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Biggerboat1 on 23 February 2019
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thismeintiel said:
Biggerboat1 said:

I think you're making the mistake of assuming the average gamer is as clued up about tech specs as the average member of this forum.

Even on this forum I'd say there is a general feeling that the 1080 to 4K jump is diminishing returns. If the same game is running side by side on those rumoured Xbox skus on anything less than a 65" TV I don't think the average gamer is going to notice much of a difference & the lower sku may in fact be the console that makes most sense to many gamers.

Don't get me wrong, I'd personally plump for the superior sku but that's because I have a bad case of tech fomo - can't help myself. Though I do intend on upgrading from my 55" oled to 77-85" in the next year or 2 - at which point that extra grunt will really show in a meaningful way. But most gamers won't have a 77-85" tv any time soon!

If you said average consumer, you would have been right.  However, your average gamer, who also are part of the early adopters, are more informed than they ever have been.  They visit gaming and tech sites/forums to look up info on their purchases.  Wikipedia is also a great source to look up tech info on devices.  You think the average gamer even knew what powered the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube when they were buying them?  Hell no.  Now, all of that info is just a click away.

Not being able to tell the difference is hyperbole.  There are going to be more cutbacks on a GPU that is only ~1/3 the power of another than just resolution, which people can tell the difference on screens much smaller than 65".  There's going to be less draw distance, lower quality assets, fewer effects, etc.  Gamers can look up what the differences are between the games on the sites I mentioned, and we also have a handy tool called Youtube where people can actually watch videos of games before they buy.

@ bold, not sure what you mean here, early adopters are a small subset of consumer within any sector, for them to be distinctive as 'early' it means that the majority have to be late(r). If everyone is an 'early' adopter then no-one is... Also, look at pretty much any console's sales curve and tell me where your evidence is for the average gamer = early adopter theory...

Also, just because people can look up tech info at the click of a button doesn't mean that they're interested in doing so. If everybody was obsessed with tech specs they'd own a PC or XB1X & Pro would be outselling the base models...

Finally, the PS4 base model has a GPU not far off of 1/3 the power of the Pro - you think games look that different across the two? I mean, the PS4/Pro example is the perfect comparison - they're essentially the same system except ram & GPU... Same proposition as these 2 XB skus & yet you're somehow concluding that there will be little interest in the cheaper/less powerful sku...?