XBox360 vs 360 Elite vs Halo 3 Special Edition
 

Which should I buy? I don't have a HD television. I do have a bunch of Best Buy gift cards buring a hole in my pocket.

As near as I can tell, the only difference between them is the Elite has a bigger HD. The Elite and the Special Edition come with "free" Xbox Live that you pay extra for.

So what should I buy?

- gord

well whatever you do, don't lock yourself out of the house naked and then try to walk into bestbuy.

I was interested in buying the Elite myself.... but the wife kaiboshed that becuase I'd also be buying a HD TV set too.

A few facts about the 360.

The Core: $279.99
Most people call this the tard pack. It has no headset for talking over Xbox Live, no Ethernet network cable, no wireless controller, no memory card or hard drive and no HDMI ports. MS is supposedly going to relaunch the Core later this year with a free memory card and 5 Xbox Live games.



The Pro: $349.99
I'd wager most people buy this version. Includes:
A hard drive (20 gig), headphones for Xbox Live, Ethernet cable, AV Cable - Standard/HD and a wireless controller instead of the wired in the Core version.

All the people I know have bought a hard drive sooner or later if they bought the Core first, save yourself the money in the long haul and get the Pro instead the Core.

The hard drive is needed if you have lots of Xbox Live games, you want to download movies, music, etc or play Xbox games from last generation. The hard drive is also used in some games to cache data for faster loading. (Side note: All future made Pro's are supposed to come with HDMI standard)



The Elite: $449.99
Everything you get in the Pro and then some. The Elite's major selling points now are a bigger hard drive (120 gig), HDMI (the Elite is the only version to ship with HDMI cables in the box) and a 2nd built in heat sink on most of the systems (check the lot numbers.)



Halo S.E.: $399.99
Same as the Elite but with a new paint job, the Play & Charge Kit for your wireless controller and a smaller 20 gig hard drive. Some of these SKUs have the 65nm chips.



Extra Info
All the launch consoles had 1 heat sink and the 90nm core chip.

Later, Elites were launched with the 90nm and 2 heat sinks to counter act what most considered the cause of the RROD issues.

The new Halo S.E. is supposedly the first console to have the new Falcon 65nm chips. However, it's not across the board yet. MS will eventually have all consoles with the 65nm chips.

Check your lot numbers. I'd post them, but MS is stealth launching the Falcon so I haven't seen 100% proof which Lot numbers have the 90nm chips & 2 heat sinks or the 65nm chips.

2007-08-24 Team FDOU Lot No: 734.

The Official MS Hardware Webpage

I'd say to make sure you get the new core as discribed above if your going to buy one now. Keep an eye out with the lot numbers and just watch. Don't get stuck with the crappy version. Just do a little research regarding "Xbox 360 Falcon" chips.

I for one am going to wait until they fix the GPU, which should hopefully be next year sometime. That will have to be checked the same way though.

One correction - the Halo SE has a smaller HD, only 20GB same as Pro.

Since Microsoft extended the warranty on 360s to 3 years, I don't think it's that big of a deal to wait for them to fix the hardware issues. If yours dies, you get a free replacement and by that time it will probably have the fixed hardware.

However, I think it's probably worth waiting for the rumored
360 bundles though. They're supposed to come out this month, and it's basically the Premium and Elite versions for the same price, but you get a Forza 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance included for free.

The new Pro is the way to go, unless you REALLY want a giant HD.

Fixed and thanks.

IMO the Halo version is just pugfugly. I mean really.. GREEN and ORANGE.

green... and orange..


...

Personally i got a used elite and skimped on the hard drive (20gig), but got a memory card to store my gamer tag (in case i want to bring my info to someone else's house)
20 gig is more than enough really, tho you really only get a usable 16gigs out of it. Can fit plenty of demos, and once ya play em why keep em. You can use a USB flash drive if you want music on there, or network it with a computer with Windows Media Center (or now if you have Vista, Windows Media Player 11.)

Luckily for me the guy who traded in the system did so with a play and charge kit ;)

My advice:
If you don't mind spending the extra $100 go with the elite. The xbox looks FUCKING SEXY in black.

Edit:
DO pick yourself up a play and charge kit. Batteries get expensive.

Shit. Too late.

Of course Halo 3 Special Edition is the best choice. It's just my own opinion, I think it's released recently and worth to do. I just got it after releasing.
And it has some great reviews
http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/hal...iew-300345.php
Here is the deal I used, you can try
http://www.dealstudio.com/viewtopic.php?t=31747

Halo 3 is way too overrated. Everyone is like a hurting crack head for it when it came out. And the game is just kife.

I don't play real time shooter, but the Halo 3 look so nice.

If you plan to download and watch a lot of HD show/movie thru Xbox live, go with the 120GO drive other wise go with one with a 20Gb which is enough.

But don't get the new arcade, you'll regret have no drive and when you will go out, it will have cost you more after hand.

NOTE: they only extended the warranty on the RROD problem. The console, other than RROD, gets a standard 1 year warranty. My first 360 died after 1 3/4 years, due to RROD, so Microsoft replaced it with a refurbished unit under warranty. I've read if you send in the unit for other than RROD, but claim RROD, they will still warranty the console even after the one year anniversary. Xbox Live is not free. The console comes with Silver, but only allows you to chat with other Xbox Live users, it does not allow you to game with them. Gold membership has an annual fee of $50.00, but you can get it cheaper on eBay; mine was only $25.00 for 13 months (standard 12 + 1 free). The consoles are pretty reliable, though I know a couple of guys, through our clan, that have gone through 5 units! Again, my first one lasted 1 3/4 years and replaced under warranty. My second one is brand new, so no problems for years, I hope. Any consoles manufactured after 10/2007 should have the new "falcon" chip set and HDMI ports. When you buy the unit, pull the tab (or have the sales clerk do it) and see the serial number and date of manufacture. If they are cool, maybe they'll open it up and see if the console comes with the HDMI port. Good luck!

You can look on the box, it lists if it comes with the HDMI port. Amazon lists the two Pro models separately (XBox 360, XBox 360 w/ HDMI port).