Replace my non-HDMI with an Elite?

M

mikochu

CAGiversary!
Hey folks,

I have a non-HDMI 360 with a 20GB HD. It's my second RROD replacement and has been working fine for over a year. It's connected to my Bravia W5100 via VGA, which I'm content with. However, everything else (cable box, PS3, AppleTV) are connected via HDMI. Lately, I've been thinking of replacing it with an Elite. Why? The black casing, HDMI output, and the 120GB HD. Now that they allow game installs, my 20GB just isn't cutting it anymore. What do you guys think? Should I get an Elite? Just pick up a 60GB kit? Is there some Arcade+HD combo that's better than the Elite?

Thanks!
 
I'm in this exact same boat myself. If I could sell my 360 for $100 or so, I'd do this no problem since I've got some Gamestop credit to burn.
 
I'd get the Elite. Arcade+120 gig hdd will run you $300 anyways.

But personally, if my 360 got RROD, I'd probably not buy another, especially after two. I'm already started to move all my multi-console games to PS3, but that's just me, and I know there's no chance of converting people to do that.
 
I don't see myself migrating to the PS3. XBL is miles ahead of PSN, even if costs 30-50 bucks a year. I've been playing MW2 on my sister's PS3 and the online experience
is horrid. Anyway, seems like the Elite is the sound choice. I just hope they don't come out with an Elitist Elite with a 250GB HD and built-in wireless N...

Thanks guys.
 
Well...I would say if you have the money than sure, upgrade to the Elite. You could use your non hdmi 360 as a back up, put it somewhere else in your house, or sell it.

I'm saying this because the reasons you listed seem like you are still able to play without those options.
 
Honestly think the game install option is a waste of time, still need the game in the tray to even play it and it doesn't even speed up the games to a point where it makes a huge difference. Only game I can think of that ever benefited me when I used it was Lost Odyssey. You honestly could save $100 dollars and just get an arcade and use the 20GB you have now.

Getting it for the HDMI port is understandable, I have two 360s(both have HDMI ports). One is hooked up via HDMI and the other VGA. My TV only has two HDMI ports and the second one is for my PS3. The color with the VGA is less vibrant and washed compared to HDMI :\ Only upside to the VGA is for CoD and fighting games where I want no lag caused by my HDTV, so I continue to use it.

So yeah, I say go with what works best. Just stating my opinion, situation, and experience. Good luck.
 
[quote name='dsrtstorm']Honestly think the game install option is a waste of time, still need the game in the tray to even play it and it doesn't even speed up the games to a point where it makes a huge difference. Only game I can think of that ever benefited me when I used it was Lost Odyssey. You honestly could save $100 dollars and just get an arcade and use the 20GB you have now.


Getting it for the HDMI port is understandable, I have two 360s(both have HDMI ports). One is hooked up via HDMI and the other VGA. My TV only has two HDMI ports and the second one is for my PS3. The color with the VGA is less vibrant and washed compared to HDMI :\ Only upside to the VGA is for CoD and fighting games where I want no lag caused by my HDTV, so I continue to use it.

So yeah, I say go with what works best. Just stating my opinion, situation, and experience. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Set your VGA reference levels to extended, it will fix the washed out look.
 
I originally bought an Elite more because I hate white consoles than for HDMI, but I do use the HDMI. I like having the best picture quality available, but it also reduces cable clutter. I got the Gamestop PRP, and I have yet to see a 1 year PRP run out without frying the console. I'm on my 3rd brand new console (all 3 being Falcon chipset) with my original HDD being swapped on every time. I'm pissed it was so hard ot find the newest revision (Jasper) last summer whne the Arcade units had it from winter 2008 on. My current PRP lasts til July 2009, and I'm playing heavily again, so hopefully I'll end up with a Jasper next time. If I actually have a console survive the year, I'll probably buy a spare the following Black Friday just to have.

Although, I have to wonder what this Natal shit will do to 360. They better not try to make everyone give up using regular controllers like Nintendo has. I hate being forced to navigate menus and stuff by pointing a silly remote at the screen rather than just being able to use a dpad. There's no excuse for abandoning standard controller support for old school gamers that don't like change.

