Finally taking the 360 plunge

Hardware and technical stuff
1

So, I just got a 50" Panasonic 1080P Plasma HDTV plus blu-ray player.

Now seems like the time to get a 360! All the past tales of 360 coffins has made me somewhat gun-shy though… Is it safe yet to get a 360? Should I still be checking lot numbers or whatever to make sure I don’t get a bad one? Which version is the best to get?

2

You don’t need to check lot numbers. If the box says “175w”, it uses less
power, and therefore must be the new chipset. I still suspect there are some
bad drives in some units, but the heating problem seems a thing of the past.

If you get a box saying “203w” or something like that, it’s an older chipset.
If you have plans to buy lots of DLC and occasionally rent some HD movies,
I’d suggest the Elite. Even here in Europe, the third world, where there is no
video market, I find myself at less than 100 gigs space all the time.

If you just like to own/rent Blu-Ray, you can live just fine with a 20 gig drive,
so any version with that is good. Specs printed on the box follow the same
rule for Arcade, Premium and Elite models.

3

Thanks Idler.

4

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=40974

The thread I started on a similar topic a while back.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3152&p=3

The answer I got.

5

That’s a sweet deal on the TV+player. Nice.

6

If you do get a RROD, sometimes you can “burp” the machine by unplugging everything and plugging it back in. I have a unit from the original lot, and I’ve never had problems aside from that one burped RROD. For what it’s worth, my 360 is positioned vertically and rests on a wood surface, as does the power supply.