card, but the newer 360 arcades will have that built in already
no hard drive, but eligible for the $30 refurb 20GB hd + 3 months of live
this years holiday bundle comes with sega superstars tennis, in addition to the already included 5 XBLA games
has hdmi, but no hdmi cable is included
only comes with composite (yellow white red) cables
white colored 360 console

pro: (best if you want all of the accessories, a decent sized hard drive, and the best value)

$299
white wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - not sure if it comes with a play/charge kit
comes with a 60GB hd
this years holiday bundle includes kung fu panda and lego indiana jones
has hdmi, but no hdmi cable is included
comes with an ethernet cable and a headset
comes with component and composite cables
white colored 360 console

elite: (best if you want the best of the best)

$399
black wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - again, not sure of play/charge kit
comes with a 120GB hd
same holiday bundle as the pro - kung fu panda and lego indiana jones
has hdmi, and it does come with an hdmi cable
comes with an ethernet cable and a headset
comes with component and composite cables, as well as a digital/analog audio dongle too
black colored 360 console

my recommendation - go for the $199 arcade with the $30 20GB/3 months of live from microsoft or just get the pro for $299 if you need the extra accessories and a bigger hard drive. elite isnt worth it to get the additional hard drive space, and to have it all black.

if you need an hdmi cable - monoprice.com is your best bet. any ft you want, at a very cheap price.

controllers can be bought in any color, usually you can find deals on them online.

headset - dunno about that one.
 
Originally posted by: Matilda
i went for the $300 pro. the arcade is good for casual gamers. the pro is backwards compatible and has the space required for DLC.
Click to expand...

Every single xbox is backwards compatible. You just need an HDD to download the patches required to play the old games, that's why the arcade is marked as non BC. But you can get a hardrive for $30 from MS with 3 months of live.

So, arcade + 20gig harddrive is $230
Pro is $300
 
Originally posted by: secretanchitman
arcade: (best if you are a casual gamer, want the easy way to finding a jasper right now, or just want something to play a certain 360 only game)

$199
white wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - no play/charge kit
comes with a 256MB memory card, but the newer 360 arcades will have that built in already
no hard drive, but eligible for the $30 refurb 20GB hd + 3 months of live
this years holiday bundle comes with sega superstars tennis, in addition to the already included 5 XBLA games
has hdmi, but no hdmi cable is included
only comes with composite (yellow white red) cables
white colored 360 console

pro: (best if you want all of the accessories, a decent sized hard drive, and the best value)

$299
white wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - not sure if it comes with a play/charge kit
comes with a 60GB hd
this years holiday bundle includes kung fu panda and lego indiana jones
has hdmi, but no hdmi cable is included
comes with an ethernet cable and a headset
comes with component and composite cables
white colored 360 console

elite: (best if you want the best of the best)

$399
black wireless controller (comes with 2 batteries) - again, not sure of play/charge kit
comes with a 120GB hd
same holiday bundle as the pro - kung fu panda and lego indiana jones
has hdmi, and it does come with an hdmi cable
comes with an ethernet cable and a headset
comes with component and composite cables, as well as a digital/analog audio dongle too
black colored 360 console

my recommendation - go for the $199 arcade with the $30 20GB/3 months of live from microsoft or just get the pro for $299 if you need the extra accessories and a bigger hard drive. elite isnt worth it to get the additional hard drive space, and to have it all black.

if you need an hdmi cable - monoprice.com is your best bet. any ft you want, at a very cheap price.

controllers can be bought in any color, usually you can find deals on them online.

headset - dunno about that one.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much dead on, a few minor points though...

Neither the Pro or Elite comes with a play/charge kit. Just two non-rechargeable AA batteries.

Just using any old HDMI cable works fine if all you want to do is run HDMI. However, if you want to run your display with HDMI, but want to run audio via RCA or optical, you will need MS' HDMI/optical kit. The A/V harness that comes with the Pro obstructs the HDMI port, so they cannot be used at the same time. The required HDMI kit (included with the Elite) will set you back ~$50.

The point is that MS nickle and dimes you with accessories, and that if you were to upgrade an Arcade to Pro, and/or Pro to Elite by purchasing the HD and accessories separate it would cost you a lot more. Most people get tangled up in the different hard drive sizes, but that isn't where the true future money pit lies... It's in the overpriced accessories.

The best thing to do is to make sure you know what accessories you might need before you decide on which version of the 360 you want. Then, the next thing to do is shop around... For instance, I got my Elite from Dell with $70 off. At $330 for the Elite vs. $300 + $50 for a Pro and the aforementioned HDMI A/V kit, the Elite was actually less. (regrettably, Dell wasn't offering a coupon for the Pro at the time)

Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you have cash for some sort of re-charge option if you have a wireless controller, or you'll be spending a fortune on batteries. I opted to get an Eneloop AA 4 pack + charger kit, and I'm happy with this choice so far as it doesn't ever require me to plug in my controller.
 
