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Xbox 360: A question

Jon.Stewart87

Jon.Stewart87

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2008
232
84
United Arab Emirates
So.
I'm definitely going to buy a 360, and soon - so don't try and convince me about PS3, its just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I've done a lot of research on the elite vs. premium pro models and was just wondering your take on them. Can I buy a separate HDMI for the premium to reach HD quality? Also, I saw some Amazon sponsored Warehouse deals, should I go for a used (huge savings) model or get the squeaky clean.

Either way, I get paid this friday and will be purchasing something, so the most help before then is greatly appreciated.

Still love my iMac though! :apple::apple:
 
Jon.Stewart87 said:
So.
I'm definitely going to buy a 360, and soon - so don't try and convince me about PS3, its just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I've done a lot of research on the elite vs. premium pro models and was just wondering your take on them. Can I buy a separate HDMI for the premium to reach HD quality? Also, I saw some Amazon sponsored Warehouse deals, should I go for a used (huge savings) model or get the squeaky clean.
Click to expand...

I have an Arcade with an HDMI port. It didn't come with the cable, obviously, but I picked up a cheap HDMI cable from monoprice that does the trick.

Note that if you're wanting to run both video and audio to your TV, this'll work fine. If you're running just video to your TV and audio elsewhere, you'll need both an HDMI cable plus an AV adapter. I'm using monoprice's XBox 360 component adaptor to get optical-out (which is then connected to a Mac mini's audio-in.)

With both an HDMI and AV cable connected simultaneously, there's an issue where the 360 can reboot when switching inputs on your TV, which is really annoying. Apparently the audio-only AV cable that comes with the offical HDMI adaptor doesn't have this problem, but I can't find the pinouts of that cable anywhere to turn an extra AV cable into the same audio-only cable.

I plan to just hook it up via component at some point.
 
Which console is for you?

As you can see there, every Xbox 360 console has HDMI port now. You can just buy HDMI cable if you decide getting a Pro. The difference between a Pro and an Elite is not much, Elite has twice the hard drive space a Pro has. Elite also comes with all the cables you might need.

I was going to recommend the Resident Evil 5 Elite bundle if you don't mind the color, but am surprised to see the price difference between a Elite and RE5 bundle is huge on Amazon. They are both $399 here in Canada. If you're going to buy RE5, then the deal seems good considering the game is $59.99. Plus, all the RE5 Elite consoles are Jasper, newer revision meaning cooler, less chance getting RROD.

If you're buying it used, how much saving are we talking about here? Has the warranty expired already? I'd worry about warranty if I were you. Although my console has never RROD, but the DVD drive wore out, so I had to send it back for repair. If the console out of warranty is having any problem and you need to send it back to Microsoft, it costs about $100, but you get the next one year covered. RROD is covered for 3 years from the date the console first purchased though.
 
thanks a lot,
yeah I'll probably be going to GameStop this friday to buy the 360 Premium: 60GB.

I want to put maybe one or two games onto the HDD to eliminate loading time - but other than that, the HDD will be for storing saves and downloading patches/a few demos. no music/video files, really.

I've counted out buying used - theres too many risks.. unless there are some glory stories out there, I think I'll go new. nothing like cutting open that brand new box :apple:
 
Jon.Stewart87 said:
thanks a lot,
yeah I'll probably be going to GameStop this friday to buy the 360 Premium: 60GB.

I want to put maybe one or two games onto the HDD to eliminate loading time - but other than that, the HDD will be for storing saves and downloading patches/a few demos. no music/video files, really.

I've counted out buying used - theres too many risks.. unless there are some glory stories out there, I think I'll go new. nothing like cutting open that brand new box :apple:
Click to expand...

you could put more games most games are no bigger than 6 gb
 
My advice: DO NOT GET THE ARCADE.

