Return of the $149.99 Xbox 360 Premium

An Xbox 360 Premium for $150? You read right.

(Credit: TigerDirect)

The last time I posted a $149.99 Xbox 360 Premium, it was chock full of gotchas: no headset, pricey shipping, iffy vendor, etc. Well, here's a mostly gotcha-free alternative: TigerDirect has refurbished Xbox 360 Premium systems for $149.99, plus a Web-special $1.99 for shipping.

Because it's a refurb, the warranty expires after 90 days. Also, this is the non-HDMI version of the 360, but look at the bright side: no HDMI cable to buy. (It comes with component-video cables, natch.)

Act fast: I guarantee you these will sell out. That's all I've got; I dislocated a finger playing basketball this morning and it hurts like hell to type. See you Monday!

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Remember to use microsoft live search cashback. Tigerdirect \ Compusua is at the 5% cashback level

[Penguinisto]

Refurbs: which means it's a sort of crap-shoot as to whether or not the RROD rears its ugly head (not saying it's probable, just possible).

OTOH, not too bad of a price for one - $100 would be better given the risk you take on for the money, though...

[mr_trotta]

The limited warranty on the XBOX 360 worries me otherwise I'd be all over this. With the red ring of death being a common occurrence on this system, a limited warranty would not suffice.

[rickbroida]

But isn't Microsoft replacing all Xbox systems that suffer the RROD, regardless of warranty status? That was my understanding, though perhaps it's just rumor...

[whiterabbit--2008]

No, only as long as it's under warranty. Microsoft extended the regular warranty from two to three years because of the rrod. I would never go for this myself.

[crusadex]

No,they fixed mine in oct instead of replacing it might have changed the board but it came back with the same #'s.It also came back with only 90 days on the warranty when i shipped it there was 8 months left.Not really happy about that.

[eklectiqred]

Ok so the bright side of not having HDMI output is that I won't have to buy a 10$ HDMI cable!? You right, that way I will also be able to play my favorite games in all their 480i glory! At least if I grow tired of it after 2-3 weeks, it will automatically self-destroy with its handy RROD function!

Better off with the 200$ arcade version IMHO.

[rickbroida]

Um, no, I get 1080p via my component connection.

[crusadex]

Yeah but to actually use it you need to spend $150 more for an overpriced drive.I would go for a (new)premium.

[eklectiqred]

True, but there's currently a storage upgrade program from Microsoft for Xbox Live user (even the free silver) so they can upgrade to the new dashboard. With it you can get a refurbished 20gb drive for 30$ shipped. Not too bad of a deal I think.

[WallyChamp]

get well

[retfar4]

I'm sorry... did you say you play basketball? Are we talking video basketball or the real thing? I thought all the CNET people did was sit at a desk in front of a computer?!? Good to hear you guys get out!

[rickbroida]

Yeah, I'm violating my geek cred by getting out and playing sports. :) Alas, no ball for me for at least the next two weeks.

[David Dudley]

Microsoft will replace the refurbs with a red ring as long as there are 3 lights. If there are 1, 2 or 4 red lights, you will have to pay 94$ to get it fixed.

I bought a refurb from Buy.com with a 3 month warranty and it died in the 4th month, naturally. Luckily, I got the 3 rings which means general hardware failure. Now, I'm in my second week waiting for Microsoft to ship the box so I can ship my dead XBox back to them for repairs.

[unwritten_law9]

you guys think it's worth it for the $25 dollar warrenty?

[David Dudley]

Microsoft will replace the refurbs with a red ring as long as there are 3 lights. If there are 1, 2 or 4 red lights, you will have to pay 94$ to get it fixed.

I bought a refurb from Buy.com with a 3 month warranty and it died in the 4th month, naturally. Luckily, I got the 3 rings which means general hardware failure. Now, I'm in my second week waiting for Microsoft to ship the box so I can ship my dead XBox back to them for repairs.

[unwritten_law9]

you guys think it's worth it for the $25 dollar warrenty?

[Magicland]

What's with Cnet's DRM-esque login? Why make it harder for registered folks to log in than unregistered ones? A login box should come up, with an option to register if you're not already, rather than a registration box where you have to click again to login if you're already registered.

Microsoft is replacing ALL RROD (3 lights) Xbox 360's, regardless of warranty status. It's either that or face a class action suit, and repairing them is cheaper. You call, they send box, you put xbox in box, ship prepaid, receive refurb replacement about a week later (usually with "unhackable" lite-on DVD drive). To the poster waiting 2 weeks for the box, better call them back, you should receive your box in 5 business days or less (mine took 3 business days from Texas to NJ).

