BUYING AN XBOX 360? HERE ARE SOME TIPS…

So, your planning on buying an XBOX 360 to play games…Before you do, here are some tips to help you protect yourself

Never buy a used XBOX360…EVER!! Why? Obviously, you don’t know how the previous owner has been treating the XBOX360. Who knows, he/she/it could have been abusing it. Another thing is, most used XBOX360s available are probably the older models with the older motherboards. You most definitely don’t want those.

Make sure you bet the right model for you. There are currently 3 XBOX360 models available.

Elite – the top of the line XBOX 360, comes with a 120gig hard drive and has a black finish. It wouldn’t hurt to get one of these if you have the money. But since its like priced at over $300, I wouldn’t recommend this

Pro – this is the mid range model and comes with a 60gig hard drive. Like all XBOX360s, its color white. This is the model that I would recommend as it has enough disk drive space for downloadable content and what ever you feel like downloading from XBOX Live. This is priced at &$299.99

Arcade – this is the bare bone model and only has 256mb of memory. Just enough for game saves. If downloadable content doesn’t mean anything to you and you could care less about going on-line then this model would be just fine as this is only priced at $199.99. Not bad if I do say so myself.

Make sure you buy your XBOX360 from a store that offers warranty. This is especially true for people living in places wherein MICROSOFT has zero support for the XBOX360. If you live in a country with MICROSOFT then their warranty should be enough. But for those of us who live in countries with no support, the next best thing is to get warranty from the stores. Better yet if you can get a replacement warranty.

Make sure you get one of the new XBOX360s with the new Jasper motherboard. These new models were released around October 2008 and are packed with the new 65nm GPU and CPU. The XBOX360 with the Jasper motherboards now generates lesser heat and is now (or should be) less prone to the infamous RROD (red ring of death) or 3RL. To those who don’t know, in a nut shell, the first XBOX360s had a flaw in their design which causes them to break down causing a general hardware failure popularly known as RROD or #RL. You can find many articles about this in the net so I wont go into detail. How do you find a Japser? Peak into the hole on the XBOX360’s box found at the lower left. Look at the barcode sticker and see if the power detail say’s 12.1A. if it does then it’s a jasper.

Lastly, and I know many of you don’t consider this, but make sure that there is actually somewhere where you can easily buy new games for your XBOX360. For example, I have a PS3 and damn its hard finding games being sold at reasonable prices.

So, happy buying and when you get your XBOX360, don’t forget to enjoy and have fun playing.