Normally that isn't a problem. All mainstream processor architectures are backwards compatible with older instruction sets.

Sure, on consoles "everything just works" all the time... unless it doesn't. Almost every game released has flaws that need to be patched later. It takes years until new consoles have all the promised features or all the popular features their predecessors had. Even gamepads have to be patched nowadays on consoles. If the PSN or XBL are down, you can forget online gaming or most other online activities. If f.e. Steam is down on PC, I can still play games online that use other services (Battle.net, Origin, Uplay) and all other non-gaming online features still work.

I still don't see the big problems with several digital stores instead of one on PC. It can have advantages (see above), there is a healthy competition between these stores which keeps the PC game prices down and offers great deals (and even free games like EA's "on the house" program). Even IF you let run ALL popular game launchers (Steam, Origin, Uplay, Battle.net and GOG Galaxy) run at the same time, they only need a fraction of your processing power and RAM, their space requirement on the HDD is even more neglible.

And they don't have to run all the time: if you don't need some of the game launchers for a while, just close them (or even disable the auto-start). The only game launcher in my auto-start is Steam, the other ones I only start if I want to play a EA, Ubisoft or Blizzard game or a GOG-classic.

These "constant updates" aren't a big hassle. Almost every game launcher has auto-updates for itself and for its installed games, just like modern home consoles. Windows, Nvidia and AMD also have autopatches. Most of these updates work perfectly fine in the background and don't block the whole system like firmware-updates on home consoles or game-pudates on 7th gen consoles (it got a lot better with 8th gen consoles). "The best experience" is totally subjective.

They are cheap compared to a PC with the same performance. Very quite? My PC is a lot quiter than my PS4, PS3 and Xbox 360. Thanks to SSDs a cold boot on PC takes about the same time as a cold boot of one of the 8th gen consoles. Waking the PC up from standby is even faster than on consoles. 

Very powerful? Compared to what? Very simple? They get complexer every generation while PC maintenace and access got a lot simpler over the last decades... now the "console experience" and the "PC experience" has more similarities than ever before. And consoles will never be able to do everything "that PC does."

Will I be able to burn a CD/DVD/Blu-ray on a PS5? Can I connect a scanner to scan some family photos? Probably not.

If there planning on selling a console twice the power of the current PS4 then expect exclusive PS4.5k games. That's a slap in the face for previous adopters if that's true. Also double the PS4 power is still far off from running games in 4k. Upscaling games to 4k is not worth the investment for a whole new console. Sony should just wait until 4k is affordable before they dip into 4k gaming.

I am sure there are some gamers who would buy into this but there are 40m+ PS4 owners right now that aren't.

Just remember that even if the rumor is true, 2x power =/= 2x performance.

Well I actually replayed GoWIII pretty recently and the frame rate is eratic, now that we've become a more savvy about frame rates its more apparent.

I bet its worse than you remember, so what this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXHr0Se-cto

What's really disturbing or a mystery to me is why Sony hasn't gotten out in front of this rumor.
Whatever the announcement is, they really need to be in control of their own beast instead of the rampant rumor mill of negative information spewing out of anonymous Internet leakers lately.

Which to me looks more like social media sabotage, than real info.

The constant posts about the ps4 not being powerful enough to run psvr. I mean Sony has showcased to the public, in plain view, at a ton of trade shows, ACTUAL PS4's running RIGS, Eve, and a ton of other titles quite capably. And pretty much 90% of users take the helmet off with a massive smile on their faces, you see them ducking, and being ACTUALLY scared of on screen characters , and this is on the ps4 headset.

There's no trickery here guys, the ps4 has an actual working VR headset coming out this year, it's real, it works and your gonna be wow'd when you realize your INSIDE a 3D stereoscopic gameworld.

We need to wait until E3, and isn't too far away, just 2 Months until E3.

 2 months is a long time to let this rumor stink in the corner.

Even the Wall Street, is supporting those rumors, i don't know why so much people are spreading this rumor.