Hey guys,
I'm in the hunt for a new Xbox, and was just wondering generally whats out there.
From what I understand, theres a few different versions. Could someone give me a brief rundown on the good/bad/specs of the models?
- Arcade
- Elite
- Holiday
- Pro
Are the only two build models falcon and jasper?
Cheers.
If you can hold off buying, wait until the Christmas Bundles are released by GAME and EB Games. They are the best value bundles you can get at any time of the year and ought to be superb given the lowered PS3 price earlier this year which ought to lead to price cuts by Microsoft to keep up sales.
Get a model with a hard drive..
You don't need it but you will NEED it!
Be aware that a 250Gb model has been announced..
60Gb will be plenty though.
The only advantage to the larger hard drives is
1) quieter operation - you can install games to hard drive to reduce noise from the DVD drive
2) longevity of DVD drive - installing games to hard drive will reduce wear on the DVD drive (will of course increase wear on the hard drive though
3) downloading media - ie video files and music. MS will start selling downloadable video and music through xbox Live soon. I would recommend against buying such media as it will be locked to your console (ie you wont be able to watch/listen to it anywhere except from your console)
For most casual gamers, 60Gb ought to be plenty.
If you choose to buy a Hard drive, be aware that HD's from Dealextreme will get your console banned from the xbox live online gaming community.
Jasper model 360's are the preferred model, they run cooler, use less electricity and are supposedly less prone to failure. I think by now that most Arcades and maybe some Elites will be Jaspers.. The new 250Gb SKU will all be Jaspers.
Thanks for the heads up about the dealextreme hard drives. The last I heard only the 3rd party memory cards were being targeted by microsoft.
There are only two current models:
Arcade - no hard drive (white)
Elite - 120 GB hard drive (black)
Holiday was not a model, but rather a bundle deal which came with a couple of games.
Pro - 60 GB hard drive (white) No longer being manufactured, but there are still quite a few to be found in the shops.
You will need a hard drive to access all of the xbox live online features. Some games have additional maps or cars which can only be played if you have a hard drive to install them on.
Unlike the PS3, the xbox360 requires a special hard drive. You can buy one from somewhere like dealextreme.
Summary: Elite (best), Pro (next best), Arcade (cheapest)