So my Xbox 360 died on the 18th. It took Purolator about 5 days to get me a box (from the Friday night to the following Friday), last Monday I managed to find a Purolator depot (at the nearest Staples), and yesterday Purolator tried to deliver my Xbox. Today I went to the depot and picked it up, got home, ripped it open, and hooked it up to the new TV. Am I happy with the experience? Yup.
Inside the box were some instructions, a little love note from Microsoft, and a 1 month free Xbox Live Gold card…that was a nice touch, and will probably be the tipping point that causes me to get a 1 year subscription to Live.
Also in the box was a refurbished Xbox 360. Now refurbished is a bit of a dirty word, but I think it gets a bad wrap. Refurbished means that the unit has likely gone through way more stringant QA than the original factory unit got. It's probably been put through its paces, and found to be in good working order.
I hooked my Xbox up to our new TV (only through the composite cable for now…component goodness will come later when I get my new HDMI cables and have to venture to the back of the home theatre…a dark and evil place that I try not to go near unless absolutely necessary). Turned her on, and went through the setup screens.
The first thing I noticed was how much quieter this box is than the last one. My last machine was made in July 2006, and this one probably uses the newer BenQ DVD drives which are supposedly a ton quieter. In any case, the unit is much more silent. I loaded up a DVD since my games are at the next door neighbor's place, and went to town.
Good times!
I haven't had time to play anything tonight, but I'm pretty impressed with the whole experience. Good job Microsoft!