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Why You Shouldn’t Buy the 4GB Xbox 360

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With Microsoft’s Xbox One console off to sort of a slow start, naturally more and more users are considering purchase the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s last-generation console. That makes sense, the Xbox 360 has a ton of games that users can play with a controller or an Xbox 360 Kinect sensor. There’s also tons of apps to download and watch streaming video through. Buying an Xbox 360 to satisfy your family’s entertainment needs just make sense – as long as you absolutely don’t purchase the 4 GB Xbox 360 console.

Why not get the 4GB Xbox 360 bundle? Because it all comes down to pricing. More specifically, it all comes down to the things Microsoft had to do in order to charge what it does for the 4GB Xbox 360.

What is the 4GB Xbox 360

xbox-360

When a user purchases the 4GB Xbox One with Kinect bundle they’re getting all the best technology available to Xbox 360 users.

The design of the console is based around the Xbox 360e. The Xbox 360e launched last year, shortly after the Electronic Entertainment Expo. They achieve the same tasks just fine but the Xbox 360e has a ton of things that just weren’t around for the first version of the Xbox 360. With the original white Xbox 360 Microsoft made a console that wasn’t just loud – it was obnoxiously loud. The Xbox 360e isn’t and lets users play their games or watch movies without having to hear all the fan noise that’s generated by earlier versions. Upgrades included a new design that matches the Xbox One and built-in wireless internet access like the previous version of the Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 S. A wireless controller is also included in the box. For $199 users don’t get a Kinect 2 sensor. For $250 users do get that Kinect sensor.

Why 4GB of Storage is Such a Big Problem

xbox 360 games

There’s a key thing that you don’t get with the 4GB Xbox 360: storage. As the name suggests, the 4GB Xbox 360 comes with just 4GB of storage space for users to take advantage of – less after you take into account system updates.

If that doesn’t sound like a problem to you, than I might add that even the cheapest Samsung Galaxy S5 has 16GB of storage and only around nine of that is free for users to play with.

Storage, or in the case the lack of storage, is important because the Xbox 360 relies heavily on having as much storage as possible. Every game that you add to the system will ask you if you want to keep a game save on your console. In most cases you can get around loading them directly on the console itself by putting them in the cloud on Microsoft’s servers, but what if you decide to play at a friend’s where there’s no internet connection? Game saves take up space.

If your family is really into entertainment apps you run into the same issue too. The Xbox 360 requires that users who want to take advantage of different entertainment services download an app for that service through Xbox Live. These apps aren’t big, but if you add enough of them things get out of hand pretty quickly. It’s hard not to add them either, the Xbox 360 has around 100 different apps for services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.

It’s not just ancillary stuff that’s bad for anyone picking up a 4GB Xbox 360. Gaming is very storage intensive. When the Xbox 360 debuted, digital gaming wasn’t as big as it is today. That meant that users were perfectly fine with going out to retailers and purchasing a copy of a game to load on their Xbox 360. With 4GB of storage you’re not going to be downloading any high-profile titles and you’ll be hard pressed to download a single Xbox Live Arcade title too.

Practical Concerns

Until about a year ago, the problems that the 4GB Xbox 360 could create were mere theories. Those theoretical issues slowly started to show up as time passed. Take Microsoft’s Halo 4 game for example. With Halo 4 developer 343 Industries wanted to create a new multiplayer mode with graphics to amaze long time series fans. In order to do that Halo 4 required that users have 3.5GB of free space to install the game’s multiplayer on – minimum. You may already know that the Xbox 360 has USB ports and allows users to store information on a flash drive or hard drive. It does, but that ability didn’t help 4GB Xbox 360 users because Microsoft required that users install the Halo 4 multiplayer on their machine so external hard drive installation weren’t allowed either.

Halo 4 debuted roughly two years ago, but this trend has continuedMany games now require that users install large chunks of data on their Xbox 360 hard drive before they can play multiplayer.

Listen, I understand the allure of the 4GB Xbox 360. It includes all the same features as more expensive Xbox 360 consoles without the hefty price tag. Still, if you’re going to have to think about mundane things like storage whenever you get a new game, it’s better to leave the 4GB Xbox 360 on store shelves no matter what the cost savings. Considering picking up the $249.99 Xbox 360 Spring bundle instead. It doesn’t’ come with a Kinect sensor, but it does include two games. You can buy the Kinect separate later if you think your family will enjoy it.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Nick

    08/17/2014 at 5:35 pm

    I bought one heavily discounted, left over from black friday, and flashed a 320gb Western Digital Black drive with firmware to work with it. Ended up adding this 2.5in drive in, 7200RPM and more cache than Microsoft’s drives for $37.

