| Squilliam said: I would say that the Falcons manufactured now would have a failure rate of around 5% so this should bring the failure rate inline with expectations. Oh yea btw, 40% of laptops fail in 3 years and 30% of desktop computers. So its not that bad. (According to a warranty company) |
Those are the numbers also provided by Consumer Reports. Probably from the same survey.
As consoles like the 360 and PS3 have become more like PCs than ever before, it is a given that they will see higher rates of critical component failure, although comparing the oft quoted 33% RRoD rate for the initial runs of 360s does not mean it has been manufactured on par with the average desktop PC. 3-5% is generally considered acceptable for consumer AV equipment.
Anecdotal reports should reflect actual rates of failure, but fortunate exceptions to the general trends are not to be taken as "proof" that the numbers are exaggerated or wrong.
I bought an initial run PS2 back when it debuted, and I never had a single problem with it even though I was ready to replace it with a slimline model if I had.
I bought 4 PS1s over the life time of that system and the original console was the only one that gave me problems (remedied by running it upside down until I finally tossed it). Not coincidentally, it also saw the most use.
No hardware problems with the 360 (yet to see a single red light), but my experience is in no way reflective of the overall number of well documented hardware problems for that system.
