XBox360 questions

[Zetanio]

Hey guys,

I had a few questions for XBox 360 owners.

I currently own one but it doesn't play certain games (Disk unreadable errors in GTAIV and CoD4, both new in the box)

I was looking into buying a refurb system from Gamestop.

That one is $179.95 w/o a harddrive
The Microsoft refurb is $250 with a 20gig HDD.
OR I can ship my xbox back to Microsoft and have them fix/refurb it for $100 and shipping,

I was wondering if anyone had shipping their xbox back to microsoft and how long did it take to get back to you. Shipping prices etc.

Also, will an xbox play games without a HD? I'm selling my old one (If I don't refurb it) to a friend and using that money toward a refurb system. If I take my HDD out, will he be able to save his game or anything like that?

tl;dr : I'm an idiot with video games now so please please help me figure out the fastest/cheap way to replace my xbawx.

[avos]

Usually takes it about month or so for them to ship it back to you, yes you can play games without a HDD but you need a memory card if you want to save. I would just send in the Xbox but that is up to you.

[Zeb]

Buy a new one, buying used 360s is a huge racket. Just went through a month long ordeal for my father's 360. I ended up buying a new one. I say this because your future warranty will be intact, and you should have the newer, less prone to break version. Buying used is like buying a time bomb, it's gonna go off eventually, whether it's RRoD, disc read errors, or whatever. Plus you aren't really saving a lot buying used, unless you end up buying from a friend. Gamestop and ebay used 360s aren't a very good deal money wise for refurbished electronics.

[Jotaru]

If you're looking to save a bit of cash, the MS refurbished units at Gamestop (Read: NOT the gamestop refurbs) are new 360's that had some sort of defect- sometimes its RROD out of the box (which should be solved now with the new chipsets), other times its a visual defect, open box, etc... that they could not sell as new. Almost every Gamestop 360 is one that had a major problem that they send back and have Gamestop's warranty fix; the MS ones however are handled completely by Microsoft, and sold under a 'New' item number at Gamestop- they have nothing to do with the process, so you might have better luck.

[Skjie]

I say this because your future warranty will be intact, and you should have the newer, less prone to break version. Buying used is like buying a time bomb, it's gonna go off eventually, whether it's RRoD, disc read errors, or whatever.

This.

[Isiolia]

That one is $179.95 w/o a harddrive
The Microsoft refurb is $250 with a 20gig HDD.
OR I can ship my xbox back to Microsoft and have them fix/refurb it for $100 and shipping,

Arcade system is $199.99 new, and was the first series to get the Jasper mobo if I recall. I would consider looking for one of those, or just hunting for a Jasper based Pro.

Personally I'd feel bad about selling a system I knew didn't work right, but that's your prerogative I suppose.

[Octavious]

Arcade system is $199.99 new, and was the first series to get the Jasper mobo if I recall. I would consider looking for one of those, or just hunting for a Jasper based Pro.

Personally I'd feel bad about selling a system I knew didn't work right, but that's your prerogative I suppose.

I recently replaced mine with a 60GB Arcade Version, it was ~$300 on sale for $250 over December. The only issue I had is my friends HDD Transfer Kit wouldn't work with my 60GB HDD so I ended up just using a memory card instead of sending in the sheet and waiting a few weeks. The only downside to using a memory card is some of the older XBOX 360 games will drop your achievement points, only experienced this with PD:Zero though.

Basically, as everyone has mentioned there are very afforadble versions of the 360 out there that are barely above the price of buying a used one. I would suggest buying a new Arcade version and swapping your hard drive onto it, or buying a 60GB Arcade Version. Personally I never saw a need for the 120gb HDD till I started installing games to my 360, now I wish I bought the bigger HDD. >_>; I know I can uninstall games I don't play often but it's so nice to have my 360 as quiet as my PS3.

[Zetanio]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm definitely going to either get the basic Arcade and swap my HDD or send it in. I just don't want to wait a flipping month to play my XBox on my new TV .

Now then:
The Arcade version (new) comes with the new interface system. I have the old one on my current XBox. Will that affect me swapping the HDD in?

[Norellicus]

No, as long as it remains offline it should work

Soon as you plug it in it'll want to download the NXE though (and really why wouldn't you, the features you get with it are pretty nice, HDD installs are great to cut down noise)

[Zetanio]

Oh I wasn't saying I wouldn't install it. Just didn't know if swapping the HDD over would brainfart the XBox somehow.

[rezn0r]

for what it's worth, i got the rrod a few weeks ago and i had a fixed system in my hands 6 days after sending it in (yes i was shocked too). if i was in that situation i'd probably buy a brand new console but that's me.