Is now the time to buy an XBox 360?

DVG

I just got a new one last week after having sold my old one.

Forza 2 and MUA are both pretty awesome.

bruin

Mass Effect comes out in just over two weeks

So... yes

Accualt

Scudo wrote: »

does the Best Buy plan let you keep your hard drive?

edit: I ask because my brother wants a 360, I got mine at a Costco and they have a 1 year warranty

When you bring it in just ask them to swap the new 360 HDD for your old one by opening the box in the store. It won't be an issue unless you get some dick who doesn't understand what you are saying, in which case be patient or ask for the manager.

Scudo

alright, that's pretty comforting, in the event I need to exchange

KimFidler

What are the chances that we're going to see some Best Buy bundles with the Premium + Rockstar, or Premium + Mass Effect. etc?

sec471

it's very cheap on Bestbuy

meatflower

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Death of Rats wrote: »

grrarg wrote: »

Death of Rats wrote: »

If you buy a new premium system that comes with the game bundle, you're probably getting a falcon model.

This isn't necessarily true. I assumed that it was and ordered a bundle online a couple of weeks ago. The model I got was a Zephyr made in July. It looks like Microsoft just took all the unsold premiums with HDMI and put the Marvel/Forza game inside then slapped a couple of stickers on the box.

The best way to see what model you are getting is to go to a brick and mortar store and check the serial number. There's a little tab on the box you can pull out to check. I wish I had done that, but I assumed all the new Premiums with HDMI had the new chips.

Ok, good to know. Pay attention to this then. If you buy a 360, you really want to get the Falcon model.

Ordering online was the trap here. The only way to ensure a newer 360 is to buy it from a brick and mortar store.

If it hasn't been said, the Lot # is 0734 and up. I saw a Premium system with a Lot # of 0737 the other day if that matters to anybody.

I have a 0737 and it's a Falcon. So if you see that one out there snatch it up.

Einhander

To revisit the Elite/Premium debate, if you plan on using the HDMI port on the 360 (as opposed to component or VGA), the Elite comes with the digital audio cable (in addition to an HDMI cable) that is normally sold with a MS brand HDMI cable for $49.99 (which is ridiculous for a cable).

So, if you pick up a Holiday bundle for $350 (which is a really good deal if you see yourself playing either game, but will net you a zephyr), but you want HDMI you'll need to spring another $50 to get audio. This puts you at $400, where for another $50 you could just get an Elite (hopefully a Falcon, but you'll miss free copies of Forza 2 and MUA) and have an extra 90GB of usable hard disc space.

You can get audio from the regular AV cable that is supplied with the system while using HDMI with a hack, but you'll have to crack the casing of the cable open to do it.

I'm glad I picked up an Elite personally. I've got a shitload of demos (pushing 25GB, but that's just because I don't really delete them), almost 2GB of video, around a gig of music, and over a gig of DLC (Halo 2 and GoW both run over half a gig of free DLC apiece!), so I'd be kicking myself if I was saddled with 13GB.

Bamelin

The digital Audio cable ... won't any optical cable work?

My audio cable cost like 8 bucks ... it's the same one that goes in the jack on the Component cables right?

Magus Darkstar

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

The new Arcade pack has taken away the one barrier keeping me from getting a 360: The price. The lack of hard drive is somewhat off-putting, but that's why the price is so low. I really don't have any need for movies or tv shows. Mostly XBLA games and possibly some demos. I will likely get one in the near future, and see just how much stuff I download. Maybe I'll grab a hard drive down the road as an upgrade if I find I really need one.

Yeah, getting it without a hard drive is fine...

as long as you don't plan on saving anything ever. The memory cards are almost half the price of the hard drive anyway.

bruin

Magus Darkstar wrote: »

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

The new Arcade pack has taken away the one barrier keeping me from getting a 360: The price. The lack of hard drive is somewhat off-putting, but that's why the price is so low. I really don't have any need for movies or tv shows. Mostly XBLA games and possibly some demos. I will likely get one in the near future, and see just how much stuff I download. Maybe I'll grab a hard drive down the road as an upgrade if I find I really need one.

Yeah, getting it without a hard drive is fine...

as long as you don't plan on saving anything ever. The memory cards are almost half the price of the hard drive anyway.

