Today, I received this eMail from the owner of one of the largest Computer Dealerships in Central Florida. I personally know this man and trust his analysis.
Shadow
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If you are considering the purchase of a console gaming system for the holidays such as the PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, or Nintendo Wii, I advise you to reconsider.
I will tell the tale of my own personal experience of the XBOX 360. I have personally purchased 3 of these expensive gaming consoles for my home to be used for game playing and more importantly to be used as Media Extender devices for my home entertainment system.
Each of these consoles cost around $400 each plus accessories making this a fairly sizable investment. Considering that each of these units costs as much as some inexpensive computers I would expect to receive a similar warranty. You know what they say about assuming!!
The warranty on most consoles is only 90 days from the date of purchase. So far in less than a year all 3 of my systems have died even though two of them are used less than once a week. Today one of the units which had been repaired only 3 weeks ago has died again. None of the units are under warranty any longer and two of the units have been returned and repaired twice. Since the thousands of dollars in software I have purchased will only work on an XBOX 360 I am captive to their obviously poorly designed system.
I have no choice but to continue to pay for repairs every 90-180 days or ditch my investment of several thousand dollars.
I am sure that there will be a class action suit some day and we will all get a coupon for $10 off a future purchase or some other ridiculous offer while a few lawyers make millions but thats the way it works these days.
It is my understanding that Sony is already experiencing similar issue with the new PS/3 and considering their expertise in designing laptop batteries I have no doubt that this will be an issue for them as well.
For what its worth I recommend PC based gaming from now on. Gaming PC's while more expensive, last longer, are easily repaired, can be upgraded, and software designed for use on a pc will work on another as long as minimum specifications are met. PC's can be used for a multitude of other purposes besides gaming and can be designed to do everything from business applications to home entertainment.
I am tired of my equipment being shipped off at my expense, being gone for several weeks and then having it only work for a few weeks before breaking again. I realize some of you have had this experience with a computer but to see this with every unit purchased is a bit extreme.
Just one man's opinion but I thought I should share it with you before you went shopping.
Thanks for listening and have happy and safe holiday,
Glen E. Coffield
President
Cheap Guys Computers
Longwood, FL.
General