At the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), Sony will be unveiling their latest creation - the 45nm Cell Chip....

Source: The Sixth Axis

That would help the cost of the PS3, me thinks.

Great news!

All they need to do now is work on a 45nm RSX (but i'm sure this is being done as we speak) Sony are indeed very good at reducing the price and size of components really quickly! Then again, this speed with the PS3 will no doubt be linked to the need to drop the price asap!

Still good news :D

How much will this save again? If this does save money (and can be implimented soon) then the $300/£200 PS3 could become a reality

I'm slightly skeptical as to wether all this news about cheaper Cell parts mean that the PS3 is genuinely getting cheaper faster than most consoles do, or if it's just normal development, and Sony just keeps making lots of noise about it.

I think that the pressure for Sony to acheive a cheaper selling price for the PS3 would have driven the cost reduction of components faster than would naturally have occurred!

Nice one Sony for getting there :D

sony arent making noise about anything. they are just unveiling a smaller more efficient chip. if any other console had a new chip or laser on the way, i'm sure the company would announce it too.

 How long did it take Microsoft to go to 65nm? The whole console still isnt 65nm I don't think. So it would seem Sony is going at a good pace, but then again, Intel is also beginning 45nm mobile processors.

I think sony is trying extremly hard to get production costs down, so that they can get the retail costs down, so they can charge us less, and post a bigger profit off of software. This can only help them. Good for Sony.

I think they are going at the same pace that they would normally go. The difference is this will allow them to hit their target consumer price of, my guess, $299.

If the thing had released at that price and cost, they would still be doing everything in their power to reduce cost as fast as they can, but it would be so they could make a larger profit.

It’s funny, everyone bitches about the price being too high, and when they do their normal cost reduction over the life of the product, and pass that savings on to the customer (until it’s the price this kind of thing should be), people complain.

I guess if your name is Sony, you just can’t win in some people’s eyes.