Is the 360 reliable/well-built?

Can anybody tell me if the 360 is a solid system? I mean, my brother has a PS3 and the thing is a tank. It feels sturdy and heavy, like a solid piece of technology (not to start a flame war here). Is the Xbox similarily sturdy feeling?

Also, I hear the fans are ridiculously loud. Are they worse than the PS3? (bias aside)

Plus I only plan to play for about an hour or so at a time, so I would hope I don't have to listen to excessively loud fans or worry about the system overheating and frying itself. I would think one hour of playtime won't make the system work all that hard?

Thanks again, this has been a tough decision for me (to get a 360 or not).

Well, I cant complain about the fans, I dont really notice them. The only thing Id be weary about is their terrible failiure rate. I personallly prefer Xbox; the only thing that would persuade me to get a PS3 is system reliability. But then again most new consoles don't have as many problems as the old ones most people have.

Its a great system for games and stuff, but in all honesty, hardware wize its a pile of junk. This is the most unreliable and poorly built console ive ever owned. When you pick it up the plastic creeks as if its not fitted together properly. The fan is much louder than a ps3. Ive had mine break twice of RROD, and once of a problem with the thing that measures the heat of the console, it kept saying it was overheating then the fans would run extremly loud and then it would shut down, but it happend right when i turned it on and it wasnt even a bit warm lol. I also had it break once after not even using it for a week, then I turned it on and RROD when before it was perfectly fine. ALso yes I do take very good care of my 360, Its in a open area, off the ground, and nothing should of gone wrong but MS really cheaped out on the 360.

The older models had some hardware issues such as the dreaded "red ring of death" fiasco, but the newer "JASPER" or w/e they code-named the thingys apparently work much better (though not much time has passed to see). As for fan noise I never notice mine and apparently the Elites are even quieter, which must mean they are super quiet then, lol.

The newer ones are much better than the first models ive sent two away to get fixed same as one of my mates but then on the other hand ive got mates that have had them since new without problems

I've gone through 2 consoles in the past 3 years due to red rings, but they replace them for free.

Well, in terms of hardware I'd have to say it's a poorly built POS. I feel like it would crack if I dropped it onto a sponge. Not like the PS2 and original XBox, you could drop kick those things and they might even work better than before, this thing is very fragile though.

I think it feels pretty sturdy. Someone mentions their Xbox creeks and make noises when it's picked up. I don't know what he/she is talking about- mine feels fine. If you install games to the hard drive it will reduce the noise of the system a lot, and increase the life span of the system as well. Other pros include faster loading times and less glitches.

The older ones had der problems but dey much better now