Microsoft: those who really care will find the Jasper 360s Posted by XanTium | January 12 13:10 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From arstechnica.com: [QUOTE] I ask point blank: has there even been a discussion about simply putting the model type on the box, making it clear for consumers? "Yes," Greenberg [group product manager for the 360] tells me, and then pauses. He rubs his face and looks up. "I have to be careful about how I answer this," Greenberg says. "We have focused really hard on improving the quality of our products, including the internal components, new types of things internally. Unfortunately we don't get and share the exact specifics of that... I know your site and your readers are much more sophisticated than the average public, but for the most part, we believe the type of consumer that's buying an Xbox today, they should be able to buy with confidence. They shouldn't, you know, get hung up on the internal components of the device. "However, I think your readers will figure out the way to know the difference, and there are ways to figure it out, and they'll buy the one that they want. How's that for a... am I going to get in trouble here?" he asks the PR lady in the room. [/QUOTE] Full Story: arstechnica.com

Ha. Good Answer.

If the newer models were clearly labeled so, the old ones would never sell. And the average parent buying a console for their kid doesn't care aslong as it does what it is supposed to.

loosely translates to: we dont want all the old shit left lying on the shelves

but even thinking as the average parent, if the consoles were still clearly labeled they would still by which ever one was the closest to the door of the store. I would assume average buyers think of it like this : Does it play games ? Yes . That's what they want, a machine that has the games they wish to play. Sure one might make more noise, user more power or die within the year but they don't know the difference in the models.

I love the irony in his response:



The fact that the average consumer knows the 360 is unreliable is surely reason enough to NOT buy with confidence. Having 'Jasper' written in small letters on the outer box surely wouldn't be that much trouble now, would it? Those who care would spot it in an instant. Those who don't will just buy it anyway.

Having jasper on the bottom of the box would cause a stir and consumers would catch wind of it and remaining stock of falcons and others would not sell as well.

Good answer, indeed.

I don't believe so - it's not like every prospective 360 owner comes to sites such as this and for the most part wouldn't care either way. The 3 Red Light error has a 3 year warranty, so it's not like they're not going to have any cover. You could argue that having the amperage on the sticker next to the power socket is a giveaway too. It's just not as easy to spot and definitely not conclusive.

Hey, if you want one you'll find it but as for the warranty yea its great but I lost my Xbox to RROD over Christmas break and I am still waiting for it. But that's a different issue

Answer: Hey, the techies can buy the Jaspers. Everyone else can buy the old shit.

It still remains to be seen if the Jaspers are going to perform more reliably. personally If I wanted to purchase now I would just buy. Can't be arsed with "Jasper Hunting" as it doesn't guarantee anything.

Any links to how to determine which once are Jasper?

well I know of people that think the ELITES produce better graphics (and not HDMI related or not) so I could see how labelling them would get out of hand

You mean apart from a wasted afternoon, petrol, etc.....

Meanwhile the e74 error finally killed my ethernet port on my 4th 360. Buy with confidence eh... Put "Jasper" on the box.

Why did he not say something like...
'We expect now that Xmas is over and Jasper production is in full-swing, that pretty soon every console on the shelf will be a Jasper anyways...'

I get a worrying impression that we might be seeing Falcons and Jaspers side by side for a while yet

That was my concern, it would have been the obvious answer if it was going to be the case. Perhaps they have multiple factories and not all of them are currently making Jaspers?

How to spot jasper

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=673508

stupid people deserve to pay more for not doing their homework or consulting a specialist.

everybody's going crazy over Jasper while like chancer said, it still remains to be seen if these are truly reliable.

if you want to be sure, just pick a falcon unit, they've proven reliable so far.

Wrong... I've seen quite a few dead falcons, including my own that kicked the bucket just two days ago

Personally, if I was buying a new one I would rather have a Jasper since it is the latest release, but when it comes down to it I really don't think that MS is ever going to put out a 360 that is even 90% reliable overall. I do get tired of having to send consoles back (5th one so far, all Xenons) and getting the crappy 1st gen every time.

