unreliable console hardware all generations

I joined Xbox with an Xbox 360 slim 250GB console late 2010. It's still working fine.

I got Xbox 1 Day One Edition console with Kinect. EB Games had 27 stores open in New Zealand for the midnight launch of Xbox 1. I went to that, and my console is still working fine.

I've only used the vacuum on low power suction setting ONCE to vacuum the vents on my consoles. Otherwise I use a micro fibre cloth or Kleenex tissues to wipe and dust my consoles.

Never used compressed air?

I'd never recommend it on a PC, since you can open the machine and clean it directly, but how do you think you are going to get the dust out of a console?

The only area vacuums are going to hit are around the fans, face it home vacumm cleaners are not that powerful. There is a big bunch of space in a console that won't be cleaned with just a vacuum cleaner.

A quick puff of compressed air will shift settleed dust that a vacuum alone will not get.

If you could open your console I would not recommend compressed air at all, but you can't without being banned can you.

I have only had to send in 1 360 out of the entire Xbox Family (Original, 360, One). I guess I'm lucky.

I would not recommend the canned air as it just blows the dust around inside the console. If you could open the case (opened consoles void the warranty), I would say do it as the dust could exit the console.

A better tip would just keep the area where you keep your console clean and cool.

Consoles will tend to have a bit of a higher failure rate than PCs. In general of course.

That's because the hardware in consoles is pretty good and that tends to produce heat when under load.

Microsoft may design their consoles well, okay maybe not the initial run of the 360, but they have to strike a balance between airflow and keeping the console quiet for the living room. My PC can sound like a airplane taking off when underload as all the
system and PSU fans kick into action.

Take regular breaks when gaming, you should anyway, and turn the console off so the heat disappates a bit more quickly. Get some compressed air and blow the dust out of your system. Keep it in the coolest part of the room that you can.

Maintaining your system is easier than having to send it off.

Yeah,definately shouldn't use compressed air on your console.

If the op has only been through 7 consoles since the original xbox i'd say they were lucky,i've been through a lot more than that due to one thing or another.