Early adopter defect rates

[PARANOiA]

I'm usually an early adopter for consoles, having bought a PSX for $AU799, Dreamcast for $AU499, and Xbox for $AU399 (usually that means about double the US cost..)

Unfortunately that usually means my hardware dies before it's life is "fully lived". My PSX cd-rom stopped reading discs about eighteen months into it's life. Same with Xbox... DC is still going, but not so strong as it could be.. this seems to be the deal with early adopting unfortunately.

What is the general consensus on these forums about the hardware quality of early adoption? Do you see it as a deterrant to buying consoles when they're released? I personally don't mind the cost of new consoles, but it's the fact that they are usually poor quality that turns me off.

 

[quest55720]

Having bought many consoles at launch Genesis,3DO,Saturn,PSX,N64, Dreamcast. The only problems I ever had were with the PSX and 3DO. I had 3 PSXs go dead on me. My 3DO worked fine except the internal flash rom to save games went belly up. Of all the systems the Genesis was the toughest console. The thing was dropped, kicked, beer spilled on it and generally abused and came back for more. I can't believe it survived my freshman year at the dorms.

The only other console I had major problems with was the orignal NES. You had to put the games in just right for them to work after a while. The damn thing took up to 20 attempts to get some rented games to work.

 

[PC-Engine]

If there's a console that I want at launch, I'll just buy it then trade it in for a new one when It's about 1 yr old. You don't really lose that much money on a tradein if it's not too old.

 

[PARANOiA]

If there's a console that I want at launch, I'll just buy it then trade it in for a new one when It's about 1 yr old. You don't really lose that much money on a tradein if it's not too old.

Seriously? You've done that? Any guarantee that the quality will be better? *ponders* I think I've met a legend

 

[PC-Engine]

If there's a console that I want at launch, I'll just buy it then trade it in for a new one when It's about 1 yr old. You don't really lose that much money on a tradein if it's not too old.

Seriously? You've done that? Any guarantee that the quality will be better? *ponders* I think I've met a legend

Yes I've done that many times. As a matter of fact I had originally planned on trading in my silver DS for another brand new different colored DS when the time comes, but now I've decide to keep it and buy a second one so I can play multiplayer games. You loose a little money but you get a brand new unit. The other option is to buy an extended warranty that allows you a brand new replacement if the unit dies within a certain time period. I always go the former route as it's less of a hassle. It's like cars, buy a new one today and trade it in a few years for another brand new model. This way you're likely to not encounter any major problems.

 

[Kolgar]

I've never had a problem with my launch systems. Sure, my launch-day PSX started skipping a little after four years of great service, and my Xbox had a problem reading discs - but come to think of it, I waited to purchase a 'box and it had already been out for a year.

But I just purchase an extended warranty so if there's a problem within two years, I can exchange the unit for a new one.

P.S. My PSP is byooo-tiful.

 

[PC-Engine]

P.S. My PSP is byooo-tiful.

Knock on wood.

 

[jvd]

So far the systems i had problems with are

1) turbo graphics 16 (never turned on )

2)My psx it just stoped working a year after i got it

3) my sisters ps2 , the dvds stoped being read cds still worked


So far the xbox 360 is working well except the brick over heating

 

[Carl B]

JVD this topic was like seven months old.

What in the world are you bringing it back for?

 

[panzeramd]

I have an PSX from when the PSX was AU $599, in which the laser wore out after more then five years of use ( got it fixed though ).

I also have a launch day PS2 which was repaired earlier this year ( laser wore out ), it had heavy use. When i got back from the Sony repair centre, i noticed that they had screwed up the AV out; so it had to be sent back for repair again ( works fine now ).

My launch day Dreamcast looks like its on its way out too.

 

[Bobbler]

JVD this topic was like seven months old.

What in the world are you bringing it back for?

Well, if he doesn't take the opportunity to remind everyone that his TG16, PS1 and PS2 have broke, who will?

 

[Guden Oden]

Topic is relevant now that we've had another hardware launch. I hope someone brings it back for PS3 and Rev launches too.

Only console thing that died on its own for me was the power brick for my N64. Fortunately it was the brick for my first N64 (which I kind of broke myself ), so I just went and got the brick for the second and plugged it back in. Ta-dah, everything back in working order again.