Xbox 360 Arcade Or Pro? - I doubt I can afford an Elite.

So I'm thinking of getting an XBox 360. But do I buy the Arcade or the Pro? The Arcade is much cheaper but does not include an HDD. I can buy that separately but I'd have to go without initially. The Pro comes with an HDD but also comes with games I don't necessarily want to play, and is more expensive. What is the opinion(s) of Trap 17?

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This really becomes the question of whether you're going to plan on getting better hardware or not.

Yes, the hard drive and headset and whatnot can be purchased separately. However, they might run you higher than the extra $100 to purchase them altogether with the Pro package. Do you really want a headset? Are you going to establish a component/optical setup instead of the usual RCA hookup? (Do you even have a television and sound system that can take advantage of this?)

I wouldn't worry so much about what games you're going to get with the bundle... since you can always snag games cheap used on Amazon or anywhere else. Also, make sure that the 360 was made after 2007 by checking the barcode on the system and looking for "FDOU" and the number "734." This ensures that your 360 has the new Falcon motherboard and chipset, the newest hardware upgrade to the 360 that deals with heat issues much better than the original hardware did (which led up to the infamous Red Rings of Death, which will lead up to two weeks if not more of having to ship your 'box out and waiting for it to be repaired).

I personally would go for the Pro, but you might be smart in choosing the Arcade and saving the money for games if you're not going to be worrying about a 60GB hard drive or getting the hybrid composite/component cable right away. But my entertainment priorities are a little different than yours, as I planned at one point to go high-definition... which, of course, changed when the budget took a drastic turn towards being tight.

 

 

 

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@ rayzoredge - Thanks for your response. I don't own an HD television or a surround sound rig separate from my PC's sound system, so I'm not worried about HDMI or component cables or any of that stuff. I wouldn't mind a headset, however, given that I'd like to be able to play Team Fortress 2 in a capacity other than a bullet-absorbing newb. Despite already having Half-Life 2 and Portal on my main PC under Steam, I plan on getting The Orange Box as one of my first XBox 360 purchases. That, BioShock and Assassin's Creed will probably be my firsts.

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@ bullet-absorbing newb

You'd probably be all right with going with the Arcade and forking over the $20 for the headset. Then again, there are some games that do some exclusive file work with hard drives though, especially with downloading new content off of XBox Live, so with the Pro having a 60GB HD, it's still a consideration. I'm seeing 20GB HDs on eBay going for $35-40, so if you snag those two items, we're already at $60... $40 less than just going Pro. An actual 60GB HD will run you $50-60. That Pro package is starting to look good...

I went with a Pro just because I figured it was a good deal, and I'm glad I didn't skimp out because of the argument I'm putting out here as far as a hard drive and the bundled stuff it comes with. I actually rarely play my 360 nowadays (which hopefully will change soon), so it would have been economical for myself to have gone with the Arcade.

Throw the extra $100 bucks in. I'm sure that The Orange Box is going to have a lot of online content to snag, like new maps.


P.S. The cake is a lie.

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Go with pro. It comes with a wireless controller instead of a wired one. It also comes with a hard drive instead of a memory card. I went and got the arcade and I'm really mad that I didn't get the pro, and now I have to shell out more money just to buy the addons that came with the pro, instead of getting it bundled altogether.

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i got the arcade xbox 360 and it is cheaper and im not sure there is much difference between the two beside the price.

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The Arcade has very little amount of features compared to Pro. I'd say get the Pro, mainly because of the hard drive. You will find with the Arcade that online play is hard with memory hogging games like Halo and Call of Duty. If you just want to play locally with no music or extra maps, go with Arcade, but if you want to play online, or have additional media, go with Pro.

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Nobody brought this up so it may not be true but as far as I know the Arcade is not backwards compatible with regular Xbox games. Is that only if you do not have the HDD that it says it, or is it not compatible even if you do get a HDD for it?

I do not remember where I read that but I think it was Amazon or something - I was looking into getting an Arcade over the holidays when they were on sale for $130 with 2 games.

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If you are planning on being online and playing on Xbox Live and whatnot, I would get the Pro. The Pro is your best deal. With 60gb you probably won't run out of hard drive space and it's plenty for movies and DLC. It also comes with the headset, which is, well, a MUST for Xbox Live gaming. With the Arcade, you would definitely have to plan to buy an HDD.

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I would suggest going with the Pro just because of the things it comes with. If you end up not needing the HDD/headset, so what? It's better to prepare in advance.

Also, there have been some sales recently for pretty cheap ones...One last week was like $118 shipped for a 360 Pro(Complete, refurbished). I think refurbished is decent enough to toss in $120 for...Being that you still get a small warrantee and usually they are better quality than normal (normal is just created and boxed...Refurbished goes through a multi-point inspection after the fixes are added).

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