im looking into getting an xbox soon or eventually h: . i stopped by gamestop yesterday and they had refurbished systems for $129. so what exactly is a refurbished system? also i've heard about modded systems that allow you to play tons of different games. more info please.

 

Refurbished - either something broke and it was repaired and being resold. Or it was a returned item that was repackaged and resold.

 

refurbs are broken systems repaired by MS techs back to quality standards. refurbs are usually quality rebuilds because MS wants to know what exactly failed and will try to prevent it in their current production.

i've never had a problem with one of these.

 

also ... if it's a refurbed xbox ... i can almost tell ya the dvd-rom drive caused the original return. my brother's system was brand new ... very first power up ... and boom, dirty disc error.

there are 3 possible drives found in the xbox. thompson (crap), phillips (good), samsung (best) ... if you can ask the guy to open up the box and power the system up, eject the dvd rom tray to see what drive is in there. you can tell just by looking at it.

 

what about modded xbox's?

 

I bought a refurb and got the original manufacturers warranty with it included (which I promptly voided by hacking the box).

I have yet to have a single issue with it though and would definitley purchase another one in a heartbeat.

 

i haven't had a problem with my thompson. :dunno:

modded boxes are just that. modded to allow unsigned code to run, etc, etc. check out www.xbox-scene.com for more info.

 

if it's a botched mod and it got returned and set off for refurb treatment, there's no way they'll send out the same motherboard out to the store.

if you're looking to mod your refurbed box, it's very possible, but it's not that easy to ID what system you have. (V1.0 or something else all the way though 1.6). the case will say one thing, the hard drive will say another, and the motherboard will mismatch everything else. when they refurb, they take whatever parts they have to make the system work properly.

 

i would avoid a refurb like the plague. ive had really bad experiences with refurbs so i would just wait for a holiday sale/bundle. i hate "second hand" electronics :ugh:

 

can i just buy an xbox thats already been modded? i dont trust myself to take one apart and mess with the insides. h: