Looking to buy new 360 System

I'm pretty sure all models have HDMI now, no? I think it mostly boils down to what accessories you want / need, and how much HDD space you need.

All new 360's have HDMI and have for a couple of years now, so the only physical difference between the arcade and elite is the color.
I believe the differences in packaging are that the elite includes 120G HDD and headset. Neither come with the HD component cables. Also, the games bundled in will differ between the arcade & elite.
Someone chime in if any of the above info is wrong

my elite (2008 build) red ringed yesterday...luckily I had an old arcade that I hooked up, but I can't believe they have not fixed this problem yet!!

They all are HDMI now.. and all should be 'jaspers'. Thats the latest chipest/motherboard revision that runs at half the temperature and uses half the wattage of the original 360's. They are much quiet, cooler running and reliable than the older stuff.

Few things you might want to be updated on:

1) Harddrives are no longer an issue. Latest Spring update just made it possible to use generic USB thumbdrives to store games, saves, DLC, demos, movies, marketplace stuff, etc on.. so buying an Arcade is perfectly fine.

2) Arcades have storage built on the board (I believe 512mb) so a harddrive or USB thumbdrive isnt necesssary for game saves. You can play games, online, out the box on the Arcade.. with no additional memory necessary.

3) If you have a Harddrive or USB thumbdrive you can install a game to that.. and you no longer need to play the game off the disc. Makes the 360 run much quieter & cooler. The game disc still has to be in the tray, even though its not being used.

4) Check for Dell.com coupons. Arcades from Dell come as cheap as $160 shipped (no tax). Also check sites like fat-wallet and slick-deals for good deals on Elites or Bundles.

5) All 360's have a 3 year RROD warranty. If your system is less than 3 years old.. send it in, get it fixed free. Even if you dont want it back, get it fixed, get it back, sell it on Ebay and put some dollars in your pocket.

6) There is rumored to a Xbox Slim coming later this year. Expected to be announced after E3 gaming expo in June. Look at the PS3 slim and imagine the same concept for the 360.

Brick there have been a few 'spyshots' of a much smaller 360 motherboard with USB ports in a different area. So its pretty safe to assume a slim is on its way sooner than later, the only problem with stuff like this is exactly when it will be announced and how much. If you use the search button for this forum.. it was talked about here already with alot of info.

E3 is usually when the BOMBSHELL announcements happen. Sony has already made their move (literally.. their new controller is called the Move) and also introduced a PS3 slim last year which has made the Playstation project more profitable. Microsoft is now pushing their new Natal controller technology pretty hard. Its been demo'ed for more than a year now and developers have had enough time to put code for it into future games.

Between Natal & a slim model.. its not unreasonable to assume that they have some pretty big news coming this year. I absolutely believe there will be 360 slim available for this Holiday shopping season.

No built-in wireless.. but built in wired. If you are 'serious' about gaming online.. you want to use the wired connection anyways.. its faster and less interferance (lag). The standard wifi adapter works well.. but its another $40+ used and $70 new. They also now make an wifi-N adapter for more speed but I've only seen them new for $99. Hopefully the slim360 will finally have wireless built in. And I hope its wifi-N for streaming movies/media/music over DLNA clients or Windows Media Center.

I understand what you are saying though.. Microsoft does stuff azz-backwards so many times. I dont understand why they charge so much for proprietary harddrives (or took so long to make USB thumbdrive storage allowable) .. if the whole idea of storage is to get people to USE the storage to buy DLC, movies & media online. It makes just as little sense why they wont include a wifi adapter with the console if they want you to pay $50 a year to use it online.

Its like they are trying to make money twice. Once off the hardware. And get you again with their online services. The more you nickel & dime people.. they less interested they become, they less they use your services and the more they badmouth your product/services. Look at the airline companies!