The longest working console you've ever owned

[Johnw1104]

Still Working (excluding this gen):
-Atari VCS
-Intellivision
-Gameboy
-Genesis
-Snes
-N64
-Dreamcast
-Xbox
-Gamecube
-Nintendo DS
-Sony PSP
-Wii

Required Minor Repairs
-NES: Original model, had to replace the pin connectors (have to do this with nearly all original models, but not top loaders), took about 10 minutes and $10

Required Major Repairs
-Sega Game Gear: Most Game Gears were built with bad capacitors that caused them to stop working years ago, so I had to replace them all. Still inexpensive (around $15), but a lot more work.

Had to Send in for Repairs
-PS3: That awesome original model, it just stopped working within a few months. Haven't had a problem since sending it in for repairs nearly ten years ago though.

Broken POS (lol)
-PS1 x2: Stopped reading disks, bought a second, and it too started skipping within a year. Both broken.

-PS2: Lasted longer than the PS1, but stopped working within a few years

-Xbox 360 x4: First one red ringed almost immediately. Second one within a year. Third was about two or so years later, and my roommate's also stopped working. That's 4/4 consoles made a decade ago that don't work, and we were gentle with ours.


For the most part, consoles have been remarkably durable. My best experience has been with Nintendo on average, though I'm currently having issues with my Wii U. Sega was reliable as well, but I hear I got lucky with my dreamcast compared to many who had issues. Obviously, consoles with carts have proven more reliable.

As far as worst experiences go across generations, Sony is king. Two PS1's and a PS2 are broken while I had to repair my original model PS3. Here's hoping my PS4 has better luck.

Worst console of all, unsurprisingly, is the Xbox360. Indeed, I'd say they were extremely fortunate to have that easily detachable hard drive, as lord did we have to use it. In under a decade I had three fail on me, and my room mate's stopped working as well. I had a ton of fun on that system, but now it's the largest section of my game library that I no longer have access to.