Thinking like MS does, I wouldn't put the version on the box either, because MS usually tries to get you to buy their products out of ignorance of their defects. I think it would be awesome of them to put the revision on the box, but MS is far closer to the sucks balls side of the meter than the awesome side.

I always wondered these people who have had to send back more then 1 or 2 consoles if its something they are doing. maybe keeping it in an entertainment center that cant breath or they live in a hot house.

I have a friend who leaves his Xbox on for days and he has never had any problems at all.
But if it was just some isolated incidents of people not taking better care of there stuff I don’t think MS would have extended the warranty to 3years right?

I got a new xbox360 recently lucky for me with out even trying it turns out to be a jasper!
Now having to replace my old dead xbox360 for the 5th time is no fun 4 of them MS did at no charge /bad DVD drive/rrod/rrod/rrod/dead Xbox.
I was not even going to buy a new one but just playing my wii was just to much to take!! I might add that my wii runs great after 2years of more use then my old 360.
The new jasper that I got don’t even get hot like my old Xbox but the DVD drive sounds like crap! so I just load games to hard drive and you can not even tell that it is on.

I got my 360 in Nov. 2006. I've never had RROD but the optical drive has died twice in 20 months.
From what I've read 360 disc drives don't have a safety mechanism (still can't believe that decision.)
I'm suppose to give them £60 for a replacement of something that is defective by design.
All I want on the box is a sticker saying the optical drive will last at least a year.

Sorry for the boring moan. I thought I'd try the Resi5 demo with Disc method earlier. I really want to try this game. No joy though. Wish Capcom would hurry up and release it worldwide.

I had one friend try to sell an elite to another friend of mine, today. He got most of the features right, but then he said "it does blu-ray, too". I had to chime in "no it doesn't", and we almost got in an arguement. Point of the matter being, that he thought it did because the elite is supposed to be a "one up" on every aspect of the console (or so he was led to believe).



Such a response only proves your own ignorance.

Why on earth should I have to contact a specialist to buy a videogame console? The only 'homework' required should be figuring out what game I want to play.

Perhaps if your doctor perscribed you medicine that didn't treat your ailments, or your mechanic did a botched job on your car because you were "too stupid", you may have a different outlook on things.

if that's the case, you shouldn't be looking for a jasper unit but just a working unit.µ
if you really want specific models, do your research.

and wtf has that doctor comparison got to do with it? you consulted a specialist but he just doesn't do his fucking job or is a quack. there's a big difference between that and not doing any research nor consulting a specialist.

you don't do your research, you're doomed to encounter unpleasant surprises.

My first point for the doctor comparison is that we're talking about a videogame console. Noone has EVER in the history of videogame consoles, NEEDED to do research to determine which one "works". They're all from the same product line; same brand. The only choice for system I should be faced with is "what package to get" in terms of extras; NOT having to determine which one isn't gonna die unexpectedly.

If we were talking about different brands, that'd be different. "Don't get the Microsoft version, Get the Softmicro brand".

The second point of the comparison is to illustrate that just because you're not knowledgable about a particular field, doesn't mean you're stupid; it means that's something that hasn't captivated your interest to the point of learning the 'specifics'. After all, the biggest reason to have a doctor is to have someone else do the thinking for you. Otherwise you'd just buy a few medical dictionaries, find what your exact condition is, and find the medication (online, probably) or seek getting a prescription written based off a self-diagnosis (with the proper references to confirm that diagnosis, of course), or some alternate means of treating your condition that doesn't include having someone "do the thinking for you". This was also illustrated with the mechanic, as most people don't even know how to change their breaks, or would rather just pay someone to do it. Even better example could be that these forums hold a plethora of information on every type of firmware flashing process related to the Xbox 360, yet the fw flashers service forum is quite active.

