I got my 360 elite in 2007 and it only failed the day Mass Effect 2 came out (Crashed during gameplay) and due to the error being an E74 error I had it fixed for free and no problems since.
So in all I have had the 1st 360 I ever owned.
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Got my first elite in October 2007 and got the red ring in 2009 I think. They sent me a replacement since the problem could not be fixed. I though about trading in for a slim, but I have no reason to.