I was thinking $499 for Scorpio until Albert Panello went on about the Scorpio card alone costing as much as launch PS3. We don't know if he meant launch PS3 retail or manufacturer cost as the way he worded it, it could be both. If we go with the cheap option, the card alone is $499 (launch 20gb PS3). Then you add a 4K BR player, 1TB HDD, 12GB GDDR5, controller, USB ports, WiFi, Bluetooth, PU, fan, case, audio chip, packaging and logistics.

Even if we say they are getting this expensive card (he said they are going for an expensive card to be able to hit 4K 30fps native) at 3/5th the price ($200 off retail),  that's still $300.

$300 chip

$100 4K BR player (Samsung has one of the cheapest ones on the market at $320)

$100 for 12GB GDDR5 & 1TB HDD

$100 for everything else including pad, audio chip, 4k hdmi cable, power unit, fan, cooling, WiFi, Bluetooth, headset....

That's $600. Now they can sell at a loss, but i doubt MS will want to sell at a $100 loss. If they sell a million units that's a billion dollar loss. 

Some errors here....

Firstly no way a BR drive costs $100. Not even going to cost half that much. The reason BR players are expensive is because you aren't just paying for the drive. You are also paying for the processor and other components that go into them to make the damn thing work. A lot of those things cross over when looking at consoles. Eg; no need to get in a processor for BR playing cause u already have a processor for your games. No need to develop a dedicated OS for the player cause the system already has an OS....etc

There is also no way they are paying $300 for a chip. Especially one based on something that has a retail price of $299/$350 cause again a lot of the things that goes into that chip cross over for consoles and that's even before looking at the prices console platform holders get their stuff at. 

And lastly, if they sell 1M consoles at a $100 loss, that's not $1B in losses. It's $100M in losses. That's nothing to them when u consider they make probably more than $500M from XBL subscriptions alone every year. 

Anyways, I just don't see them coming in at more than $499. They are coming a year late, into a war they are already losing, they won't do that. 

Dammit I meant 10 million consoles! Lol

The point i was making is, I was thinking what you are thinking until i read what Panello said. He isn't referring to what everyone was taking about, a cheap $199 chip. He has flat out said this will be an expensive machine with the chip alone costing MS serious money. 

Maybe a UHD BR drive doesn't cost $100, maybe it's less since there is no case etc, but I don't think they will be buying UHD BR drives for below $50. Even launch BR drives weren't that cheap. 

I don't think MS will want to launch this at a loss or a heavy loss. Based on what Panello has said i can't see this coming in below $599. The cost is what will drive most people to the PS4S and Neo. MS will find it though to compete with both its models of Sony go for a big price drop on the OG and release their slim at $300 and Neo at $399. 

I'd say most likely.  Sony said that the Neo would be announced shortly before it launches.  And I HIGHLY doubt they are holding a press conference to merely announce a Slim model.

And?  That's not going to help MS.  July NPD already proved that MS needs to be $100 cheaper to compete with the PS4, and that's in just the US.  Most every where else, the war is done.  Having them the exact same price just puts MS back in the same exact spot they were in before.

Ooooh BOY! I'm excited. Things are heating up again. I wonder what this means for the current base PS4 though, will it be dropped lower? And will the slim be 4k content enabled?

At least the new design confirms external hard drive support right?

There's a HDD hatch on the back corner of the console. 

Do we know if that square was optical out yet?

Damn, thanks for the clarification.

Meh, you're better off spending the extra $100 on a Neo.