Well, the Arcade pack comes with a 256mb memory card. But yeah, that's not really enough for anything other than game saves. If you want to use custom soundtracks and download stuff from the Marketplace (you do), you want a hard drive.

Shogun

The Arcade would be so tempting if Microsoft didn't charge almost $200 for a 120GB hard drive.

Einhander

Bamelin wrote: »

The digital Audio cable ... won't any optical cable work?

My audio cable cost like 8 bucks ... it's the same one that goes in the jack on the Component cables right?

I think what I meant to say was digital audio adaptor, which plugs into the AV out on your 360. This allows you to either use RCA or digital audio while using the HDMI cable for video. Unlike the PS2, you can't just plug an optical audio cable into your 360 without an adaptor.

You can't use a regular AV out cable and the HDMI cable at the same time. The AV out cable is too big, so it blocks the HDMI port. The digital audio adaptor that comes with MS brand HDMI cables (and Elites) is small enough to fit. But, I've read that if you crack off the plastic shell of the AV out cable, you can then cram it in and use it with whatever generic HDMI cable you can find, thus saving you some money.

Basically, if you wanted HDMI and digital audio, you could get away with picking up a Premium holiday bundle, and a cheap HDMI cable from monoprice or something, and then just break the component/composite cable that comes with the 360 and using the audio cable you've already got. This way you'd get video and audio. You'd still be buying a Zephyr, though. ($349)

If you wanted to do it the spendy way, you could buy the Premium holiday bundle, and then get the MS brand HDMI cable and adaptor for $49.99, and then use the audio cable you've already got. Still a Zephyr, though. ($399)

Or, the slightly more spendy way, buy an Elite and use the audio cable you've already got. Also, you'd have the increased HDD space and odds are you'd be getting a Falcon. ($449)

I'm pretty sure what I said was right, but I'm tired so clarification/correction may be required.

meatflower

Einhander wrote: »

So, if you pick up a Holiday bundle for $350 (which is a really good deal if you see yourself playing either game, but will net you a zephyr)

Not true. I bought a holiday bundle and it's a falcon. It's all about the lot number and team which can be read off the label.

http://www.360drives.com/list

Pretty good info on there. I have a 737 from team FDOU. If you look that up almost all the comments confirm it's the falcon except for a few people. They probably didn't identify it correctly.

Call up a store and ask them to tell you the lot numbers of what they've got on the shelf (at least the people at my local Wal-Mart were willing). Then just look it up and you should be good to go.

gneGne

It's XBox 360 buying time!

mastman

Bought a 360 on Tuesday from a new shipment. Made date was Sept. 27th, 2007

Particles

I would say yes. Just try and get a bundle since you need half the stuff included anyways.

/Agreed on the whole trying to get a falcon chip. I bought mine new just a month or so back from brick and mortar and the prod. date was 2005?! Be sure to check those numbers.

DiannaoChong

(black friday)Best buy is going to do the 350$ and pack in guitar hero 2 w/ guitar, I think Im gonna go ahead and splurge here, it just sucks that I have all 3 GH for PS2 already, but the guitar will work with rock band right?

cooljammer00

The_Scarab wrote: »

RFX wrote: »

Is an Elite worth getting? I really like the idea of a bigger hard drive in order to download movies and TV shows on there, but what's the quality like? I know that some are available in HD, but not all - will this be changing over the next year or so, as more movies also come out on HD/BluRay? I see the Xbox website has special tags for those with 5.1 audio. Does that mean the rest are just going to be in stereo? If so, that seems to make the bigger hard drive pretty worthless, since I would get a much better experience with DVDs, despite the lack of digital distribution.

With Premiums now having HDMI there is no reason to get an Elite unless you like the colour black.

the 20gb HDD with the premium is, frankly, ample space for anything. If you need more HDD space while it is costly getting the 120gb HDD standalone may be better.

The point is, you just dont know if you are going to need all that space if you get an elite. you might not. I certainly dont.

imo 20gb is loads of space. minus 7 for caching 13 wont fill up quick. as long as you delete large stuff you dont need anymore.

arent there hacks to use other Hard drives on the 360? The only limitation is that the system only recognizes it as a 20 gig drive, no matter how big it is?

