I just presented two proofs as to why it must be much higher than that.

1) Judging from iSuppli estimates, sensible approximations as to reductions in cost, and the effect of the strengthening Yen, the loss will be very high.

2) If the loss was not high, SCE as a whole would be running at a significant profit

You're going to have to rebut those two points, not just say "I think ..."

PS - Perhaps this conversation would be easier if we talked in terms of Yen, instead of dollars

@Seihyouken: Do you really think they can save $75-$125 just from reducing the Cell to 45nm, or did I misunderstand your post?

Anyway I don't give much importance to those iSuppli reports, for starters they don't even state their assumptions on the exchange rates. And they're pretty clueless in their predictions which doesn't give much credence to their analysts.

I believe that they do make a profit on the 160 GB bundle. They probably still lose about 30$ on each 80 GB sold though.

I'm sure they're making profit in certain places. In the US i would assume it's profit on the 160GB and minor loss on the 80GB

And that was going to be my third proof :P NJ5 just beat me to it... or something

If that was the case they wouldn't be losing money overall, which is clearly not the case as stated by Sony's CFO. In Europe the PS3 actually costs $430 before tax, to add to the profits from the 160 GB model.

We can speculate all we want, but we're not gonna get more credible information than the one given by Sony's officials during their investors conferences. They're legally obligated to give accurate information there.

Hi Megaman2, you seem to have moved to the United States now lol.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you of all people that the revision coming later this year isn't simply swapping the 65nm Cell for the 45nm one. It goes a lot deeper than that. Pretty much the entire innards of the console will be restructured. Heatsinks, outer air vents, and other internal components will be reduced in number, reduced in size, and in some cases removed entirely.

Sounds like a Slim PS3 :)

If that happens the case would be cheaper to.

I didn't know that (other than the heatsink reduction which is a given since 45nm chips use less power).

Anyway, if you're right and that cost reduction is around $100, this means that they're losing more than $100 now, since they don't expect that revision alone to make them profitable.

But as scottie said, speaking in terms of dollars is not a good idea here... What was a potential $500 production cost a few months ago is now less than that, and was even less one year ago.