As far as people suggesting switching to PS3, I see just as many downsides to that as 360 has, if not more. Sony is run by incompetent bastards. There's no excuse for a faster HDD or BD-rom to break the goddamn games, but the way they forced everyone to code the games makes them break if the hardware is upgraded. Has nobody over at Sony ever played computer games!? Drive speeds are NOT supposed to matter! There's also my utter distaste for Sony with the whole RIAA thing and Blu-Ray. The only reason HD-DVD went away is because Sony was willing to bankrupt themselves in order to win a format war.

Sorry for the rant. Just my 2 cents.
 
for the elite upgrade, as mentioned: HDMI cable/port will be less of a tangle of wires behind your TV/console. The potential to have a noticable difference in image and sound quality, a cooler, lighter, and more efficient power adapter/chip set. A larger HDD to accomdate whatever you needs will be down the road, and you'd get 2 games (batman/pure) which you can either enjoy or trade in for $20 credit at GS towards another purchase of something else...and the black console is kinda cool, if not just for blending in with most entertainment centers or the recesses of a dark cabinet.

As for Natal, they said the next 360 gen consoles will have the natal features built into it, where as the ones previous will need to buy a sensor bar similar to Wii's. Not certain what will happen to controls for those who don't have natal accessories but I doubt they will alienate the rest of their customer base...at least for a while. Afterall, some ppl still have dial up, run windows 98, and still buy CD's from the music store.
 
Wow! Thanks for the insight. I wonder how bad the lag is through HDMI. I'd definitely like a quieter 360 (fans/drive), though. I think I'm going to wait until an Elite deal comes up again. I heard Wal-Mart has a deal...with a $50 online gift card, but meh. I'd probably still have to wait for a transfer cable to come in, unless they started to include it in the box...

Thanks
 
[quote name='Danil ACE']Set your VGA reference levels to extended, it will fix the washed out look.[/QUOTE]

I tried that, but it still doesn't compare to the quality of HDMI :( The reference levels if I remember only affect the black levels, I could be wrong though.
 
[quote name='mikochu']Wow! Thanks for the insight. I wonder how bad the lag is through HDMI. I'd definitely like a quieter 360 (fans/drive), though. I think I'm going to wait until an Elite deal comes up again. I heard Wal-Mart has a deal...with a $50 online gift card, but meh. I'd probably still have to wait for a transfer cable to come in, unless they started to include it in the box...

Thanks[/QUOTE]

I don't believe your TV can do 1080p through component. Can it? Then again, not sure the 360 can either. Not saying it isn't possible, it's just that most manufacturers leave that feature out. The install feature is great for the reasons you mentioned. My old pro sounded like a jet engine taking off, now the PS3 and 360 don't really have a discernable difference (opinion only, not trying to troll)
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']I don't believe your TV can do 1080p through component. Can it? Then again, not sure the 360 can either. Not saying it isn't possible, it's just that most manufacturers leave that feature out.[/QUOTE]
The 360 can output 1080p via component, but you're correct that not all TVs will accept it.
 
If the day arrives when mine finally decides to red ring, I'm not even going to bother having it serviced. I'll just buy a new one at Best Buy and get their no questions asked extended warranty with it and sell the carcass of the old one on ebay for whatever I can get for it. If something happens during the warranty period, Best Buy will take it back and give you a new one off the shelf. That's a much better deal than phoning Microsoft, going through their useless troubleshooting procedure, waiting for a shipping box to arrive, sending it in, waiting weeks to get it back and then maybe getting one that is even older and more prone to red ringing than the one you originally sent in.
 
My husband and I just bit the bullet on this one ourselves . . . with our 20GB HDD we were running out of space to download demos etc, and we were hoping to import old GH content into Band Hero. No chance of that on only 20GB, unless we blew away a bunch of stuff and resigned ourselves to running with only about 10GB of usable space. Fat chance with two semi-serious gamers on a single system. We're also out of warranty and have spare HDMI ports, both of which also factored into the decision.