The_Scarab

cooljammer00 wrote: »

The_Scarab wrote: »

RFX wrote: »

Is an Elite worth getting? I really like the idea of a bigger hard drive in order to download movies and TV shows on there, but what's the quality like? I know that some are available in HD, but not all - will this be changing over the next year or so, as more movies also come out on HD/BluRay? I see the Xbox website has special tags for those with 5.1 audio. Does that mean the rest are just going to be in stereo? If so, that seems to make the bigger hard drive pretty worthless, since I would get a much better experience with DVDs, despite the lack of digital distribution.

With Premiums now having HDMI there is no reason to get an Elite unless you like the colour black.

the 20gb HDD with the premium is, frankly, ample space for anything. If you need more HDD space while it is costly getting the 120gb HDD standalone may be better.

The point is, you just dont know if you are going to need all that space if you get an elite. you might not. I certainly dont.

imo 20gb is loads of space. minus 7 for caching 13 wont fill up quick. as long as you delete large stuff you dont need anymore.

arent there hacks to use other Hard drives on the 360? The only limitation is that the system only recognizes it as a 20 gig drive, no matter how big it is?

Maybe. But I think it works as a memory card instead of a HDD, as in it recognises the custom HDD as a super large memory card.

Regardless, you'll have to google that if you want. It will break all kinds of warranties though.

Lareden

The_Spaniard wrote: »

Some people are more content with a demo than the full game, it's just the perfect amount of said game for them so they keep it to play whenever they are in the mood for that type of game.

Or I myself like to keep demos for games I intend to get down the road so that I have something of the game to play till I get it. Not all demos mind you, but demos that don't get old after only one play.

My feelings EXACTLY. I downloaded a demo of Sudoku... that's pretty much all the Sudoku I need when I get in the mood for it. And yeah, I save the demos and vids of games I want to get in the future.

Regarding the main question: I would say look at the exclusive games. If you like shooters and don't mind using a control pad then yeah, go get one (make sure it's a newer prod. model). But if you're like me and prefer platforming on consoles and shooters on PC, then no, probably not worth it unless you have lots of spare money. I don't know what they've done about the other problems in the newer prod. models... My friends have a lot of problems with the 360 just locking up constantly, not 3RRoD.

Stormwatcher

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

mugginns

Yes, now is the time to buy a 360. You're actually pretty lttp

langfor6

I'm glad this thread came about when it did. I've been heavily considering buying a 360 as of late, mostly because I want access to the exclusives (Mass Effect, BioShock, Too Human) and I'm a bit upset about multi-platform titles coming to the PS3 either late (Orange Box) or with less features (Virtua Fighter 5).

I had no idea about the Falcon chipset until I read about it here, so when I went to the store I made sure to check out the lot number on all of the boxes. Unfortunately, the highest lot number was 733, and that was only on the Halo 3 Special Edition 360 (although it doesn't have the game, so I found that a bit misleading). It looks like I'm going to have to hold off, and hopefully after Christmas new stock will be in and I'll be able to track down a Falcon.

I'm no console zealot, and have no interest in engaging in some sort of internet holy war. There are a lot of things I don't like about the 360, including paying for Live and the price of the wireless adapter. However, ultimately I love gaming, so I can't really see any way around getting one.

Stormwatcher

langfor6 wrote: »

I'm glad this thread came about when it did. I've been heavily considering buying a 360 as of late, mostly because I want access to the exclusives (Mass Effect, BioShock, Too Human) and I'm a bit upset about multi-platform titles coming to the PS3 either late (Orange Box) or with less features (Virtua Fighter 5).

I had no idea about the Falcon chipset until I read about it here, so when I went to the store I made sure to check out the lot number on all of the boxes. Unfortunately, the highest lot number was 733, and that was only on the Halo 3 Special Edition 360 (although it doesn't have the game, so I found that a bit misleading). It looks like I'm going to have to hold off, and hopefully after Christmas new stock will be in and I'll be able to track down a Falcon.

I'm no console zealot, and have no interest in engaging in some sort of internet holy war. There are a lot of things I don't like about the 360, including paying for Live and the price of the wireless adapter. However, ultimately I love gaming, so I can't really see any way around getting one.

