xbox 360 advice please for my boy, i don't do video games?

my boy is desperate for an xbox 360 and has been saving up, but i’m clueless about these things.

can anyone tell me if its necesary to buy the latest model (slim?) or is there an earlier one thats just as good we can get used?

also if buying new is there anywehere typically cheaper than anywhere else or is it the usual amazon v argos v tesco type hunt?

finally… am i right in thinking you can get lovefilm streaming through one?

If you decide to go used let me know… I have one I never play.

You can get lovefilm streaming, but you’ll need a Xbox Live Gold account (about £60 per year), but it’s only £4.99 a month for Lovefilm. Once you’ve sussed out the bizarre menu system there is actually a great choice (i’m currently working my way through the entirety of South Korean cinema!).

Buy used, you don’t need the latest model, but just check that it’s got a hard drive and HDMI port. I’ve got a couple of the Premium models which are fine and much cheaper then the Elite model. You’ll be looking at about £60-70 used (sorry if i’ve just lowered your sale proceeds TSY 😉 )

It’s better to buy from a friend if you can, or a proper used retailer, since xboxes can on occasion develop faults, which kids on ebay etc don’t bother to tell you about (google Red Ring of Death).

If you buy one and it doesn’t come with a headset (so he can talk to mates online), let me know and I’ll send you one for free. i don’t use it so would prefer it went to a good home than sitting doing nothing in a drawer!

(when’s the Xbox 720 due out…?)

They can go worng, so a new one has a guarantee….

You can get them without hard disks. Don’t.

The older the model, the more likely it is to RRoD, so if you do go used then try and get a newish one. (On the upside, there’s quite a few around after everyone upgraded to the Slim).

Also, the older ones use more power and are noisier, if either of those are concerns.

If you’re picking from a few second-handers and comparing, as a rule of thumb the lower the power rating of the power supply, the newer the model.

you’ll need a Xbox Live Gold account (about £60 per year)

A gold subscription is a lot less than that, and there are deals to be had. I usually get mine here[/url], and they’ve been spot on. £26 for a year currently.

(how old is he?)

TSY – what have you got, how much and whereabouts are you.

We’ve promised one to our lad as well but haven’t got around to getting him one

Do not link your cc to his account*If you get a gold membership for him do it via a pre paid card.
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.*no2 son blew £440 on my card on FIFA 12 sh1te

It’s a 360 from a few years back with a hard drive and all the gubbins it originally came with. I lost one of the battery packs so it’s now got a rechargeable pack for one of the controllers.

I’ve got a guitar for it although IIRC one of the buttons was getting a bit dodgy. Probably got 10-15 games although depending on your lads age you may not want him working his way through the Call of Duty series.

Buy new. Hardware problems are common.
Don’t sign up to Xbox Live using your CC, buy the subscription cards out of Asda or wherever. A bit dearer, but it means your son won’t be able to accidentally buy crap on your credit card, and your card details won’t be in the Xbox Live database, which is surely due to be hacked any time now.

Don’t sign up to Xbox Live using your CC, buy the subscription cards out of Asda or wherever. A bit dearer,

… or use the link I posted which is reliable and dirt cheap.

If buying used, make sure they have been to Microsoft for the RROD (Red Ring Of Death) repair, two of mine have had this done, faultless ever since.

Xbox live gold can be had for as little as £26 a year as above, but generally around £30ish from Amazon etc

I seem to recall reading someplace, but may be completely wrong about this, that the RRoD was more likely if you sat it on it’s side rather than on the flat, so to speak.
Got one,had it for a few years, buy a new game every year or so just to beat the crap out of someone and not go to jail for it. In that respect, it works for me.

Back in march I bought a brand new 250gb slim 360 from Ebuyer for £168 then recieved £20 cashback.. (I’d expect they’ll be even cheaper by now)

I’d looked on Gumtree/ebay and locally in cash converters and it seemed daft to go s/h for the tiny saving (often for an inferior model with no (or v. short) guarantee.

