A word to wise shoppers

Just a couple months back I decided to buy a new Xbox 360 because mine was starting to show symptoms of the dreaded RRoD (Red Rings of Death). I bought a new 60GB Xbox 360 Pro and decided to give my old 20GB version to my nephew. When I gave it to him I told him it had slowed down a bit and was sometimes stalling and the disk drive didn't open properly. He decided to take it and keep it for as long as it would last. Well, it didn't last very long. Just recently he told me it had died. He decided to buy a new system but keep the hard drive, which was working fine. Gamestop sells refurbished Xbox 360 core systems with a wireless controller for $170 so he chose to go there to get it, since they have a good return policy and are usually very friendly and helpful. The refurbished core system costs $170, but if you want a brand new Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes with 5 Xbox live arcade games, a free game, a 256MB memory card, and a wireless controller, you need only cough up an extra $30 for a total of $200. It is ridiculous to buy a used system when you can buy a brand new one for just $30 more, and even more so when it includes extra games and accessories. Even if you are buying an Xbox 360 for the first time it is smart to buy the Arcade version. You can buy used 20GB hard drive for $60 at gamestop and that's plenty for the average gamer. There is no reason to buy the refurbished Xbox 360. Chances are, if you can afford $170 you can afford $200. Don't be stupid! Research a product before you buy it.

PS: They have a deal I saw on Xbox.com for anyone who has an arcade console. If you give them the serial number from your Xbox 360 you can get a 20GB hard drive and 3 months of Gold Membership to Xbox Live for $30. That is one of the better deals I have seen in a while.