Bioshock is not an exclusive... But the other two games are surely worth an Xbox. Plus Ace Combat 6. Plus several other games I can't remember right now.

Rohan

The 360 is beginning to tempt me a little, but I hate FPS games using dual analogue controls, and guess what type of games are present more on the 360 than any other console? I also have a kickass pc capable of playing anything the 360 ports such as Gears of War and Lost Planet (have that, don't like it, good looking game though), and if there is a pc version of a game available at the same time as the console version, I'll generally go for the pc version due to superior controls and moddability. I also have a Wii that I love very much, so it's not like I suffer from a lack of games to play.

If I get one at all, it'll be late next year when the price has dropped and I can be sure of getting a unit that doesn't RROD on me... I have a friend who lives nearby who traded in his Wii for a 360 back in July, and he is currently waiting for Microsoft to pick up his third RROD'd 360 - he's only managed to play on the console for about a week! He's getting sick of the stupid failure rate and is sorely missing his Wii, which at least always did what he wanted it to.

Dichotomy

Halo 3 has made me a convert, and I've abandoned my plans of buying a Wii within the next few weeks in lieu of buying a 360 posthaste.

But goddamn if all this talk about dying systems doesn't make me hesitant.

Also: I'll ask here because it's convenient. What're the Live payment plans like?

Sanders

Rohan wrote: »

The 360 is beginning to tempt me a little, but I hate FPS games using dual analogue controls, and guess what type of games are present more on the 360 than any other console?

Role playing games?

(and no, this isn't sarcasm)

edit!

Live plans are $7.99 a month, $50 a year. You can pay using a credit card or you can get time cards/kits from stores. All new gamertags come with a free month of gold if you so wish.

Dukhat

Just a warning, Falcon has not solved all RROD issues:

October 11, 2007

Report: Takahashi Talks 'Jasper' Xbox 360

Regular Microsoft insider Dean Takahashi has suggested that the company is planning another change in the Xbox 360 console’s internal architecture, with a motherboard codenamed “Jasper” to replace the new “Falcon” board by around August of next year.

San Jose Mercury News journalist and Opening the Xbox author Dean Takahashi was the first to report on the Falcon architecture - recently introduced to reduce production costs, retail prices and help address complaints of hardware unreliability for the Xbox 360.

Although the Falcon architecture has never been officially acknowledged by Microsoft, and is not identified on the console packaging, the new hardware has begun to appear in U.S. stores this autumn. The Falcon replaces the original 90-nanometer chip manufacturing process of the original “Zephyr” board with a less costly 65-nanometer process, resulting in a cheaper and more heat efficient CPU.

According to Takahashi, the Jasper architecture will also feature a 65-nanometer graphics chip and memory chips. He speculates that the Jasper will thereby be more reliable than even the Falcon consoles, which appears to have reduced but not eliminated reliability problems.

Takahashi further theorizes that the lower production costs of the Jasper will enable a further price cut for the Xbox 360, well in time for the Christmas 2008 gift buying season.

Given Microsoft’s refusal to acknowledge the widely reported hardware problems of the Xbox 360 or discuss in detail any hardware refinements, confirmed details of the new architecture may never be made available.
POSTED: 5.42am PST, 10/11/07 - David Jenkins - LINK

http://www.gamasutra.com/e32006/news.php?story=15820

Considering Falcon just came out, it would be best not to assume that they are RROD immune (since it takes time for problems to crop out). The fact that falcon didn't fix RROD points to a more intrinsic design flaw in the 360.

langfor6

Stormwatcher wrote: »

langfor6 wrote: »

I'm glad this thread came about when it did. I've been heavily considering buying a 360 as of late, mostly because I want access to the exclusives (Mass Effect, BioShock, Too Human) and I'm a bit upset about multi-platform titles coming to the PS3 either late (Orange Box) or with less features (Virtua Fighter 5).

I had no idea about the Falcon chipset until I read about it here, so when I went to the store I made sure to check out the lot number on all of the boxes. Unfortunately, the highest lot number was 733, and that was only on the Halo 3 Special Edition 360 (although it doesn't have the game, so I found that a bit misleading). It looks like I'm going to have to hold off, and hopefully after Christmas new stock will be in and I'll be able to track down a Falcon.

