| WereKitten said: Instead of anecdotal evidence, "no, it doesn't happen anymore because I like the 360", "yes, it does happen because I don't like the 360", "all consoles break and I don't know the difference between 0.8% and 30%", "they changed something so it's fixed", "they are greedy so it will never be fixed"... shouldn't a link to actual statistics be the only acceptable answer? And if no such data are published yet,because it's too soon, shouldn't the only honest answer be: "surely a decreased chance, but we don't know how much"? |
This is easily the most thoughtful and reasonable response to this whole topic.
Unfortunately, you will not find the real numbers or, I should say, the last hour of Googling left me not muchv closer to an definitive accurate and unbiased number. A frustration I apparently share with the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Dutch consumer protection groups, trade publications and several class action lawsuits still pending.
Putting together an composite of what information is available through retail reports, third party warranty services and a few reluctant admissions from MS [and their estimated losses in earning reports] here is as much as I think you can reasonably say.
The early consoles had a catastrophic failure rate that was almost certainly as high as 33% and for some specific production batches may have been nearer to 60%. The 33% failure rate is based on the statement of the three largest retailers EB Games, Game Stop and Bestbuy and supported by the report of Micromart, Britain’s largest repair shop. It also is supported by the fact that the billion dollar funding set aside by Microsoft for repairs was apparently based on a replacement of 1/3 of every Xbox 360 made up to that point. A leaked, but never officially denied Microsoft pre-release test run found a 68% failure rate. This did not apparently prevent release without any substantial improvement.
The first hardware modifications got this fairly quickly down to around 16% but it is unclear to what degree the rate was due to new hardware (Falcon & Jasper) vs refurbished (potted chips etc) older models. In February 2008, an examination of 1040 Xbox 360s by SquareTrade found a 16.4% (one in six) failure rate in a 10 month period. “171 were "disabled", of these 171 units 60% failed due to a general hardware failure (and thus fell under the 3 year extended warranty) of the remaining 40%, not covered by the extended warranty, 18% were disc read errors, 13% were video card failures, 13% were hard drive freezes, 10% were power issues and 7% were disc tray malfunctions.”
On current builds, the RROD problem is probably is down to 5% and possibly a little better but other problems, disk scratching, E74 etc (Wikipedia lists “over 100 technical problems that can render it unusable” – and 85 good reference links) have prevented MS from ever achieving the reliability level of their competitors.*
The latest problems are a result of the November 2008 "New Xbox Experience" (NXE) update which caused an outbreak of disk reading and HDMI audio problems. Unfortunately the Feb. 2009 audio patch to fix the HDMI problems caused an outbreak of increased E74 & RROD problems for ALL chipsets old and new. (Geez Luise, does it never end?)
Upcoming hardware changes are hoped to finally lay to rest most or all of the systemic problems although the damage to consumer trust may be harder to repair than it would have been if MS had been more forthcoming and less evasive in the face of unprecedented technical problems.
So it can reasonably be claimed that your confidence in purchasing an Xbox 360 can be higher than ever before but almost certainly not yet at a level comparable to the competition.
*Similar figures on the Ps3 and Wii are not easily obtained because, for example, Wikipedia has no listing under “Wii technical problems” or “PS3 technical problems” only “Xbox 360 technical problems”. Apparently both are considered comparable and well within the 3-5% consumer electronic standards. Their repair rates have been listed as <1% or <3% depending on how strictly user mistakes are eliminated. Factors such as crowding of equipment and lack of surge suppressors have significant impact on problem rates. Certainly neither unit is immune to problems but they both seemed to have achieved a commendable reliability rate. A major retailer at the same time as he was admitting, to a 33% return rate on the Xbox was asked what the rate was for the other units and replied that the failure rate of PS3s was less than one per cent and in all the Wii units sold so far, zero had come back as defective.