Without a hard drive you are simply not getting all the features of the XBox with no ability to store downloadable content. The cost of buying a drive separately costs more than just buying the system with one initially. The piddling 256MB memory is smaller than most dlc available and is pretty much useless.

The 60gig drive on the other hand is large enough for almost everyone. The handful of people I know who have managed to fill their drive up are all huge fans of Rock Band 2 and have filled their drives up with the huge library of dlc songs (each song runs between 25-60mb). Most people simply remove dlc for games they are no longer playing (you can always download them again).

You should also factor in a Gold membership into your costs. Like the drive, it is a really important added cost to full enjoying the benefits of XBox ownership.

I'm not a fan of Microsoft (I use Macs after all), but Sony has managed to be far more incompetent than Microsoft has when it comes to this generation of console. You are making the right choice in my opinion.
 
thanks a lot.
I've certainly been doing a LOT of research on this, but there's nothing like user and friend comments. Truly, you can't read this stuff in a magazine or on a youtube review. Yes, I think I'll be going with the Premium and then have a little bit left over to get my first couple games, then some more accessories later on.

thanks, anybody else? advice?
 
Jon.Stewart87 said:
So.
I'm definitely going to buy a 360, and soon - so don't try and convince me about PS3, its just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I've done a lot of research on the elite vs. premium pro models and was just wondering your take on them. Can I buy a separate HDMI for the premium to reach HD quality?
Click to expand...

The Pro and Elite models come with these standard:

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/hardware/x/xbox360componenthdcable/

It's already capable of 1080p without a HDMI cable.
 
Ivan P said:
The Pro and Elite models come with these standard:

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/hardware/x/xbox360componenthdcable/

It's already capable of 1080p without a HDMI cable.
Click to expand...

Last I checked there is NO WAY component hookups can give you 1080p. Why would we need HDMI?? (Cuz that's the only way to get full 1080p).

Best you'll get with component is 720p. (Which really is nothing to cry about. You won't be able to tell the difference between the two unless your screen is 60"+)
 
iheijoushin said:
My advice: DO NOT GET THE ARCADE.

Without a hard drive you are simply not getting all the features of the XBox with no ability to store downloadable content. The cost of buying a drive separately costs more than just buying the system with one initially. The piddling 256MB memory is smaller than most dlc available and is pretty much useless.
Click to expand...

I got the Arcade, and the 120GB HDD. I put all the Dashboard updates onto the internal memory, which means I can swap out HDDs between XBoxen (which I used to transfer profiles/saves off a roommate's XBox). The combo ended up being considerably less than getting the Elite with its 120GB drive.

If you're only after the 60GB drive, then, yeah, just get the Pro. But I'm glad I went the route I did, my 120GB drive's already about halfway full (I've 'Install to Hard Drive'd every game I own).

(Also, you can turn a 20GB XBox drive and a 120GB laptop drive into a 120GB XBox drive for reasonably cheap, if you can get your hands on a 20GB enclosure. Unfortunately, you can't use the same method to get a larger-than-120GB drive.)
 
Lurchdubious said:
Last I checked there is NO WAY component hookups can give you 1080p. Why would we need HDMI?? (Cuz that's the only way to get full 1080p).

Best you'll get with component is 720p. (Which really is nothing to cry about. You won't be able to tell the difference between the two unless your screen is 60"+)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's true, I've always heard that it's 40" and up that you can tell the difference between 720 and 1080.

I think you're making the right choice, but you should definitely invest in xbox live. An xbox just isn't an xbox without it.
 
Lurchdubious said:
Last I checked there is NO WAY component hookups can give you 1080p. Why would we need HDMI?? (Cuz that's the only way to get full 1080p).

Best you'll get with component is 720p. (Which really is nothing to cry about. You won't be able to tell the difference between the two unless your screen is 60"+)
Click to expand...