Ultimately, I'm just trying to establish that you can't blame the consumer for MS' shortcomings; especially in the console realm.

if you need a specialist johnnyrico to find a jasper.. maybe you should consider getting something simpler like a wii ..think you might manage to get one without specialist help.. rofl


spoon

if the put "jasper" on the box i bet there would be some new bundles like xbox 360 falcon bundle and so on lol

hey dickhead, I don't need a specialist for hardware purchases because I'm not too lazy to do my own research.
Like Chancer said, it's way too soon to be certain Jaspers are the best model.
you people are just making assumptions because it's the newest revision, big mistake, you should know newer isn't always better, just look at the WRT54G revisions, sometimes manufacturers just make revisions to cut production costs.

it's not like your average joe is gonna go looking for a jasper based 360 anyways, he just wants a system he can play 360 games on. it's quite safe to say falcons have far less RRoD's compared to the Xenon and Zephyr versions at this point, and it's pretty hard to still find 360's without HDMI on the shelves.


besides, if you're so scared of hardware failure, get a board game or join a sports club.
you get 3 years of RRoD warranty.


those who do care about what revision they get and do some research, will find jasper's
those who do care but didn't do any research and didn't ask someone for help either, well, I wish them good luck on their quest.

Come on now let's please argue with each other without calling names.

The whole "Must have Jasper" thing is farcical. What happens if a Flaw in that is discovered or it proves no better. If you want a 360 just buy one. there are a huge number that don't give the dreaded symptom.
I really believe that some people are just unlucky and may find that their new purchased Jasper goes faulty , just like the previous 3 they had. Others will sail through with a working launch console and could buy any new version and it would work.

yeah, sorry about that, lost my temper for a minute.


precisely.
if there is one thing I've learned from working in a computer store is most certainly is this:
you'll always hear from those with problems, but those with no problems, you'll rarely hear from them unless they pass by to buy something else.

It's pretty bad when you've got customers desperately searching for a console that actually works.

You mean don`t write Microsoft on the box

got my jasper today finally

I've had no problem finding an unlimited supply of Jaspers. The demand for the Jasper units is quite high. It's a wait and see game though.. there's no telling whether or not the Jaspers will have problems. Seems to me people are jumping into it a bit too soon.

Been working on computers my entire life. Been working on them professionally for a little over 4 years now. The one thing I have seen is that some people can get hardware and/or software and be content for years without problems. Others have problems every 5 minutes on the same exact hardware and software.

I work for a company that has around 600 to 700 offices as clients all up and down the east coast. There are clients that call every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Others only call to say "We have 3 year old hardware, we want to get new."

I don't know if it's luck, user error, or another variable I can't think of, but it leads me to believe that the RROD problem may not have been as bad as people think. I had one but I do believe it was my fault. There wasn't good enough ventilation behind it. When I got my new one I went out of the way to make sure there was nothing behind it and it ran for 2 years until I gave it away and it's still running. Think about all the people we hear complaining about the RROD. "I'm on my 3rd RROD box", "I'm on my 4th", "I've had 6". I'll give it to them there was an issue with the V1. That is why the warranty was extended. The V2s fixed that issue, the same with the V3s, V3.1s and probably the new V4s. In my computer experience I have seen the luck factor play, but I see the user error play more.

The problem has NEVER been fixed. Read this RRoD fix; it has a part that tells EXACTLY what happens, why it does, and what needs to change to address the issue.

http://xbox-experts.com/e/tutorial.php?n=hybrid

Nuff said right there... He has a great point. My 1st launch console should have been fine, now I am wondering how long my falcon will still stand!

My launch day unit is still working just fine.

I've always had the impression, like chronno said, that there's more at play here. No doubt RROD is fact but take my 2 and a half year old v1. Never RROD but I've had 2 optical drives fail. They last about 10 months.
What gives? All my discs are clean. I have a micro-fibre cloth at hand all the time. Anybody would think I was a 2 year old who enjoyed pressing the eject button over and over.

I have had mine since launch, 2 of them in fact. One I use normally in my living room and still works great, never any problems. The other in my theater room which is inside a stand and has been working great. Guess I'm lucky and haven't had problems.