Cougar is on the money as usual. He said what I would say.

I seem to recall reading someplace, but may be completely wrong about this, that the RRoD was more likely if you sat it on it’s side rather than on the flat, so to speak.
Got one,had it for a few years, buy a new game every year or so just to beat the crap out of someone and not go to jail for it. In that respect, it works for me.

I used to work in a shop selling them, I have never seen one personally get RROD from being on its side but heard this rumour often enough. I have seen many need new lasers, all of which have been consoles used on their sides. I have been told the laser struggles more to read discs when the console is on it’s side by a repair man we used, there seems to be some truth in it. Also keep the console as dust free as possible.

Buy one with a big hard drive, install the game(s) they play the most then it just uses the laser to boot the game.

I’d sell you mine but my nephew would kill me.

.*no2 son blew £440 on my card on FIFA 12 sh1te

Was he no1 before?

Oh yeah, it’s been on it’s side for 3+ years with no problems.

No, the junior of the 2 boys

To clear the on it’s side thing up the problems occur (or did) when the console was vertical. I heard it’s all sorted now in more recent consoles.

2nd hand slim should be fine. Red rings of death are caused by overheating because the clowns at MS mounted the dvd drive directly over the GPU’s heatsink. The heatsink ended up lifting up off the gpu after heavy use and buggered a lot of machines. One mate has been through 6! (5 warranty replacements tbf) The slims have solved this and added another fan at the side so they shouldn’t suffer the same problem.

I bought me one of these for Christmas 😀
http://img.game.co.uk/ml2/2/3/6/5/236544_gen_a.png

Maybe check out Game and Gamestation for their preowned consoles? pretty sure they give a reasonable guarantee with their 2nd hand sales

I bought new 3 months back and best deal was Asda. Went for the 4Gb one but it turned out not to have enough space, still worked out cheaper to buy a 4Gb one and a HD upgrade from Amazon than it would have been to get the 250Gb one new.
XBOX live – RIP

Don’ think anyone’s mentioned it yet, but unless you are putting the Xbox in a MASSIVE room, dont bother with Kinect.

if you are buying new (and this goes for pretty much everything) keep an eye on HotUKDeals, they have deals from various shops and online retailers…

2nd hand slim should be fine. Red rings of death are caused by overheating because the clowns at MS mounted the dvd drive directly over the GPU’s heatsink. The heatsink ended up lifting up off the gpu after heavy use and buggered a lot of machines.

RRoD is a term for several hardware failures. The GPU on older models is next to the Disc Drive not under it, it’s the solder that gives way and the heatsink lifts that causes most RRoD’s. I’d really be looking at buying a new console, registering it to minimise the risk. The cost if the hardware is fixed and hardly varies between retailers, you often find better bundles which have been sponsored by the distributor. I wouldn’t buy a second hand one from game/gamestation we never tested then thoroughly and you will only be exhanging a faulty console for another that’s not been tested thoroughly. Adding extra fans doesn’t help much as they drain more power (there are ones with their own power supply) but I’d just go for a new slim console backed up with a Microsoft warranty.

thanks guys, he’s 9, great cc tip, did’nt realise that about the membership but great link.

yeti, could poss be interested, feel free to drop me a line.

TSY, what model is it, i may be interested…

As an aside,

I can repair RRoDs if needs be. Got one given a few months back, repaired it and it’s been fine since. I’ll work out a price if anyone needs theirs doing.

RRoD is a term for several hardware failures. The GPU on older models is next to the Disc Drive not under it, it’s the solder that gives way and the heatsink lifts that causes most RRoD’s

Yeah. 3 RRoD is most common and generally what most folk mean when they say Red Ring of Death…

Under? next to? depends on which way up the console is doesn’t it? 😉

When I took my old 360 apart it had a big scorch mark on the bottom of the dvd drive in the shape of the heatsink fins. 😐