Ars Technica rumor claims 399 40GB PS3 this year

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AU$699 which is a rip imo, the 360 was USD$399 / AUD$649, and it had a worse dollar to contend with.

Worse dollar on which side? The US dollar hasn't been this low against the Euro like, ever, so unless the AU dollar is doing even worse ...
 
So what's up with backward compatibility?

Some sites list it with no BC. Software emulation isn't physical so shouldn't the 40 gig be the same as the 80 gig?
 
The Australian dollar is incredibly strong against the USD right now.

Back when the 360 launched it was around USD75c to our $1... which then plunged to 71c... and is now almost at 90c (88.42 right this second).

So when Microsoft launched, USD$400 = ~$530 Aussie, when PS3 40gb launches USD$400 = ~$450

So as I said, it's a rip.

Oh and we pay more in Australia (the extra $120 for the 360 for example) because of a few things - buffering against a fluctuating dollar, built in 12 month warranty required by law, and 10% GST.
 
Archgamer: the current PAL units still have a GS chip inside them and aren't pure software emulation. Sounds like the 40GB might be losing that chip.
 
Archgamer: the current PAL units still have a GS chip inside them and aren't pure software emulation. Sounds like the 40GB might be losing that chip.

Hmm... I guess your right. It also seems like the 40 gig will retain the Wi-Fi since no article made a mention of it. They should of just opt that out instead and they can save more money. But seriously no BC kind of hurts that nice 399 price.

Perhaps someday we'll see full software emulation.
 
AFAIK there won't be Wifi either, and Amazon or some other site had an explicit disclaimer about the lack of PS2 compatibility.

And it's pretty obvious that all these cuts still won't add up to $100, so Sony is taking some extra loss on this version.
 
The Australian dollar is incredibly strong against the USD right now.

Back when the 360 launched it was around USD75c to our $1... which then plunged to 71c... and is now almost at 90c (88.42 right this second).

So when Microsoft launched, USD$400 = ~$530 Aussie, when PS3 40gb launches USD$400 = ~$450

So as I said, it's a rip.

Oh and we pay more in Australia (the extra $120 for the 360 for example) because of a few things - buffering against a fluctuating dollar, built in 12 month warranty required by law, and 10% GST.

Sony's costs are done in Yen, you should be looking at AUS$ vs. Yen prices, since more than 3/4's of the components are sourced in Yen, and contracts for components in US dollars are fixed vs. the Yen.
 
The B3D theory at this time (proposed by Uttar and mentioned by me several pages ago) is that the 40GB version will feature a 65nm Cell and possibly RSX as well; that would contribute to substantial cost hedging if the case. Whether it makes up the entire difference, who knows...

We'll know if 65nm chips are the case or not come the time someone actually opens one up; ie late October. Other areas for cost savings outside of the GS being or not being there include potential SB revision/RSX integration, as well as BT/WiFi die integration.
 
AFAIK there won't be Wifi either, and Amazon or some other site had an explicit disclaimer about the lack of PS2 compatibility.

And it's pretty obvious that all these cuts still won't add up to $100, so Sony is taking some extra loss on this version.

the FCC filing had wi-fi still, and that dse ad mentions its wireless capabilities (might just be the controllers though) so don't count out Wi-Fi just yet.

Sony's costs are done in Yen, you should be looking at AUS$ vs. Yen prices, since more than 3/4's of the components are sourced in Yen, and contracts for components in US dollars are fixed vs. the Yen.

Good point, however the Australian Dollar is doing great against the yen too. It's gone from buying 86 yen at the start of 2006 to buying over 103 yen today. 60Gb PS3 is AUD$580 at the moment in Japanese prices. $700 is still a rip, especially when you can get a pro 360 pack for ~$500 here these days.

Disclaimer: I bought my PS3 at $1100 including 3 games and don't regret it for a second, but to achieve mainstream success the price has to drop and soon.
 
The B3D theory at this time (proposed by Uttar and mentioned by me several pages ago) is that the 40GB version will feature a 65nm Cell and possibly RSX as well; that would contribute to substantial cost hedging if the case. Whether it makes up the entire difference, who knows...

That is if they actually manage to shrink them substantially in the short or intermediate term, Wasn't there some news a while back that the Cell didn't scale down all that well or is my memory playing a prank on me?
 
We saw an IBM 65 nm Cell, paper report or production I can't remember, that was barely smaller and cooler than 90nm.
 
That is if they actually manage to shrink them substantially in the short or intermediate term, Wasn't there some news a while back that the Cell didn't scale down all that well or is my memory playing a prank on me?

That's the HPC version of the chip - yeah it's got a pretty large die for being on 65nm. But the Nagasaki version of Cell shrunk 40% on 65nm according to Sony's execs, and has been in production for months. Remember that IBMs 65nm Cell and Sony's are two completely different revisions at this point. Whether the RSX has also been shrunk or not in time for the new SKU who knows...

Anyway - and I say this to any site visitors that might be thinking of opening up their console (do it!) - remember that to actually determine the die size, someone's going to have to separate the heatspreader from the packaging; the packaging itself I would expect to be the same size whether 65nm or not.
 
well, about the australion $ being strong against the us$ .
the au $ is not getting better, its the US$ is loosing value alot . there is a small difference in interpretation.
i think 1 euro is now past 1.4US$ (it used to be the other way around 7-10 years ago) . anyway, the Japan +Yen is higly influenced with the us$ . i think they are somewhere coupled .
Either way, the PS3 60gb is still 355 EURO in Japan or in the 58000-59000 yen range . thats like absolutly cheap for europeans, but for americans a dollar is a dollar. you cant compare.
 
That's the HPC version of the chip - yeah it's got a pretty large die for being on 65nm. But the Nagasaki version of Cell shrunk 40% on 65nm according to Sony's execs, and has been in production for months. Remember that IBMs 65nm Cell and Sony's are two completely different revisions at this point. Whether the RSX has also been shrunk or not in time for the new SKU who knows...

Thanks for this info, it was new to me. If that indeed is true, then it's pretty much given that the 40GB will have it in. Very interesting.
 
The $AUD of all current machines is a terrible rip-off vs the US price... however, feel sorry for all the NZ'ers who are repeatedly far worse off.

Why oh why are Sony sitting on a formal announcement when retail has already let the world know this is confirmed?
 
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