Hey, ive been thinking of buying a 360 lately, i already have a wii/ps3 but i want all 3, now i wanna know a few things, 1. is the RROD gone? 2. does the ELITE have less chances of RROD? 3. is the $299 price drop permanent?

The $299 is temporary according to MS. But I think once they are sold out, the whole line up will see a price drop.

#2 Yes, the older ones definitely; I don't know about the newer ones.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/07/07/500m-bill-for-xbox-red-ring-of-death-89520-20634547/

#1 I actually wonder about myself.

(I really don't want to spend $400 on a PS3 just for FFXIII, that is why I want a 360 but I do not want RROD either and spend weeks without my console.)

The RRoD is no longer the cultural phenomenon it used to be. If buying, make sure the manufacturing date is the latest possible (2008).

mine was shipped and back in a few days.

well...the ring itself only represents that a hardware failure has occured...so technically its there.  my understanding is that the incidents are within the normal range of electronics now.

When my first 360 broke, they told me five weeks (and I had to pay because it was before the warranty extension; I ended up selling it broken).  If they really did fix either RROD or atleast there Customer Service then this is another plus.

Well im going to buy the ELITE today, but atleast theres 3 year warranty.

Good, have fun.  You're a few weeks ahead of me.

all i know that the new xbox360 Elite have an advanced heat sink but i dont know if the premium have one also...

this is a picture of the new elite heat sink:

The price drop we're getting is not permanent. Within 3 months, there likely WILL be a permanent price drop (This leads in to the holidays).

Buy the Elite. It has lower RRoD occurance, and allows you to fully utilize XBL.