I'm no console zealot, and have no interest in engaging in some sort of internet holy war. There are a lot of things I don't like about the 360, including paying for Live and the price of the wireless adapter. However, ultimately I love gaming, so I can't really see any way around getting one.

Bioshock is not an exclusive... But the other two games are surely worth an Xbox. Plus Ace Combat 6. Plus several other games I can't remember right now.

Sorry, console exclusive. I gave up on the PC arms race years ago. I thought the context of the post would make it understood that my only options were PS3 and 360, and I was dissatisfied with my PS3 for the aforementioned reasons (although less so after playing the Uncharted demo last night).

In fact I have a borrowed copy of BioShock for PC sitting right next to me, taunting me. My PC actually meets the minimum specs in the processor and video card departments. Unfortunately, I've never been a big fan of power point presentations, and I'm also one of those freaks of nature that prefers console controls to mouse and keyboard. I grew up console gaming, and I'm too old to really adapt now, unless I'm playing Civilization, which allows me to smoke and drink coffee while making ill-fated decisions about where next to place my settlers at my own damn pace.

langfor6

Dukhat wrote: »

Just a warning, Falcon has not solved all RROD issues:

October 11, 2007

Report: Takahashi Talks 'Jasper' Xbox 360

Regular Microsoft insider Dean Takahashi has suggested that the company is planning another change in the Xbox 360 console’s internal architecture, with a motherboard codenamed “Jasper” to replace the new “Falcon” board by around August of next year.

San Jose Mercury News journalist and Opening the Xbox author Dean Takahashi was the first to report on the Falcon architecture - recently introduced to reduce production costs, retail prices and help address complaints of hardware unreliability for the Xbox 360.

Although the Falcon architecture has never been officially acknowledged by Microsoft, and is not identified on the console packaging, the new hardware has begun to appear in U.S. stores this autumn. The Falcon replaces the original 90-nanometer chip manufacturing process of the original “Zephyr” board with a less costly 65-nanometer process, resulting in a cheaper and more heat efficient CPU.

According to Takahashi, the Jasper architecture will also feature a 65-nanometer graphics chip and memory chips. He speculates that the Jasper will thereby be more reliable than even the Falcon consoles, which appears to have reduced but not eliminated reliability problems.

Takahashi further theorizes that the lower production costs of the Jasper will enable a further price cut for the Xbox 360, well in time for the Christmas 2008 gift buying season.

Given Microsoft’s refusal to acknowledge the widely reported hardware problems of the Xbox 360 or discuss in detail any hardware refinements, confirmed details of the new architecture may never be made available.
POSTED: 5.42am PST, 10/11/07 - David Jenkins - LINK

http://www.gamasutra.com/e32006/news.php?story=15820

Considering Falcon just came out, it would be best not to assume that they are RROD immune (since it takes time for problems to crop out). The fact that falcon didn't fix RROD points to a more intrinsic design flaw in the 360.

Well that's just damn frustrating. The reason I never bought the original XBox is because I figured that if Microsoft couldn't make a stable OS why would they have any more luck in the hardware arena? My resolve was just starting to weaken too.

I tried to buy the red ringed display model at the only American store I have access to here, but I met a brick wall of refusal.

If only I had friends...I could get the 360 games from Gamefly and go to their house and play them. Damn this misanthropic personality!

phamtq

I'm going to pick up a 360 after my finals which will be the first home console I've bought since the 1st generation PS2. I just have some questions which I hope you guys will be able to answer.

- How does hooking up a 360 to a non-widescreen monitor work? I'm going to buy the VGA adapter with the system and hook it up my CRT and was curious how it handles the widescreen. Can you make it display black bars on the top and bottom by selecting the widescreen resolution or does that just stretch the image to fill in the screen?

- Another option would be to buy a good widescreen LCD monitor. Anyone have any recommendations on an inexpensive unit?

- What are people's experiences buying the Hori EX2 fighting stick? I'm worried they won't have any by the time Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix comes out.

Kagera

I took my chances and bought an Elite this month. Mass Effect was too much of a temptation along with Dead Rising, AC6, and the free Halo 3 offer.

