they'll prolly convert to Nintendo since Nintendo will dominate Japan and JP games will be all over that :P

As long as it is still "ULTRA POWERFUL" I will be pleased. But still, I think that both the 720 and the PS4 will be almost equal in power just as the PS3 and the 360 are almost the same.

i have always been a PC gamer until this gen when i become a PS3 only player... i don't think of myself as a fan, but i do like sony and their games and playstation as a platform and brand... so i think i qualify to answer the OP.
i think i will keep in PS family because of the on-line platform (MS charging for on-line its a atrocious thing in my eyes and was the thing that keep me from buying a xbox 360) where i have a history (trophies, PSN tittles, friends, etc.) So the power of the console is relative. but i do like to play good looking games, and think that everybody like to play good looking games... just put the same game with lower resolution, performance and graphical effects side by side and no one will prefer the uglier...
the best graphics argument its just that, a argument to use in the discussions with other platform fans and IMO is a valid one... we play games mainly using our eyes to receive the input of what the game want to show us, what the game want us to feel, know, experience, etc...
even if PS4 turn out to not be the most powerful one... doesn't mean that can't have visually great games, so i think PS fans will be fine!

The ones dateing back to the PS1 and PS2 days wont care.

But the millions of first time gamers who latched onto PS3.........lol they are gonna awkwardly back away from every gaming forum they have ever been on where they talked about PS3 graphics.

As long as the PS4 is a hell of a lot more powerful than the Wii U and as close to the power of the next Xbox as the Xbox 360 & PS3 are to each other then I don't care. It doesn't really matter much to me even if the PS4 is a little weaker than the next Xbox since I plan on buying both of those next generation consoles anyway.

Some will be disappointed, some will cry; a few will claim that power no longer matters.
The majority won't give a damn.

I'm not a sony fan so I won't vote on the poll (altho I do have a ps3)

But I seriously doubt it will be the case for 3 reasons.

1: Sony seem to always have that pretentious way of thinking they always should have the strongest console on the market. Jack Tretton said it himself. Look at the Ps3, PsP and Vita, did'nt work for them but I think they are to stubborn to change strategy.

2: I believe the PS4 will be the last of the next gen to launch. I don't expect to see it before 2014. Mainly because of their financial situation. The Ps3 launch was a disaster, the Vita's launch (and still to date) was a disaster so I don't think Sony is eager to launch a new system. They can't start thinking about launching a new system and struggling for few months/years right now, they need to make their company back on track, I think they are up to a good start but with their credit rating being downgraded they are still not rdy. For this reason they will probably wait till the last minute, up to the point where they have no choices. If it is 1 year after the Xbox8 and 2 after the WiiU, It HAS to be more powerfull, the other way around would be awkward.

3: I'ts pretty much a fact that the PS4 will be more powerfull than the WiiU. When it comes to the Xbox8, I'm sure M$ will seriously push Kinect. I expect Kinect2.0 with a processor in it. I also expect all Xbox8 to come with Kinect boxed in. A new and more expensive Kinect will raise the cost of the console. This means that the console itselves can't afford to be to much powerfull if M$ wants to have a accessible price while still making a profit. So I expect the the biggest improvments to come from Kinect and not the console itself. (But I'm sure it will still be a pretty powerfull machine.

A lot of them will look desperately for some way that the PS4 is ahead of the competition and stick to it. Just like how Nintendo fans like me are obsessed with the Wii U's 2 GB of RAM and insist the other 8th gen systems won't have more than 4 GB.

...maybe you should ask those people, im sure that 99% of the people here didnt have PS3 as their first console, hell im sure its not even their first gen.

The Sony exclusives look great not because of the hardware but because of the talented developers. It is not like PS3 is 10x more powerful than XBOX 360, the difference is mostly negligible. I wouldn't care if the next Xbox is more powerful than PS4, as long as Sony keeps Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, Polyphony Digital etc for the next generation the people will be happy.