A quote from late July...

"My prediction is that you're going to see the creation of a new, low-end SKU this holiday. It'll likely remove integrated WiFi, memory card reader, and most controversially, all backward compatibility. (Remember, there's still some back-compat hardware in even the new "software only" back compat SKUs; removing the remaining CPU is a significant cost savings.) You'll see a new WiFi dongle made available. And finally, this low-end SKU will likely come with a smaller 40 GB hard drive. The low-end price will be set at $399, with the higher-end 80 GB SKU dropping to $499."

I remembered that back in late July this quote was made...  Back up for the quote can be found here if you need it...

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/print?board.id=ps3&message.id=1761271&format=one

What (if any) features do you think Sony would exclude if they ship a 40 Gb SKU?  The prediction seems to be accurate so far in that the rumour is that it is a 40 Gb SKU and the price drop of the 80 Gb SKU...  But, there has been no mention of other stuff being removed in the lower SKU.

I would buy one if it had WiFi or Cat5... But if it doesn't then it is a non-starter for me as the cost to add WiFi would probably make it the same or more then the 80 Gb SKU.

I think a 40 gig sku would have to have backward compatibility. If it didn't, I don't think it would sell well at all. The various card readers are non-important for the average gamer. Wifi is cool, but I have Cat-5 ethernet near my systems so I can live without it, too. What a 40 gig SKU needs to have more than anything is pack-ins. there is a euro gamers pack with motorstorm, resistance, and two six axes. That setup priced at $399 would move a whole lot of boxes this holiday... Microsoft would be compelled to respond in kind.

Why would backward compat. have to leave? If it's software only on the newer versions, why should this be any different? I wouldn't think that would be costly.

EDIT: Oh. This quote is from a Microsoft exec. Why do we care then?

I don't think it matters who the quote comes from...  I'm just asking the question if there is any features that could be removed to help Sony with the cost of doing this SKU...  The quote was backup to show that people knew about the possibility of this SKU a while back.

Personally, I think it is a good idea to make the SKU.  I would definately look at getting one...  But there are some features they can't remove, and to me that's networkability.  Backward compatibility would not be an issue for me as I have been on nextgen since the 360 and found I don't go back to the old stuff nearly as much as I thought I would.

 From my understanding, the PS3 still has the Reality Synthesizer GPU from the PS2. So the theory behind the 40GB PS3 is that it wouldn't have the Emotion Engine or the Reality Synthesizer to save money, but even it they took out Wifi, card reader, the RS, and threw in a 40GB hard drive, it wouldn't make up the difference in cost between an 60GB PS3 at $500 and a 40GB unit at $400.

The useless card readers need to go.

Why wont you buy it if it doesnt have wifi? Isn't the ps3 non proprietary when it comes to the connection? Meaning you can use any router to receive a signal.

Has to have some sort of broadband connectivity.  As long as it does and I don't have to tinker around or buy something to get it I'm in. 

 I use my card readers... they arent useless to me.

But the 40GB model wont happen as the 80GB model will be $499 soon and $399 by March.