360 Falcon: 50% cheaper to manufacture?

[expletive]

So, when do we think the price drop is hitting now?

After or before Halo?

My Spider senses were tingeling because MS wanted PGR4 to be out in September too...

I'm leaning towards before at the moment. One of the big game expos hits right before the release of Halo, I think Leipzig on the 20th of Sept. I could really see MS announcing the drop there and going into that launch with quite a bit of momentum. Then youve got the people waiting for Halo, the people waiting for a price drop, and ideally and to a lesser extent, the people waiting for 65nm. Even people on the fence about any one of those aspects might just get caught up in the hype and buy one.

 

[J_Saint]

I think Leipzig on the 20th of Sept. I could really see MS announcing the drop there and going into that launch with quite a bit of momentum.

That is where they originally announced the two SKU's and pricing in 2005. I could definitely see that happening. I believe Moore said Halo 3 would surpass everything including Halo 2 in sales. A price drop would make that believable.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I fully expect the PS3 to wipe the floor with the 360 come July NPD.

On record

 

[J_Saint]

I think Leipzig on the 20th of Sept.

Just looked it up. The Games Convention in Leipzig is from August 23rd to the 26th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Convention

 

[expletive]

Just looked it up. The Games Convention in Leipzig is from August 23rd to the 26th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Convention

Ah ok, i had it confused with TGS which is the 20th of September. So.... TGS is my pick for the price drop.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Ah ok, i had it confused with TGS which is the 20th of September. So.... TGS is my pick for the price drop.

That's like 5 days before Halo 3 release??

Makes sense E, I may have to agree with you!

 

[AzBat]

Well die defects was definitely what I was referring to, and I'm with you in expecting yields to be higher right off the bat leaving 90nm, just not sure about *twice* as high at this early stage. That depends largely in part on how TSMC's yields on complex ICs is doing at 65nm, and the yield learning on these two products in particular. Though I imagine they're very good overall, I would be surprised if they were pushing the outer bounds this early into its life.

(I'm under the assumption that TSMC has taken over from IBM/Chartered at 65nm for the XeCPU.... or is it still Chartered?)

These articles point to Chartered still being the one.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/42597
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=10265

The last one talks about them already working on the 45nm CPU.

Tommy McClain

 

[pipo]

Also from the last link:

"As 65nm just started production in the last two quarters, you would expect 45nm to come on stream about 18 months from that timeframe," said Chia, referring to when Chartered expects to begin production with the 45nm processor.

Any guesses on the power consumption of the 65nm version?

 

[Arwin]

On record

At least potentially on amazon ...

At 13:33 it's still in the top 2 (this time above the wii again)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/ref=pd_dp_ts_vg_1/104-0611157-9898338

Otherwise though, an equal amount to the 360 would already be a big jump in sales, unless of course the 360 performs worse than last month.

Falcon probably isn't 50% cheaper, and I wonder if it will be delayed a slight bit in order to test it a little more after the recall thing. But that is also a reason to hurry up with it, of course. Then again, it would come very soon after the Elite, so it could become a bit messy.

 

[22psi]

45nm cpu info:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070801/tc_pcworld/135324