I asked a few weeks ago should I buy the Xbox 360 now or wait for a new one. Looks like th enew one is coming. Its going to be my first game console in many years. I am not techie and not a hard core gamer. I am more of a casual gamer. I am thinking now that should I buy the elite, or the 360 premium. I think I may get a good deal on the premium as stores will be more likely to clear out the stock for the new elite. It would be nice if I can save some money.

What do you guys think

Cheers!!!

wait for the new one and buy it.... looks like a good deal

Wait for the elite to come out then buy one of the flood of premiums that hit ebay :)

Dude when you buy the Xbox 360 you now have to buy the Elite...because you will want the hard disk space....120Gb is nice...now if you go with the premium then you will want to get the 120Gb drive seperate and it will cost you $180!!!! That is too much..spend the extra $80 up front and get the Xbox 360 elite for $480..

Even though the HDMI is only version 1.2...thats all you really need since the Xbox 360 does not support deep color or whatever HDMI 1.3 supports.

I am just trying to figure out how I am going to upgrade my Xbox 360...

Core.

If you a truly just a casual gamer.. get the premium.. it contains all you need for a great HD experience. HDMI is overrated, even considering the lossless sound unless you are REALLY into pumping up the volume on a quality sound system when gaming. Which most people dont.. most people use the TV speakers when gaming.

The additional HD space is no where near as much as people make a big deal out of harddrive space.. the 20G is more than enough for gaming. Most HDD space is demos anyways.. so when you download a demo.. play it thoroughly.. and when space becomes an issue decide which ones to delete or not. I've been doing this since Launchday back in 11/05.. and I've always had plenty of disk space.

In fact usually after playing a demo.. I can immediately tell if I'm interested in the game or not. If I am.. I usually buy it pretty quickly (most recently the Crackdown demo and Viva Pinata demo made me purchase the games immediately).. and if NOT interested.. I delete the demo immediately.

The maintime HD space will become an issue is downloading HD movies off marketplace. With the movies coming in a 5 or 6 gigs a piece.. you may need the extra space. But with the movies expiring in certain time periods.. chances are you will be watching and deleting those pretty quickly too.

This man speaks the truth...

If you a truly just a casual gamer.. get the premium.. it contains all you need for a great HD experience. HDMI is overrated, even considering the lossless sound unless you are REALLY into pumping up the volume on a quality sound system when gaming. Which most people dont.. most people use the TV speakers when gaming.

The additional HD space is no where near as much as people make a big deal out of harddrive space.. the 20G is more than enough for gaming. Most HDD space is demos anyways.. so when you download a demo.. play it thoroughly.. and when space becomes an issue decide which ones to delete or not. I've been doing this since Launchday back in 11/05.. and I've always had plenty of disk space.

In fact usually after playing a demo.. I can immediately tell if I'm interested in the game or not. If I am.. I usually buy it pretty quickly (most recently the Crackdown demo and Viva Pinata demo made me purchase the games immediately).. and if NOT interested.. I delete the demo immediately.

The maintime HD space will become an issue is downloading HD movies off marketplace. With the movies coming in a 5 or 6 gigs a piece.. you may need the extra space. But with the movies expiring in certain time periods.. chances are you will be watching and deleting those pretty quickly too.

Personally, I would say if you are buying the unit brand new, get teh Elite. If you dont mind used, see what a premium is going for on eBay after the Elite is released. Might be a good deal.

-Evangelo2

I have had ~8GB free space on my 20GB HDD for the past year and a half. I really see no need for the 120GB's unless you plan on using the movie/tv downloading service. If you do, then by all means the Elite is a good value for money.

I honestly would never buy a used 360......just no way.

Too fragile until they improve the chipset.

I have had ~8GB free space on my 20GB HDD for the past year and a half. I really see no need for the 120GB's unless you plan on using the movie/tv downloading service. If you do, then by all means the Elite is a good value for money.

That really is the key here. "The Departed" in HD is a 6.7 gig download, and the 20 gig drive only has 13 useable gigs on it.

I would PERSONALLY snap an Elite up, but again I use the dirt out of the movie download service. I have no need for HDMI, but the bigger hard drive makes it worth the extra $80 to me.

Most important if you're buying the Premium (or Core) is the system's manufacture date. You do NOT want to be stuck with an old model, they are quite loud and prone to failure. Take the box in the store, and lift the little flap up that shows the system's serial number. The manufacture date is printed above the serial number; you may have to shake the box a bit to get the date visible.

You want to shoot for a box made in November of '06 or later. That's when they started putting in the new, MUCH quieter DVD-ROMs. Now, you might strike it lucky with an earlier box, but for my $400 I wouldn't take chances. :)

That really is the key here. "The Departed" in HD is a 6.7 gig download, and the 20 gig drive only has 13 useable gigs on it.


Ok, but, don't the movies Expire after a couple days, meaning you wouldn't have them on your hard drive for more than a couple anyhow??

I know the TV shows can linger but, honestly, are alot of people really paying money to have a JERICHO or South Park collection on their 360's..and if so, why? :)


I would PERSONALLY snap an Elite up, but again I use the dirt out of the movie download service. I have no need for HDMI, but the bigger hard drive makes it worth the extra $80 to me.