Originally posted by: nitromullet
Just using any old HDMI cable works fine if all you want to do is run HDMI. However, if you want to run your display with HDMI, but want to run audio via RCA or optical, you will need MS' HDMI/optical kit. The A/V harness that comes with the Pro obstructs the HDMI port, so they cannot be used at the same time. The required HDMI kit (included with the Elite) will set you back ~$50.

The point is that MS nickle and dimes you with accessories, and that if you were to upgrade an Arcade to Pro, and/or Pro to Elite by purchasing the HD and accessories separate it would cost you a lot more. Most people get tangled up in the different hard drive sizes, but that isn't where the true future money pit lies... It's in the overpriced accessories.
Click to expand...

You can use the regular A/V cable for audio with HDMI video if you remove the plastic junk they put on it. Instructions are easy to find on Youtube or whatever.

You're right though, Microsoft accessories are generally a ripoff. The only good thing I can say about MS accessories is that the 360 wireless controller has the lowest street price of all of this generation's controllers.
 
If I was buying an Xbox today, I would get the Pro. 60GB is plenty of space to install a couple games, plus you get all of the accessories. If you need more space, get the Elite.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
You can use the regular A/V cable for audio with HDMI video if you remove the plastic junk they put on it. Instructions are easy to find on Youtube or whatever.

You're right though, Microsoft accessories are generally a ripoff. The only good thing I can say about MS accessories is that the 360 wireless controller has the lowest street price of all of this generation's controllers.
Click to expand...

I'd just figured I'd mention it because most people don't realize that the Elite doesn't come with just an HDMI cable alone, but the entire $50 HDMI/AV cable kit. I don't think that HDMI receivers are the norm yet so most will have to split audio/video, and not everyone wants to hack up their connectors.
 
Just an update - I bought the $299 60-gig model at Best Buy, paid $50 for an extra controller and got a $50 gift card at the register (which I used on a $169 Acer 22" LCD monitor.) Got Tiger Woods and Ace Combat in my stocking, fun games. I used a cheap HDMI cable I picked up off cheapcables a few months ago, works like a charm.

Thanks for all the advice and input.
 
Originally posted by: antyler
I just ordered a PRO bundle off of costco.com.

IMO I got a pretty good deal.
Click to expand...

Any time you buy a game console bundle from Costco, you're buying the generous return policy. $390 for a 360 Pro w/ an extra controller and GoW2 is not a good deal.
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: antyler
I just ordered a PRO bundle off of costco.com.

IMO I got a pretty good deal.
Click to expand...

Any time you buy a game console bundle from Costco, you're buying the generous return policy. $390 for a 360 Pro w/ an extra controller and GoW2 is not a good deal.
Click to expand...

😕

360 Pro - $300
GoW2 - $60
Wireless Controller - $50

That's $410.

He did just fine.

 
It depends on how much hard drive space you want. Think you need 60GB? Get the pro. Think you will be fine with 20GB? Get the arcade.

I still have my launch 360 pro with 20GB hard drive and have not needed any extra space. Most of the space is taken up by demos which I end up deleting after I finish anyways. If I decided to install games then I would definitely need more space but I am not interested in that. If I were to buy a 360 now I would go with an arcade + 20GB hard drive for around $200 and save myself the $100 that the 60GB HDD costs because I don't need the extra space.
 
I'd be careful with that 20gb hard drive promotion for the Arcade systems. From what I've been reading on the Xbox.com forums some people who recently bought Arcade systems are getting a msg. saying their system is not eligible for the promotion when they try to enter their console information into the promotion website. I believe this promotion was made available for owners of the original Xbox 360 Core system which did not include a memory card or a hard drive. Microsoft made the promotion so that these owners could have the necessar 128mb of space for the NXE update. But since the new Arcade systems come with 256mb they have enough space for the update.
 
Originally posted by: Queasy
😕

360 Pro - $300
GoW2 - $60
Wireless Controller - $50

That's $410.

He did just fine.
Click to expand...

I can see why you're confused, you buy everything at MSRP and you never shop around for deals.

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller - $37
Gears of War 2 - $50
360 Pro - $254

That's $341 + S/H and tax where applicable. Again, this is price you could've paid if you don't want Costco's return policy.
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: Queasy
😕

360 Pro - $300
GoW2 - $60
Wireless Controller - $50

That's $410.

He did just fine.
Click to expand...

I can see why you're confused, you buy everything at MSRP and you never shop around for deals.

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller - $37
Gears of War 2 - $50
360 Pro - $254

That's $341 + S/H and tax where applicable. Again, this is price you could've paid if you don't want Costco's return policy.
Click to expand...

Actually, I buy pretty much everything at deal prices. I listed the MSRP because that is what you typically base a deal off of. He didn't get the best deal possible but he still got a decent deal. And as you said, the Costco return policy holds additional value.
 
I know I could have (and should have) gotten a pro from Buy.com off ebay with 25% cashback, but other than that (and Dell coupons) where is this $250 Pro system?
 
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