XBox System (refurb) $128.94 Shipped @ Overstock.com AC

[sk3tch]

Microsoft Xbox Video Game System ("Factory Reconditioned")

Find a 10% off coupon (use Google), saves $14, and shipping is a flat $2.95 to the U.S.

$128.94 shipped...no games, but you can get the current bundle that comes with the XBox for real cheap on eBay (Jetset Radio Future and Sega GT), I picked up the two games for $9 shipped a month or so back.

 

[towelrod24]

The only big drawback to this is that you get the big old controller (if the picture is accurate).

Is there any reason to buy one of the newer xbox's over a first generation one? Do the newer ones have bigger hard drives or anything?

 

[JonTheBaller]

I think the first generation ones are more likely to die on you.

 

[Natas666]

Good price. Anyone jumping on this?

 

[sk3tch]

I personally have a system purchased on the launch date of the XBox - runs flawlessly. I have always been a firm believer that the first "version" of a product out of the gate is usually the highest quality. Look back in history - VCRs, CD players, Playstation 2, etc. - it is *usually* the case.

Anyway...at this price it is a good deal plus the "factory reconditioned" info seems pretty promising - checked twice, 45 day warranty, plus Overstock's coverage. Not bad for $130, plus you can choose your own games...$150 max if you want to get the bundle (EBGames has the Jetset/Sega GT bundle for $19.99 used here). But you can find that bundle at even better prices (as I said before) on places like eBay.

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: sk3tch
I personally have a system purchased on the launch date of the XBox - runs flawlessly. I have always been a firm believer that the first "version" of a product out of the gate is usually the highest quality. Look back in history - VCRs, CD players, Playstation 2, etc. - it is *usually* the case.

Sorry, but that's nonsense. The first revision of any product is *usually* the most problematic. It's only when it has been fully field tested (by the first revision purchasers) do they iron out the problems for the later versions. That said, I don't think there were any significant problems with either of the Xbox versions (1.0 and 1.1, with 2.0 on the way).

 

[Helical]

Sorry, but that's nonsense. The first revision of any product is *usually* the most problematic. It's only when it has been fully field tested (by the first revision purchasers) do they iron out the problems for the later versions. That said, I don't think there were any significant problems with either of the Xbox versions (1.0 and 1.1, with 2.0 on the way).

Agreed. Just look at first model-year of cars... staaay awaaay. Still trying to decide on this... was just over at a friend's house and he had a mod chip and upgraded HD in it - hooked into the router and could FTP to the thing, stream AVI/MPEG video over from his computer to the xBox and then out to TV. :Q Amazing. And very tempting!!

 

[sk3tch]

I said quality...which in the field of electronics is usually the case. Why do newer revisions come out? Because they can make cheaper components and thus lower prices...look at Sega Genesis, Sega Genesis II, and finally Sega Genesis III - cheaper along the way.

You can't call my opinion on the situation "nonsense"...or if you say you can, then I say your opinion is wrong.

 

[cerebusPu]

very tempting.

helical: can you direct us to a site that tells us how to do those mods?

that would seal the deal.

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: Helical... was just over at a friend's house and he had a mod chip and upgraded HD in it - hooked into the router and could FTP to the thing, stream AVI/MPEG video over from his computer to the xBox and then out to TV. :Q Amazing. And very tempting!!

That's the way I have mine set up. It's amazing!

 

[BobSnob]

Originally posted by: sk3tch
I said quality...which in the field of electronics is usually the case. Why do newer revisions come out? Because they can make cheaper components and thus lower prices...look at Sega Genesis, Sega Genesis II, and finally Sega Genesis III - cheaper along the way.

You can't call my opinion on the situation "nonsense"...or if you say you can, then I say your opinion is wrong.

Components are cheaper on the second revision because of many factors, not least integration: multiple chips integrated onto single dies. They may source cheaper components too, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the quality falls. Are you saying that the later Genesis consoles where less reliable in later revisions? If so, it doesn't mean that the same thing applies to other systems. The fact that Sega eventually went out of the hardware business speaks volumes as to their ability to produce quality consoles.

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: cerebusPu
very tempting.

helical: can you direct us to a site that tells us how to do those mods?

that would seal the deal.

Xbox-Scene

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: BobSnob

Originally posted by: sk3tch
I said quality...which in the field of electronics is usually the case. Why do newer revisions come out? Because they can make cheaper components and thus lower prices...look at Sega Genesis, Sega Genesis II, and finally Sega Genesis III - cheaper along the way.

You can't call my opinion on the situation "nonsense"...or if you say you can, then I say your opinion is wrong.

