Finding the cheapest 360

[hawks_time]

So I'm thinking of joining the dark side and getting a 360 but the tightarse in me wants to get it for as little as possible and I just want to make sure I know of every deal before I buy one.
Dick Smith's had a bundle deal of an Arcade with Forza 3 for $200 but that's gone in just the last day (I was going to the city tomorrow to check it out as well)
Dick Smith's now has just an Arcade model for $250
I was about to bid on just a 360 Premium (no cables, power supply, controller) but then thought it wasn't worth the effort of then sourcing out cables and controller, plus it was refurbished.
Anyone know the places to look?
I dunno whether to get the Arcade model or not, what can I do with a hd that I can't do with an Arcade?
Should I wait til Boxing Day and see if there are any deals then? (Never done a Boxing Day shop so don't really know what's normally cheap and what's not)
Thankya muchly.

Edit: D'oh, wrong area. If a mod sees this, could you change it please

 

[Mancey]

I dunno whether to get the Arcade model or not, what can I do with a hd that I can't do with an Arcade?

Play online
Download game new game content
Download videos from the marketplace
Download free demos
Do game installs to hard drive

Unless you're going to be a 100% offline gamer, it's well worth paying the little bit extra for a HDD equipped console. Bugger all difference in price now anyway.

There should be a some reasonable sales pre christmas, keep your eye on the catalogues. Buying 2nd hand consoles is always very dodgy...i wouldnt recommend

 

[hawks_time]

So you can't play online with the Arcade model? I'll definitely want to be playing online, part of the reason I'm getting it.
Just reading on Wiki now, it says that there's only the Elite and Arcade models being sold now which seems silly from a customer perspective. Would be fine with the 20/60gb hd.
Cheers Mancey

 

[midorigreenwood]

You can play most games online without a harddrive....

you store your gamertag on a memory card.... (which comes with the arcade?)

but x360s are so cheap nowadays....its probably not worth the effort >,>

 

[Mancey]

You can play most games online without a harddrive....

Yeah but anything that requires hdd storage, such as new maps etc...no go. Which is most of the big games...eventually anyways. If you're playing online arcade is definitely going to shit you soon enough

Still lots of 60 gig pros around mate. Might pay to grab one while they're still available if price is an issue

 

[hawks_time]

Yeah just done a lot of research. I'll be checking out all the big stores in the city tomorrow anyway, see what deals I can dig out.

 

[Warsaw]

You can find the elite for 450 or aound that mark at dse, eb, jb hi fi.

Pretty good value for money as it includes 4 games (2 of which are great games Forza, Assassins Creed, and some motorcross game that's got good reviews and some Lego Batman that you could pawn off on Ebay)

It's got a headset aswell and considering that my own 360 which I got a few years back is ****ed i'm warming to getting an elite as opposed to an arcade even though I do have a 20gb/hd.

 

[Glenno23]

Wait till christmas (Early December)

You will be able to get an Elite console, Pure, Lego Batman, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell Double Agent and Bioshock for the price they are now

 

[Equus]

Go on Economical Gamer. They regularly keep tags on console specials.

 

[hawks_time]

Ended up getting the EB Elite + Forza, Pure, Lego Batman and 007 for $447 - $70 for gift voucher last Wednesday.
Also bought a pre-owned copy of Saints Row 2 (awesome, awesome game) and just beat that today so I'm not playing through Forza 3 and bought a used copy of The Darkness off eBay last night for $20.

 

[amer]

You picked a good time to get one mate. Cheap, plenty of games around and Microsoft now offers free repairs even on out of warranty consoles that develop the Red Ring of Death (which is what should have happened from the start - there was always going to be a follow-up class action to make this happen because it would still be ruled as their liability in a court of law after the 3 year warranty lapsed. Bit of smartassery on Microsoft's part to actually wait for someone to challenge again them before they went ahead and offered the infinite warranty).

So yeah you can't lose. If you are a cheapskate with buying games as I have become, the used sections of EB and JB Hi-Fi as well as the Harvey Norman bargain bins are your friends. Harvey Norman sells its main stock for far too much but they knock the prices down ridiculously low when they are trying to clear something.