Not true. I have a 360 and it will drive my projector at 1080p over component. Cable quality is the limiting factor in using component and with long runs you get degradation so for my projector I actually run the 360 at 1080i since it is the exact same resolution and the de-interlacer in the projector turns it back into 1080p anyway. HDMI doesn't degrade visibly over a long run since it is a digital connection.
 
Lurchdubious said:
Last I checked there is NO WAY component hookups can give you 1080p. Why would we need HDMI?? (Cuz that's the only way to get full 1080p).

Best you'll get with component is 720p. (Which really is nothing to cry about. You won't be able to tell the difference between the two unless your screen is 60"+)
Click to expand...

Component can run 1080p, however it is an analogue transmission which means poor quality cables can ruin the image. HDMI is digital, which means it's crystal clear and "on spec" the whole time.
 
GreatDrok said:
Not true. I have a 360 and it will drive my projector at 1080p over component. Cable quality is the limiting factor in using component and with long runs you get degradation so for my projector I actually run the 360 at 1080i since it is the exact same resolution and the de-interlacer in the projector turns it back into 1080p anyway. HDMI doesn't degrade visibly over a long run since it is a digital connection.
Click to expand...

peskaa said:
Component can run 1080p, however it is an analogue transmission which means poor quality cables can ruin the image. HDMI is digital, which means it's crystal clear and "on spec" the whole time.
Click to expand...

Apparently I stand corrected. I need a better projector. :D
 
I usually purchase something like this online, but I might go to GameStop - they have a special where you get extra money for your trade-ins. Thinking about giving them all my Xbox games, seeing what I can get.. even if it's like $20 or so. (though I know they rip people off like crazy)
 
I went elite and glad I did you can burn your games to your hard drive so you have less heat noise and less chance of RROD. You wont think you need that much but burn a few games and theres 10GBS gone!
 
Airforcekid said:
I went elite and glad I did you can burn your games to your hard drive so you have less heat noise and less chance of RROD. You wont think you need that much but burn a few games and theres 10GBS gone!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting the Premium Pro, then buying the 120GB on ebay for avg. of $70-90 as opposed to $149.

Though, this pushes my price near to where the elite is already, at $399.

I'll hang with the 60GB for a while and put a few large, laggy games on the HDD, then see what happens.
 
Jon.Stewart87 said:
Yeah, I'm thinking about getting the Premium Pro, then buying the 120GB on ebay for avg. of $70-90 as opposed to $149.

Though, this pushes my price near to where the elite is already, at $399.

I'll hang with the 60GB for a while and put a few large, laggy games on the HDD, then see what happens.
Click to expand...

Do what I'm doing: Get the Resident Evil Elite, then just sell the game unopened for $55 shipped! Makes the Elite a little more affordable.
 
Hey everyone,
so i've been looking and I found a guy selling his Xbox, I think it has the Falcon chip but not the Jasper gpu..
is it bad to not have jasper?

Here's our emails back and forth.
Hey man,
saw your ad.

"Just a couple questions about the 360

can you look on the back?
Does it say
12V-14.2A
or
12V-12.1A

and also, why are you selling it? is it in good condition etc?


thanks,

Jon"

He says.
"it sais 12v 14.2a
the manafacture date is 2008-10-07
and it does have the hdmi plug in

and the only reason i am selling this is beacuse i need some money right now beacuse my family going through a hard time and this is all i can really do to help out, but the 360 is in good conditon maybe a few scrathces and smiges but nothing big."

I think he's selling it for around $250 for a 60gb
 
Get the pro machine. It's great. Just make sure whatever you buy has warranty, as chances are that it will break.
 
Just get a Pro or an Arcade and get an HDMI cable off monoprice.
 
I don't think the price difference is that much, $250 versus $299. I'd get a new one, that way you get the normal one year warranty and three year RROD warranty. Also, if you get the bundle, it comes with Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones, you can sell them to GameStop/EB Games/Amazon. Even though I doubt they're worth much, it's at least some cash back to your pocket.

BUT, it's still your money, your choice. ;)
 
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