Components are cheaper on the second revision because of many factors, not least integration: multiple chips integrated onto single dies. They may source cheaper components too, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the quality falls. Are you saying that the later Genesis consoles where less reliable in later revisions? If so, it doesn't mean that the same thing applies to other systems. The fact that Sega eventually went out of the hardware business speaks volumes as to their ability to produce quality consoles.

Sega went out because they don't have the massive hype machine of Sony, and they produced too many unnecessary components (Sega CD and 32X). The Saturn was incredible at 2D, but a bitch to get decent 3D out of. The Dreamcast is one of the top 5 consoles ever made and still rocks to this day. The hardware has always been physically sound, but the marketing has not been there. So, in other words, your comment is pure BS.

 

[sk3tch]

ANYWAY...I suppose we should stop diverging off topic.

Regardless of who is/thinks they are right in all of these side arguments, the main point remains the same - the damn deal is pretty good. :beer:

 

[dlaw]

So darn tempting......the first time to see an Xbox this cheap.

But some say the Xbox MAY cut their prices in the US as they did in Europe lately....so I don't know, if new units go to $150, then it would be nonsense to buy an old one for $130.

 

[bonk102]

Originally posted by: dlaw
So darn tempting......the first time to see an Xbox this cheap.

But some say the Xbox MAY cut their prices in the US as they did in Europe lately....so I don't know, if new units go to $150, then it would be nonsense to buy an old one for $130.

that rumor's been floating around since november with nothing in sight, i wouldn't let it bother you

 

[CubicZirconia]

that rumor's been floating around since november with nothing in sight, i wouldn't let it bother you

I originally heard that the price would be cut around the time of E3 this year, so it may still come to pass.

 

[TheDragoon]

Well, it's expected for GameCube to drop in price this may (Or rather stay the same, just drop to $100 and the free game promotion stop), that's also when PS2 and Xbox have been rumoured to drop, so I'd give it another month and see what happens.

Are you saying that the later Genesis consoles where less reliable in later revisions? If so, it doesn't mean that the same thing applies to other systems. The fact that Sega eventually went out of the hardware business speaks volumes as to their ability to produce quality consoles.

Well, Genesis 3 was rereleased by another company, licensed from Sega, like the (extremely limited and a TRU exclusive I believe) Game Gear release a couple years back.
But Sega consoles have always had good quality, they just weren't successes.
If build quality dictated a console's success, we certainly wouldn't have a Playstation 2 .

 

[Rottnweim]

Originally posted by: towelrod24
The only big drawback to this is that you get the big old controller (if the picture is accurate).

Is there any reason to buy one of the newer xbox's over a first generation one? Do the newer ones have bigger hard drives or anything?

Mine was ordered on the 9th, shipped on the 11th and recieved today (16th) on the west coast.

No original box, but it does have the new smaller controller. All items look as new. Peeled of the 'refusbished' label on the bottom. Original manufacture date of 11-20-2001.


Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I also used ebates to save a few more buckaroos!!!!

 

[CaptainPete]

Originally posted by: Rottnweim
No original box, but it does have the new smaller controller. All items look as new. Peeled of the 'refusbished' label on the bottom. Original manufacture date of 11-20-2001.

I just talked to them and they claimed to only have the big controllers. Oh well, mine's on order anyway... I picked up a type-s at BestBuy today for $21.99 so I'd have at least good one. =) With the price at overstock being at least $14 less than anywhere else (dammit, I would be in Utah, the only place they have to charge tax!), I figured that I could deal with having one crappy controller for friends.

Compgeeks has both types of controllers though and will let you specify which one you want.

 

[Samus]

I'm an electrical enginner, still studying, but close, plan to go into local area network engineering, but I deal with consumer electronics day in day out, they're not like cars, where bugs are fixed through the years.

Electronics usually function flawlessly before mass production, via simulations and such. Then the sample production units are beaten to hell under loads of stress, overvoltaging to detect tolerances, exc. Then, the first verions go to the customer.

After a little while, the manufacture decides to make more money (or save some as they look at it) and manufacture a 'compatible, alike product' by cutting a) quality control b) quality of components c) alterations to design to save costs or d) all the above.

Usually D, especially the case of Playstation, PS2, XBOX, DVD Players, various computer products such as CD Burners and especially devices such as cell phones and pagers.

Sometimes, products even LOSE features through this phase. Example: XBOX's manufactured after December 2002 now have ONE cooling fan, not TWO. One fan cools the CPU and GPU, not one for the CPU (also exhaust) and one for the GPU itself. ANOTHER Example: PS1 1001's had RCA and Parallel output, 5xxx series, the next in the generation, lost the RCA outputs and then needed a proprietary (expensive at the time too) Sony AV cable. Then, the 9001, last of the PS1 (not PSone) line, lost the parallel port too, not to prevent modding, but to save money on making internal traces and a connector.

