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 one on Christmas of '06 and the laser went out around the time halo wars came out. Sent it in got a new one. Upgraded to the MW2 console. Never had any problems. Upgraded to a slim and went through at least 3 of them all because of the laser burning out. Never got red rings ever