[crusadex]

They don't send a box anymore,just shipping.Mine was back in less than a week though.

[Nychocolips]

Rick,

You were not kidding. It' sold out! Wow.

Others,
Thanks for the information about the ring repairs. That would have been enough to make me comfortable to buy the box. It's really useful when you guys post things like this on Cheapskate.

Good weekend, All.

[Dragon_Myr]

Rick, you are now absolutely obligated to post a PS3 deal lest you give the impression of taking sides! ;) Oh yeah, don't forget the gamer PC and Wii deals too just to be fair! I'm kidding of course. Have you seen the Amazon round-based deals yet? https://www.amazon.com/gp/sign-in.html?ie=UTF8&path=%2Fgp%2Fcv%2Fvote&useRedirectOnSuccess=0&query= I could never trust a refurb Xbox360, but some people might. That's funny too because there's a heavily used original Xbox I bought a couple years ago that's working just fine.

[MakaiOokami]

he's posted a PS3 deal already. As long as he doesn't do 1 PS3 deal for every 20 360 deals it's ok... but I mean the 360s aren't as expensive. The problem I had was he was offering 360s then a Blu Ray player and then a 360 again and another Blu Ray player, and a way to get a Sony E-Reader by applying for a credit card but... he never mentioned the PS3. if there are no good deals there are no good deals but, if he's truly trying to help people find a better deal the PS3 is great and reliable if you can find a sweet deal it's even better.

That was my argument. People can find a 360 for 200 or less now but a lot of people want, but can not afford, a 400 dollar PS3 that functions as a Blu-Ray player so it would be wrong to ignore deals going on and that kinda seemed like what he was doing at the time.

[MakaiOokami]

All I have to say is once I have some money to spend I'll be expecting you to find SOME deal SOMEWHERE to get an Elite 360 for about 300 dollarsish... 400 is just too much for me to want that system and the Elite is the only version I trust/want. When it comes to Wifi, AND hard drive space that's the only way to go. I need both of those features. I'm not always able to go wired, and I need storage capacity to actually benefit at all from the game install thingy, and most importantly the 60 gigs of space just isn't enough. I'd need to upgrade eventually and... the 360 hard drives are too expensive. I have 30 Gigs of music, I could stream it, but I don't have an elite I wouldn't be able to stream due to not having wifi anyway cause it sure as heck wont' be going into my room. It gets too hot in here for a 360 to survive. I don't even like to keep my PS3 in my room on a lot of the time. I have a 30 Mbit connection so my computer HAS to be connected to wire to benefit, and I dont' have long enough cabling to connect everything at once. Plus between videos, demos, and some room to install games to stop disk access and to lower install times... there's no viable option for me other than the Elite or buying an overpriced $180 dollar $120GB upgrade HDD

Once I have money if I can't find an Elite for 300 I'll just save up for a PC and play 360 "exclusives" on that platform instead as well as Diablo III and Starcraft II which are more anticipated for me than ANY 360 game is. I'll just wish for some of the other 360 exclusives to port the next year. *Looks at Square Enix and Star Ocean 4*

[unwritten_law9]

You could always buy a router and set it up as an access point for wireless access to your 360. Also you could use an external drive to store your music and video files that don't need to be installed to the 360.

[unwritten_law9]

My order is on back order. Is anyone else's showing this?

[locke103]

tch... i wouldnt take this garbage system even if it were free

[el5guapo]

FYI

GameStop is selling their refurbished systems for $149.99 also (listed as $169.99, but they give a $20 reduction in the store). The GameStop system doesn't come with the hard drive or component video cables, but you can by a 1 year warranty for $20. The GameStop warranty allows you to just come in and swap out a bad XBox (no waiting).

Brent

[richmed]

Boy oh Boy! Microsoft would not take some of the refurbs I heard. Besides this one messed up my confidence in Tigerdirect. I ordered this system for Christmas, I connect it to my TV, then turn the Xbox and I get loud fan noise and the 3 Red Rings. I crack the unit open and I see some sticky dark liquid over everywhere. My son... dissapointed, and I'm actually working on the system while I bought another one from Best Buy (temp) for my son to play. Thanks Tiger, I will never buy refurb from you, and keep your comments flowing. UGR!!!