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PotentHerbs on 21 March 2020
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mjk45 said:
PotentHerbs said:

The XSX is their premium model which is being followed by their base model in Lockhart. This situation is reversed for the PS5. If the PS5 Pro aims to double its TF count, similar to the PS4 Pro, MS at the bare minimum would need to surpass that, probably double the XSX, if they wanted another premium option. That would make the gap between Lockhart and the XSX Super astronomical. Is scalability really feasible with a low end of 4/6TF to a high end of 24TF? Its much easier with 4/6TF & 12 TF. MS can't just drop Lockhart despite all the bottlenecks it would present to the highest end model. That doesn't even consider what MS might cut back in order to hit a favorable, mass market price.

Ultimately, MS priorities and goals revolve around subscription models, & they would prioritize that over being the power leader 4 - 5 years down the line. Lockhart at $299, maybe even $199, seems like a more favorable strategy for them, instead of releasing another high end Xbox model. This option goes down the drain if Xbox Series X is their base of course, but according to MS insiders, Lockhart is still in the works.

The truth is a potential PS5 Pro or the Xbox equivalent isn't made for the mass market that the job of the Series X and the lockhart is there to cater for those that want to play next gen games but are fine with a budget model, just like this gen those Pro type consoles are aimed at the enthusiast with best expectations of around 20% as to the scaling it pretty straight forward the series X will be the base and the other two get scaled up and down from there.the High Ends  extra horsepower will be limited by the need for parity just like today's SKU's but with the likely addition of PC style ultra settings  on top of the usual benefits .

I see the Series X as the premium console. Its already being marketed as a console that "eats monsters for breakfast." It will probably have an entry point of at least $500. We're getting those ultra high settings right off the bat instead of a mid gen upgrade. Also consider that there could be confusion among consumers if MS has three different SKU's. IIRC, the Xbox One was phased out for the Xbox One S. Perhaps for this very reason?  

I also doubt that Project Lockhart isn't the base console. Microsoft's cross generation strategy already targets the Xbox One S until at least 2021. Project Lockhart is poised to be MS cheapest entry into next gen, making it likely the majority of their next gen userbase are Lockhart owners, and any potential bottlenecks of Lockhart need to be prioritized in terms of development. Lockhart is rumored to have a weaker GPU, so maybe they have a weaker CPU, since these units will include an SSD & MS will need to cut cost somewhere.