Need more examples? Look around your house at ANY electronic. It's equivilent 5 years ago had BETTER quality control and better choice components, and probably functions the same or better than the newer generation model you have.

 

[Samus]

You can't call my opinion on the situation "nonsense"...or if you say you can, then I say your opinion is wrong. [/quote]Components are cheaper on the second revision because of many factors, not least integration: multiple chips integrated onto single dies. They may source cheaper components too, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the quality falls. Are you saying that the later Genesis consoles where less reliable in later revisions? If so, it doesn't mean that the same thing applies to other systems. The fact that Sega eventually went out of the hardware business speaks volumes as to their ability to produce quality consoles.[/quote]

Haha, sorry had to jump on this.

Sega Dreamcast had 2 revisions through its 3.5 years of service. The revision was to change the color of the shell for the sega sports bundle.

There was never a revision to the PCB, power supply or laser assembly.

I've opened a dozen dreamcasts, only differences I've noticed is that the power supplies sometimes have different brands of caps.

Then, the Saturn. 2 Revisions through 5.5 years of service. The revision was a shell redesign and a PCB revamp to move the NV1 GPU closer to a vent, which was not needed because I've never heard of a Saturn overheating. They also redesigned the GUI of the bios but added no features. Modchips work with all revisions identically, although the older models need you to run 1 extra wire.

Then the Genesis, redesigned via the Nintendo effect (the small it is, the better it sells, cus its cute, right? at least that was gamecubes strategy) so they made them smaller and smaller. no functionality differences, and in fact the costs went up for the GIII redesign because they sold so FEW that it didn't pay back in R&D it took to redesign.

Sega has manufactured flawless, inexpensive consoles with excellent games, but they couldn't compete with Sony because they didn't have a handheld or pokemon like nintendo or halo and a dvd player like the xbox. They believe in videogames like no other company, which is why they run their own arcade chains unlike Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft, and they have the largest arcade presence of any single company.

 

[mazir]

Greetings,

I ordered two of these on the 9th and they said they shipped on the 11th. But since then when I go to check the tracking info, all I get is the order has been billed for shipping, but no details on where it is. I'm on the West coast btw. Did you notice this too? Or did you manage to track your order while it was shipping?

Thanks in advance.

 

[CaptainPete]

Originally posted by: mazir
Greetings,

I ordered two of these on the 9th and they said they shipped on the 11th. But since then when I go to check the tracking info, all I get is the order has been billed for shipping, but no details on where it is. I'm on the West coast btw. Did you notice this too? Or did you manage to track your order while it was shipping?

Thanks in advance.

I'm getting tracking info. Mine was shipped from Miami late on the 18th and made it to Jacksonville pretty quickly, showing up there early AM on the 19th. It seems to be stuck there for now though.

Have you gotten yours yet? If you have, did the tracking info show up later?

 

[InuYasha]

Originally posted by: Samus
I'm an electrical enginner, still studying, but close, plan to go into local area network engineering, but I deal with consumer electronics day in day out, they're not like cars, where bugs are fixed through the years.

Electronics usually function flawlessly before mass production, via simulations and such. Then the sample production units are beaten to hell under loads of stress, overvoltaging to detect tolerances, exc. Then, the first verions go to the customer.

After a little while, the manufacture decides to make more money (or save some as they look at it) and manufacture a 'compatible, alike product' by cutting a) quality control b) quality of components c) alterations to design to save costs or d) all the above.

Usually D, especially the case of Playstation, PS2, XBOX, DVD Players, various computer products such as CD Burners and especially devices such as cell phones and pagers.

Sometimes, products even LOSE features through this phase. Example: XBOX's manufactured after December 2002 now have ONE cooling fan, not TWO. One fan cools the CPU and GPU, not one for the CPU (also exhaust) and one for the GPU itself. ANOTHER Example: PS1 1001's had RCA and Parallel output, 5xxx series, the next in the generation, lost the RCA outputs and then needed a proprietary (expensive at the time too) Sony AV cable. Then, the 9001, last of the PS1 (not PSone) line, lost the parallel port too, not to prevent modding, but to save money on making internal traces and a connector.

Need more examples? Look around your house at ANY electronic. It's equivilent 5 years ago had BETTER quality control and better choice components, and probably functions the same or better than the newer generation model you have.

err, early version of PS2s just SUCK. Having trouble read DVDrs and lasers crapping out right after the warrenty ends. XBox got 1 fan reduced means the chips runs cooler = longer life span. Not to mention reduced noise. PS1 dropped the Parallel port because almost no games/accessories bother to use it, so they leave it out to reduce cost and making it cheaper to buy.