    You do have to work with DOS to do this, and while I’ve never heard of anyone being banned from Xbox Live for it, I’m sure Microsoft frowns upon it. For those that are capable of and don’t mind doing this, it is worth it. For others, absolutely not.

    • Marsh

      02/26/2016 at 2:13 pm

      Hi nick I’m really interested in how you managed to connect the 320gb storage to your Xbox, how is it done and where go I go to get it?

  2. Greg

    08/19/2014 at 5:34 pm

    I agree. Personally im waiting to buy an xbox one til its been out two full years for a couple reasons. 1)any bug fixes or improvements 2)pricing drops 3)giving game library time to grow. Ive done this w/ every system ive bought since dreamcast because i got burned on the saturn. After working a summer job and saving up to buy the sega saturn, three months later my excitement died when sega killed the system(still tho res. Evil was wpryh buying the saturn).

    I burned up 3 of the white 360s in only a frw years but last year i bpught the newer xbox 360e 200gb console. I couldnt be happier with the purchase. So much memory space im still not at 40 % used and its silent(almost) also seems to load a bit faster than the older version. If you do want a 360 i highly recomend springing for the 200gb you will love the thing. If it had a nice butt it would replace my girlfriend jk

  3. Andrew

    08/22/2014 at 8:37 pm

    I picked up a 4GB Xbox360E model last Black Friday for $99 and added my own 250GB hard drive I got off Amazon for like $25. Cheaper than buying the bigger model and works just as well.

  4. weegee

    09/10/2014 at 5:58 pm

    I got a 4GB XBOX 360E and I even play on XBOX LIVE but still I haven’t filled it up. Just once though, but I mostly rely on a 12GB flash drive so now I practically have 16GB. XBOX 360E 4GB aren’t so bad…
    Did I mention I play four games?
    -Minecraft
    -Forza Motorsport 4
    -Armored Core 4
    -DiRT 3
    AND I have youtube installed ON THE SYSTEM. Probably 70% full right now though… One or two max people playing on this XBOX and it won’t be a problem, 4GB goes a looooong way….

  5. Koral

    11/29/2014 at 2:03 am

    I bought the 4gb 360 years ago…on a great sale so I didn’t mind much. Couple years later I’m now regretting not shelling out the extra cash for a system with more space while I had the money. Being right out of college and strapped for cash now, buying a console is not an option. Is there a good external storage you suggest that is cost savvy? Just trying to get some more space. Only have COD BO2, Hulu, and netflix on here and I’m tapped, can’t even download a small demo.

  6. Ashley

    12/02/2014 at 11:14 am

    For my son who thinks he wants Xbox 360 but will only play Minecraft I’m willing to bet on the 4g.

    • Jo

      10/23/2015 at 5:37 am

      Hi Ashley – was this ok in the end please? I’m in a similar situation! Thanks

  7. Colton

    11/14/2015 at 7:53 pm

    I have one and it stores 10 games but the controllers sqeak but not bad.

  8. Edwin

    12/28/2015 at 11:55 pm

    I have one 4gb xbox 360 and it will not stalling the Battlefield 4 any can suggest thank you

  9. Ryan Hood

    09/12/2016 at 7:26 pm

    99% of my gaming is done through PC gaming. Im planning to buy a 4GB 360 whenever its on sale (probably around Black Friday or Christmas time) because I used to have a 360 in the past and some of the games were exclusive for it and cant be found on PC (i.e. Forza, Dynasty Warriors 6, Soul Calibur, Fable 2, etc.)

    With a little bit of computer knowledge, you can add your own size hard drive anyway since an Xbox and any game system is just a computer. I won’t be using mine online, so I should be fine, but if I really need to, I can just get my hands on a drive and install it, save a shit ton of money and have a custom Xbox to boot.

    Microsoft and its policies can eat a dick for all I care.

  10. Brittany

    11/12/2016 at 11:52 am

    I have a 1gb storage for my xbox 360 kinect,how do i add more space? Because it will not let me play any of my games on it…

  11. Saad

    11/21/2016 at 6:41 am

    I want to buy it just to play fifa16 or 17. I haven’t had an xbox before. 4gb is sufficient storage for it, right?

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