Einhander

phamtq if you have a fullscreen monitor, your games can display in 4:3 fine, there won't be any stretching. All 360 games are required to support 16:9, but not force it.

As for monitors, for the 360 I bought a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 906cw, which has a 2ms response rate, 1600:1 contrast ratio, and it's sporting both VGA and DVI (DVI being HDCP compatible). I dropped $260 on it earlier this year, and although it's a 16:10 monitor (1440x900), I'm still pretty happy with it. Everything my 360 sends it looks incredible at720p over HDMI (using an HDMI to DVI adaptor) or VGA, from games to HD video downloads to HD-DVDs. Basically, get something with an extremely quick (sub 5ms) response rate, a high brightness level, and a decent size. If you give a price range someone can probably find a few good reccomendations for you. Buying an LCD monitor is so much cheaper than buying an HDTV at the same size if you want to go HD with the 360.

Also, have you decided which model 360 you want to buy?

I've heard good things about the Hori EX2, but I don't know enough about it to know if it's worth a reccomend or not.

Also, I notice you live in Portland. I'll be moving there sometime early next year.

meatflower

phamtq wrote: »

I'm going to pick up a 360 after my finals which will be the first home console I've bought since the 1st generation PS2. I just have some questions which I hope you guys will be able to answer.

- How does hooking up a 360 to a non-widescreen monitor work? I'm going to buy the VGA adapter with the system and hook it up my CRT and was curious how it handles the widescreen. Can you make it display black bars on the top and bottom by selecting the widescreen resolution or does that just stretch the image to fill in the screen?

- Another option would be to buy a good widescreen LCD monitor. Anyone have any recommendations on an inexpensive unit?

- What are people's experiences buying the Hori EX2 fighting stick? I'm worried they won't have any by the time Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix comes out.

Yes you can put it in 16:9 on a 4:3 display with the black bars. You're not going to get a widescreen LCD at a low price and be satisfied with it unless you don't mind getting something small. I recommend going to Newegg and browsing their LCD monitors. You can separate it out by price range and find the most display for your money. Use their product ratings too, Newegg customer reviews are pretty reliable.

Gilbert0

KVW wrote: »

If you're from Canada, Dell.ca has a nice deal going from now until the 9th.

Basically, it's the Holiday bundle with Ultimate Alliance, Forza 2, 20 GB HD, with HDMI port / cable all for $399.99 with free shipping. On top of that they throw in Halo 3 for free. Here's the linky if anyone's interested. It's the best I've found for deals in Canada. US might have better deals though.

The deal is still going on. Any Canucks pick this up yet?? I'm probably going to after Christmas and was hoping they'd be falcon machines. Anyone know what they are?

Thanks.

Rotting Meat

Provide any easy way to check and I can let you know about mine. It was at least manufactured 9/14/2007.

Evander

Don't get pressed over the falcon

there is still yet another new chipset coming out in 2008. This one will have the redesigned GPU. The GPU is where the real issue has always been, not in the CPU.

Gilbert0

Rotting Meat wrote: »

Provide any easy way to check and I can let you know about mine. It was at least manufactured 9/14/2007.

If you still have the box, it should be lot# 734 or later. That would awesome if you could look.


Evander - I know about the next upgrade but a Falcon is better than a Zephyr and if I wait, there is always something better on the horizon. I could just wait for a XBox 720 or the PS4!?!?!

Tach

Well, I'm getting one after X-mas. I'll have about $200 in Best Buy gift cards, so that'll help tremendously.

Question is: how do I go about choosing which one?

The Arcade pack is cool- but no HDD or headset. TRU just lowered the price of the 20g to $50- but is that enough space? I dunno. I've also heard the typepad comes with a headset, so that would be cool.

The Pro pack, while a bit more expensive, has everything I'd need, minus the larger HDD. But- 2 games! (I'd only really like M:UA, but whatever)

Halo 3 pack. Hrm. I loves me some Halo... but do I love it for $399.99? Not sure.

The Elite. The ultimate. The omega. But it's pretty expensive (I'd be dropping at least $250 on it) and it comes with cables I'm probably not going to be using for at least 2 years.

Help me, G&T. You're my only hope.