Operation: 360 (I need your help!)

I also think the "no cat5 is silly". First thing I did when moving into our house was work out where the computers would go, cut a hole in the wall for a basic outlet-sized structured wiring jack. (Conveniently located next to a vent shaft with access to a suspending ceiling that covers much of the house).

Wires really aren't that hard. And we don't even have carpet. Carpet and baseboards make it a breeze.

Well, because of how our house is laid out, running Cat-5 would be a pain in the ass. There's virtually no way to do it without getting into the walls or drilling holes in the hardwoods...and I ain't doing that. Ours is a 1950s house (probably about the size of Southernman's, actually) and the previous owners didn't bother to wire anything properly. We still have a lot of ungrounded outlets.

One thing I am _not_ is a handyman. Any home improvement task I take on turns into disaster.

Ryan B. wrote:

I think I read a story about a person who spent two years and kept bartering up (starting with something like a pen) until he traded in for a house.

It was a paperclip.

Depending on your level of computer comfort, you can buy a wireless router and reflash it with new firmware, turning it into a wireless bridge. That'd be about 60 bucks. The nice upshot of that is you can plug all your other entertainment center stufft into the bridge too without running wired.

if you can get the wire to work, do that cuz the connection is SO much better. If not, then just buy the stupid wireless adapter for the 360 cuz at 80$, it's not nearly as bad as when it was 120-150 in Canada. ugh

Michael Barnes wrote:

Ours is a 1950s house (probably about the size of Southernman's, actually)

I don't think so - you have no idea of the (lack of) size of houses in the UK, especially the more recently built ones.

Being an ex-electrical engineer before my move to the darkside (IT) I find it interesting to hear stories about electrical reticulation in the US, you have quite a different system to western british influenced countries (that I'm used to). Just the talk about ungrounded outlets makes me think how the hell does that work

I just got my xbox 360 about 2 months ago, so hopefully my recent experience can help you out. I too was on a tight budget but I paid for mine by selling my DS, selling a bunch of Wii games, selling a semi-broken PSP my brother-in-law gave me, and some money from a university study.

1) Is it really worth $100 for the Elite over the Arcade?
Well, I bought an Arcade on Dell.com when they were having a special, so I got it for $180 (including tax). Granted this was before the Elite price drop and before the rebate. I figured I could get an Arcade and HDD for less than a Pro or Elite, which is true because I bought a 20gb HDD off ebay for less than $30. If you're going to buy an HDD like I did DO NOT buy one from a seller in Hong Kong. It's pirated. But one from somebody in the U.S. HDD size is up to you. 120 gb is pretty big. I haven't come close to filling up half of my HDD yet, but I'm pretty frugal with what I download. I download a lot of demos, but I generally delete them when I'm done playing them. I also don't have Guitar Hero/Rock Band so I don't download a lot of tracks and what not. If I ever feel like space is getting tight, I'll upgrade, but I think I'll be fine for a while.

2) I know wireless isn't built in. The Microsoft 360 wireless adapter is $80.
Yeah it's a rip off. I got mine on sale for like $65 I think because it was an ebay Deal of the Day or something via Tiger Direct. I've heard there are ways you can hack wireless routers to hook up to your Xbox, but I'm not that technically savvy. The wireless adapter does work well, though.

3) Is it true that you can actually install the games to the hard drive (if you have one) and then the disc is no longer necessary? That sounds crazy. I can't believe they'd allow that.
Supposedly, but I don't know much about that. You can download full Xbox 360 games though, like Bioshock, Rainbow Six Las Vegas, etc/

4) Xbox Live- is the Gold membership worth $50 a year, or can you do most everything at Silver level?
Again, I got my Gold membership for $40, so that's like less than $3.50 a month, yeah it's worth it. You can download games, and add-ons with silver but you can't play online. With Gold you can also watch Netflix's watch instantly selection if you have a Netflix subscription. The service is fantastic.

5) Is there anything else I should be mindful of in terms of choosing one level of hardware over the other?
The Arcade doesn't come with a headset, so that's another $20 you'll have to spend if you want to voice chat when playing multiplayer.

ubarose wrote:

Southernman wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote:

Ours is a 1950s house (probably about the size of Southernman's, actually)

I don't think so - you have no idea of the (lack of) size of houses in the UK, especially the more recently built ones.