Then, since everything else is equal, you sound like a person who needs that $180 hard drive add on instead.


Most important if you're buying the Premium (or Core) is the system's manufacture date. You do NOT want to be stuck with an old model, they are quite loud and prone to failure. Take the box in the store, and lift the little flap up that shows the system's serial number. The manufacture date is printed above the serial number; you may have to shake the box a bit to get the date visible.


Nobody has yet confirmed that the ELITE will have any different chipset or changes to it than the standard premium systems do, you're assuming the Elite will be the solution to the reliability problem, but in reality..it could be more of the same, or hell..even worse. Who knows.....you buy the Elite at launch, you're buying a launch system and all the problems that may or may nto come with it.

Great replies from everyone, I think with the suggestion that I got I guess I will buy the premium. I don't want to buy a used, as I think 360 is not something that should be bought used. Like Daekwan pointed out, I am a casula gamer so I think my needs will be satisfied by the premium. Guys, your comments have made my decision easier.

Cheers!!!

Nobody has yet confirmed that the ELITE will have any different chipset or changes to it than the standard premium systems do,

.....you buy the Elite at launch, you're buying a launch system and all the problems that may or may nto come with it.

No chipset change over the the current Core and Premium, but it will use the new BenQ drive introduced in the last couple months, so technically it won't be a "launch system". It will be the same as the current Core/Premium though, plus HDMI on the motherboard, so if you are calling that a "launch", so be it.

Well if I was buying now I may be tempted to buy used if I could get it real cheap and then wait to buy the Elite when the new chipset hits. That assumes the rumors are true and that there will be a new chipset in the next year or so.

On the other hand if I didnt care about the new chipset then I personally would get the Elite because its not that much more expensive and I may want the bigger harddrive later. But since you really know that you are a casual gamer the premium probably is the better option.

personally, i have no use for the extra hdd space, as i've never needed it on my premium, and i don't have anything that has hdmi, to each their own; personally, what i really wanted is till in the works: a cooler cpu

Buy the Elite

casual gamer? i say buy the CORE. get it new, and soon a BUNCH of 20gigs are gonna end up on ebay, people are going to start buying the 120 and wont need their 20 anymore.



I honestly would never buy a used 360......just no way.

Too fragile until they improve the chipset.


i bought my launch console used, i had it shipped to me in IRAQ, where i played it for nearly 200 hours in 100-135 degree weather.

my console is perfect.

just spend the xtra 80. that way you'll have no probs if/when you get a new, receiver or htb.

Dude when you buy the Xbox 360 you now have to buy the Elite...because you will want the hard disk space....120Gb is nice...now if you go with the premium then you will want to get the 120Gb drive seperate and it will cost you $180!!!! That is too much..spend the extra $80 up front and get the Xbox 360 elite for $480..

Even though the HDMI is only version 1.2...thats all you really need since the Xbox 360 does not support deep color or whatever HDMI 1.3 supports.

I am just trying to figure out how I am going to upgrade my Xbox 360...

I was ready that the 360 will support HDMI 1.3... but in October M$ was talking about the 360 having a different chip set.

I know the TV shows can linger but, honestly, are alot of people really paying money to have a JERICHO or South Park collection on their 360's..and if so, why?

I think people from other countries are downloading the shows since it doesn't show over there.

casual gamer? i say buy the CORE. get it new, and soon a BUNCH of 20gigs are gonna end up on ebay, people are going to start buying the 120 and wont need their 20 anymore.



Excellent idea.

This "chip set" that everyone is talking about...does anyone know when its going to be available???

Get the Elite, or a used premium like mentioned earlier. Thee will be many available used premiums for $200-250.

No chipset change over the the current Core and Premium, but it will use the new BenQ drive introduced in the last couple months, so technically it won't be a "launch system". It will be the same as the current Core/Premium though, plus HDMI on the motherboard, so if you are calling that a "launch", so be it.
My new 360 I got under extended warranty from Best Buy has a December 2006 build date with a Samsung drive and is just as loud as my previous one.

IMO, if you are buying a console and hoping that it will last 5 years before its replaced... buy for the future, make sure you get things that you think you have a high likelyhood of wanting in the near future. HDMI may be something you want when you get your next tv or receiver.

Otherwise you may be dissappointed in yourself when your console doesnt support the best input your TV or AVR has.

BTW. Target warranty is 3 years for $30 for consoles that are less than $500. $60 for a $599.99 console.

just as it made no sense (for most) to buy a core, it now makes more sense (and save money w/ better features) to buy the elite over the premimum.
The harddrive alone will retail for 100 bucks or so so you save money buy buying the newer system + you get hdmi (which matters to some). The color makes no difference to me as all my components are behind frosted glass and are not a display item.

This "chip set" that everyone is talking about...does anyone know when its going to be available???

The rumor was we see the new chipset around June. This was buttressed by the fact Microsoft lowered their Xbox 360 shipping predictions for this quarter. My guess is we will see these chips in time for the Halo 3 release.

I know the TV shows can linger but, honestly, are alot of people really paying money to have a JERICHO or South Park collection on their 360's..and if so, why?

I think people from other countries are downloading the shows since it doesn't show over there.

The marketplace is only availible in the US, not even canada gets it.