My money is on a 1TB SSHD default with next gen consoles, with a bigger solid state cache than usual (16-32GB SSD), or the system itself might have a small but fast 32GB cache.

This is a possible compromise they may have to make. I could see early units coming with something like a 4GB SATA 3 HDD and an 256GB M.2 Chip, both user upgradeable. By the time the PS5 slim arrives, they could drop the SATA bay, and just offer an 8TB M.2 chip for the same price.

If they went this route everything would be developed around the M.2 speeds, with the HDD loading everything to the M.2 drive before executing. They would need some smart storage tech to handle all of the transfering. Probably keep the start up data for around 5 games, and leave the rest of the drive open to grab the full files once a game is selected.

Anyway we cut it, a true next gen console needs an absolute minimum of an 8x increase in CPU + GPU, RAM Size and Speed, and Storage Size and Speed. For a true next gen expereince, and not just a 4K PS4/XBO expereince we have to have Solid State Storage in one way or another. If large size Solid State drives are to expensive at launch, this may be the way they have to go. As I said earlier, another gen built around the limitations of a 2.5" HDD is basically a death sentence for consoles. Everything will come with SSD by 2022, meaning stuff like Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV could become much better gaming machines than PS5/XBO. Sony definitly is not going to risk the PlayStation brand on an underwhelming PS5.

SSHD's f*cking suck though.. but i guess if you can code it to work with the game you are playing and streaming all files into the SSD part of it.. but.. then you could just have an SSD straight up..

That's kind of a nightmare to optimize for nowadays. From disc you always knew how fast you could read data and balance the compression ratio to read speed, and also strategically place the data on the disc. Installed, you have no idea where the data ends up (matters with CAV drives and seek times) and with different HDDs and now SSDs it is impossible to optimize loading times for different scenarios.

Ideally you want read time to be equal to decompression / process time to minimize overall load time. With SSDs less compression and more pre-baked data makes sense, yet that would disadvantage 5400 rpm drives.

Perhaps having different SKUs with HDD and SSD is not a good idea. A good stock drive developers can optimize for would be preferable. Just please don't use 5400 rpm drives again next gen :/

only thing i'm thinking when watching that is holy shit consoles suck >_>... they must have skimped alot on the central bus or something. or the games are not coded/optimized for SSD storage on the console version.
Rubbish load-times

But SSHD doesn't realy work ideally in consoles do they?

Imagine you have like 10 games installed in your system and you shuffle between say 3 of them at a time (eg I'm currently playing Abzu, MGS5 and Tekken), then in that scenario an SSHD will mean fuck all to you.Further more, if we are considerring 4k textures as the norm and internal ram in consoles at as much as 20-32GB, then I think we are underestimating just how long those load times are going to be even when an SSHD is doing its thing. 

There is also an inherent latency introduced as long as we are using any kinda mechanical drive. And lastly, it seems like a really stupid decision to make a console you expect to be on the market for the next 7yrs and release it in 2020 with what for all intents and puroses will at that time be obsolete tech. A sata 3 HDD? Chances are two years after that the only things in the world that will still come shipped with that kinda tech would be the consoles.

what?! :S jiesh.. yeah, i guess they skimp on something to make it that price.. but god damn.. that is just dissapointing..
that can't be the case for the pro models too? if it is that is just bullshit..

This thread is flawed.

If you are going to just talk about how the storage is going to be attached to the device, then at least be comprehensive.

You don't even talk about next generation tech, this has all been around for ages.

There are ways around that though. Every console could ship with a M.2 Nvme 480GB drive. And then have support for external HDDs on day one. Hell those launch consoles could even have an empty drive bay to slot in an "expansion drive" of the sata variant. But from day one the option will be there to just swapout your M.2 drive for a bigger one if you want. But if you don't but need more space you could always throw in a 2TB sata drive in your console or just connect one externally.

Any of those options will be a thousand times better than shipping the consoles with only a SATA interface. Cause at best what that gives you in optimal conditions is around 500MB/s+ speeds. At BEST. and thats if you are lucky and also if you are using an SSD. A lot of ifs.... and as I said earlier... that puts them in this weird place where they are the only OEMs using that kinda tech.

Another twist on that is, if it seems it makes sense to go with an SSD of the SATA variant, then they might as well just make the consoles with a M.2 interface and slap in a SATA 3 level SSD in there. they are much cheaper than the NvME variant and it ensures future proofing as any user can swap that out and put in a higher performing drive in there. It also allows them have native support for such an upgrade from day one instead of this hit and miss thing we have going on now.

Yup... apparently, making a board with a SATA3 bus or even a PCIE bus costs a marginally more than making one with a SATA2 bus.

WTF?

I'll try and be concise....

1. next gen tech as applies to this thread is anything that goes into the next generation of consoles. Doesn't matter if its been around for the last 20yrs, what matters is if its going to be used in the next generation of consoles and what benefits it may bring.
   
   
2. Talking about the interface is actually more important than talking about the type of drive used in them for obvious reasons. One dictates the other.
   
   When talking about the SATA interface, you basically have mechanical drives or SSDs or hybrids (SSHD), but whats important there is the interface which peaks at a theoretical 600MB/s.
   
   When talking about M.2 interface you can only hav SSDs. But in this case the heoretical peak is at least 600MB/s all the way up to 3GB/s+. Its easier to have a more "comprehensive" discussion on what kinda tech will be used for the next gen consoles if you are looking at the interface cause that will dictate all that is possible and to be expected.