Gamestop is paying $80 trade-in for the 360, plus $10 for the 20GB HDD. They're also offering $20 trade-in credit on consoles until Sunday. We had a bunch of Amazon credit, so picked up the Elite from them and hopefully will be able to recoup $110 via trade-in to Gamestop. I heard there was a deal announced elsewhere on the forum for a $50 Best Buy gift card with purchase of an Elite, but the deal doesn't start til Sunday and completing the transfer in a day seemed like pushing our luck.
 
[quote name='Reesie78']

Gamestop is paying $80 trade-in for the 360, plus $10 for the 20GB HDD. They're also offering $20 trade-in credit on consoles until Sunday. We had a bunch of Amazon credit, so picked up the Elite from them and hopefully will be able to recoup $110 via trade-in to Gamestop. I heard there was a deal announced elsewhere on the forum for a $50 Best Buy gift card with purchase of an Elite, but the deal doesn't start til Sunday and completing the transfer in a day seemed like pushing our luck.[/QUOTE]

Would I get any sort of edge card bonus on the 20GB trade? If they'll give me $110 for my current 20GB system, then consider it as good as gone.
 
$100 for the console (after promo) is actually one of the rare cases where GS blows eBay out of the water, especially if you have an older console. You can find a lot of working non-HDMI 360s on the ebay for like $80.
 
[quote name='CheepGamez']If the day arrives when mine finally decides to red ring, I'm not even going to bother having it serviced. I'll just buy a new one at Best Buy and get their no questions asked extended warranty with it and sell the carcass of the old one on ebay for whatever I can get for it. If something happens during the warranty period, Best Buy will take it back and give you a new one off the shelf. That's a much better deal than phoning Microsoft, going through their useless troubleshooting procedure, waiting for a shipping box to arrive, sending it in, waiting weeks to get it back and then maybe getting one that is even older and more prone to red ringing than the one you originally sent in.[/QUOTE]


Actually that was when Best Buy had the Product Replacement plans. However, they now have a black tie geek squad thing where they attempt to fix the console.
 
[quote name='CheepGamez']If the day arrives when mine finally decides to red ring, I'm not even going to bother having it serviced. I'll just buy a new one at Best Buy and get their no questions asked extended warranty with it and sell the carcass of the old one on ebay for whatever I can get for it. If something happens during the warranty period, Best Buy will take it back and give you a new one off the shelf. That's a much better deal than phoning Microsoft, going through their useless troubleshooting procedure, waiting for a shipping box to arrive, sending it in, waiting weeks to get it back and then maybe getting one that is even older and more prone to red ringing than the one you originally sent in.[/QUOTE]


Actually that was when Best Buy had the Product Replacement plans. However, they now have a black tie geek squad thing where they attempt to fix the console.
 
I replaced my old non HDMI for an Elite, loving it. Well worth the money.

It's nice being able to have 10+ games installed at once. And aside from cleaning every couple months, not have to worry about space.
 
BigPopov, good to hear!

evildeadjedi, so I guess it wouldn't be smart to get the extended warranty with Best Buy?
 
[quote name='mikochu']

evildeadjedi, so I guess it wouldn't be smart to get the extended warranty with Best Buy?[/QUOTE]

Unless you want to deal with them instead of M$. This is directly from Best Buy community forum.

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Ma...est-buy-xbox-360-warranty-psp-plan/td-p/84196

Hello micnaches-

Our Geek Squad® Black Tie Protection plan coverages are a great option to consider at time of purchase because, as you’ve experienced with your Xbox360, things do happen which cause a need for repairs. I understand your concern and I’m glad that you contacted us for an answer. I would love to assist you.

As Nokia stated, we transitioned from our Product Replacement Plan (PRP’s) to our Geek Squad® Black Tie Protection Plan coverage before you purchased your Xbox360; therefore you cannot receive a replacement in store without going through the repair/Rapid Exchange process. Namely, your “Gadget and Gizmo” Plan will first attempt at repairing your Xbox360 if not working. If repairs cannot be performed, then we will replace it. However, under Rapid Exchange, your Xbox360 would be sent off and within 7-10 business days, you would receive a refurbished model. Also, you would not have to pay for a new coverage plan if you received a replacement under Rapid Exchange.