Being an ex-electrical engineer before my move to the darkside (IT) I find it interesting to hear stories about electrical reticulation in the US, you have quite a different system to western british influenced countries (that I'm used to). Just the talk about ungrounded outlets makes me think how the hell does that work

How it works is you get shocked a couple times, and then if you aren't totally stupid, you call an electrician and cough up some bucks to get it fixed.

Luckily your voltage is half of ours so you get a better chance of surviving

Hah! I remember an old house I used to rent with a bunch of friends. After the first couple of times you held on to a metal pot handle while adjusting the burner dial (and got knocked on your ass), you got the hang of it.

that's like the showers we had overseas. they had to shut them down for almost a month because guys were getting pretty high voltage shocks while showering...

ugh. a month without showering. that was fun. I know that there were guys who didn't change their underwear at all that month.

Georgia Tech had a few turn of the century buildings with electrics refitted badly over the years. I used to get shocked all the time plugging ethernet cables between various boxes thanks to erratic grounding.

The trick is to make sure the current doesn't cross your heart.

I second Uba on the grounded interuppter plugs -- that is a cheap way to go instead of having everything properly grounded. They are really easy to install if you just look at some diagrams on several internet pages -- just remember to turn the power off before doing so.

Barnes--we are brothers. I too am funding my XBox 360 with bartered goodness. In my case, cardboard crack fit the bill nicely--thanks Wizards! It was great!

Anyway--I broke this thing down eight ways to Sunday. You want the Elite. You want it from Amazon. Wireless FUCKING DONGLEs can be had from eBay for $62 , with free shipping. You want a Gold membership and about 8000 points. Assuming you TV can handle it---get one of those $7 HDMI cables from Fry's or Amazon. Don't pay more the $10 for a digital cable, honestly. Used games are cheap as hell--even at GameStop--they had Gears of War for $14 or something. Me? I'm it this for the XBLA action.

By week's end, I will have converted nine revised dual lands and assorted ephemera ( still available !) into:
XBox 360 w/ 120 GB HD, one controller, headset
Wireless FUCKING DONGLE
XBLA Gold membership (online multiplayer. Everything else is bullshit---this matters I should note I have a Roku, so Netflix doesn't matter to me here.).
STREET FIGHTER II TURBO HD REMIX 1200
1 VS 100 (another Gold only perk)
MAGIC: THE GATHERING (just when I thought I was out....) 800
CASTLE CRASHERS 1200
MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2 1200
IKARUGA 800
BRAID 1200
CATAN 800

Let's see: $299 - $50 + $62 + $40 (12 mo @buy.com) + $100 = $451.


Michael Barnes wrote:

1) Is it really worth $100 for the Elite over the Arcade? I know the HDD is the issue, but why exactly do I need a HDD other than Live downloads (which I will be doing, considering that SotN and IKARUGA up there)? Can I use any external HDD with the system?

Gotta go OEM here, Barnes. Xbox hadrware is so flaky, I want as much warranty as I can get from them. XboX non-elite + HD doesn't save you enough if you make the $50 off rebate for sure.

Michael Barnes wrote:

2) I know wireless isn't built in. The Microsoft 360 wireless adapter is $80. That sucks. Can I use another wireless adapter or bridge? I am _not_ running 30 feet of Cat-5 through the house.

Again, OEM is the order of the day. The nest is filled with HOWTOs on making a cheap wireless receiver--and they all suck. This is where they get you. Sorry. Get one used! Less risky than getting the 360 used, for sure.

Michael Barnes wrote:

3) Is it true that you can actually install the games to the hard drive (if you have one) and then the disc is no longer necessary? That sounds crazy. I can't believe they'd allow that.

As noted earlier-still need the disc to start the game.

Michael Barnes wrote:

4) Xbox Live- is the Gold membership worth $50 a year, or can you do most everything at Silver level?

Gotta go gold. It's worth it. Even if you only turn the thing on once a month, it's $3 a month for online multiplayer. Totally worth it.

Michael Barnes wrote:

5) Is there anything else I should be mindful of in terms of choosing one level of hardware over the other? That's it...thanks for any insight you can offer!

As noted above, the Elite is worth it. My born-on date for the 360 delivered on Friday is July 28, 2009--they don't sit on old hardware at Amazon. Good luck! I'll see you out there.