You ask if the hardware is weaker, then you proceed to answer other questions about it (percieved value about specific features, that may or may not be relevant to many people).
- The answer is yes, the xbox one is significantly weaker
Does MS make a lot of money on every unit sold: not that much, but as a customer this is not my concern, my concern is that I get something I want at the price I am paying, typically consoles are sold at a loss, early in their life cycle anyway (this is the case for the PS4, Sony loses money until you buy one game or get a year of PS+).
As for specific features:
Kinect: You can get the PS4 Camera for less than the price difference between the two (honestly if you are to play dance games the PS4 camera does the work)
Headset: I can plug any headset I want on the DS4, and I can now use bluetooth that were already on the market for the PS3 as well!... so yes you get a better headset at first, but you actually paid to lock yourself in their headset scam business, nice move.
HDMI in/TV features: they are useless outside the United States, the HDMI port can't be used to plug other game consoles since it induces serious input lag... anyway, to use it properly (with the tv guide) you need to be on Gold, another feature you though you bought, but you actually locked yourself into the Gold membership and it's half implemented at best (yes it controls the TV/cable box, but it does not control the DVR related functions, it makes the whole point completely useless, you still need your remotes...) they should have included HDMI QI, like the PS3/4 have, it lets me control the console with my TV remote! no need to buy a "multimedia" remote.
These features may seem nice, but beyond the original cost they bring in other issues:
- To use them properly you need to pay 60$ a year FOREVER to keep using them, so if you are to buy the console for the entertainment value as opposed to any other entertainment devide it will cost you as long as MS decides to keep the service running and the day they decide to stop support for the xb1 Gold services the machine won't even be able to log into Netflix or HBO go, nor will it display your TV guide or browse the web with IE... if you own the machine 7 years it will have cost you almost 1 000$ (assuming you did not buy any games or a second controller and you never changed the batteries in the controller either).
- Since Ms designed the machine around these features the machine's processing power was sacrificed to the altar of multi-media features people from the 90s would have dreamed of, your favorite games will either look worse or run at lower frame rates because of these, they may sacrifice interaction or AI too...
The reasonable cost of the xbox one for many gamers would be around 300 - 350$ at most... no matter that MS spends on the box, since you know you will mostly sacrifice 1080p gaming, this is where people would say: well I get Titanfall that runs only at "whatever below 1080p" but I saved a few $ in the process, I guess it's worth it.