I will surely document your concerns so they may be internally addressed within Best Buy®. If you have any additional concerns or questions, feel free to reply to this topic or send me a private message by clicking on “Private Message” on my signature bar.

Thank you for sharing with us on the forum. I hope this helps!

Regards,

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial]Justin | Best Buy® Community Connector[/FONT]

Also I guess this plan doesn't cover RROD which must be sent to M$ anyways.
 
[quote name='evildeadjedi']Unless you want to deal with them instead of M$. This is directly from Best Buy community forum.

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Ma...est-buy-xbox-360-warranty-psp-plan/td-p/84196

Hello micnaches-

Our Geek Squad® Black Tie Protection plan coverages are a great option to consider at time of purchase because, as you’ve experienced with your Xbox360, things do happen which cause a need for repairs. I understand your concern and I’m glad that you contacted us for an answer. I would love to assist you.

As Nokia stated, we transitioned from our Product Replacement Plan (PRP’s) to our Geek Squad® Black Tie Protection Plan coverage before you purchased your Xbox360; therefore you cannot receive a replacement in store without going through the repair/Rapid Exchange process. Namely, your “Gadget and Gizmo” Plan will first attempt at repairing your Xbox360 if not working. If repairs cannot be performed, then we will replace it. However, under Rapid Exchange, your Xbox360 would be sent off and within 7-10 business days, you would receive a refurbished model. Also, you would not have to pay for a new coverage plan if you received a replacement under Rapid Exchange.

I will surely document your concerns so they may be internally addressed within Best Buy®. If you have any additional concerns or questions, feel free to reply to this topic or send me a private message by clicking on “Private Message” on my signature bar.

Thank you for sharing with us on the forum. I hope this helps!

Regards,

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial]Justin | Best Buy® Community Connector[/FONT]

Also I guess this plan doesn't cover RROD which must be sent to M$ anyways.[/QUOTE]

Doesn't cover RRoD? HAHA! Screw Best Buy. Gamestop still does real PRPs. It was like $50 for one on an Elite. I think this was before the price drop on the console, so maybe it even went down. Bring in the broken one, leave with a new one. No bullshit. That's the ONLY way a warranty/replacement plan is worth purchasing, IMO. I wonder how Amazon and NewEgg's plans work. Might be worth looking at. Anything is better than dealing with the blue shirts.

If I ever got stuck dealing with a manfacturer warranty again, I'd sell the damn refurb the sent and buy a brand new one anyway.
 
I just purchased a Holiday Elite bundle. I bought it at Best Buy because they offered a $50 gift card (online/BM in contrast to Wal-Mart's online-only GC). I used my Best Buy credit card, and they had 6 months same-as-cash, too, which was nice.

Bummer of the Day:
XBOX "Migration" Transfer Cables are $13.74 shipped from Microsoft. wtf? :( That thing better work. I've heard horror stories of it trashing drives.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']The 360 can output 1080p via component, but you're correct that not all TVs will accept it.[/QUOTE]

The only drag with 1080p over component is the 360 won't upscale DVD's over component. Any other connection it will (VGA/HDMI). Kind of an issue if you use your 360 as a dvd player.
 
I think the OP should definitely consider getting a new Xbox. However I think you should wait for some kind of deal if it's not critical that you have one right away. Installing games, while mildly convenient, was simply a ploy introduced so that people would invest in the overpriced larger HDDs. So don't let that sway you too much.

Unfortunately the Holidays just ended and they were ripe with deals, including the one I took advantage of at the M$ online store, which resulted in an Xbox Elite with Pure, MW2, an extra controller, as well 5 copies of Assassin's Creed II, 5 copies of Dragon Age, and 5 three-month Xboxlive cards. All for the $330! The last three items were a result of a glitch on their website that I, as well as many other CAGs, took advantage of! Alright, I am done bragging.

HDMI definitely looks crisp though, I did have mine connected via PC. When I made the switch there certainly was a noticeable difference.
 
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