Well, MS started this gen with 20GB drives. There are some small capacity SSDs which are quite cheap, MS could get a good deal on the related tech and bundle them with 360s then charge crazy amounts for a sensible (as in like 100GB) SSD for a "premium" package. That is how spending more to have SSDs would actually make MS money, people won't feel as big a need to upgrade a HDD if it had one instead of a SSD because it should have plenty of capacity right at the start of the generation.
Load times will be vastly quicker even without the next gen having SSDs anyway.
There is going to be a very fine line in their pricing though. They will have to sell at a bigger loss than previous generations unless it isn't top of the range hardware (I suspect neither the PS4 nor 720 will be pushing any boundaries, but the difference between the two consoles could be large)
Why would they sell gamers a storage with a considerably shorter life span and considerably more expensive? Or are you just trying to look smart talking about SSD's?
Don't expect SSD in the new system. It's all about getting the most value at the lowest cost this coming generation and SSD drives still start at about $80. I do expect Microsoft to go back to providing a hard drive with every system, but it's highly unlikely to be a SSD. A faster disc drive will also help load times. They will probably do something like Nintendo is doing and that is offer different models at launch. Cloud services will also come into play.
I think that model shown looks rather cool. They should call it Xbox Durango.
an ssd would improve everything from boot-time load-times browsing librarys install times literally everything depends on the hdd. and an ssd is the answer to all that.
who knows if they would use them but it would cut load times in 1/4 for levels 4 times the size in data.
my argument here is that is IS a good idea, question is will they use it or not.
Both Sony and M$ should go with SSHDs. Nearly as fast as SSDs, same storage capacity as HDDs, and quite cheap.
For example, the Seagate Momentus XT($90 newegg). I have one in my PS3. It has sped everything up by ~25%-35%, just imagine if Sony or M$ specialized their systems with such a drive.
40, 60GB SSD are cheap and they would speed-up games like crazy, it would be like playing games from a cartridge. You can put an SSD on the PS3 but the system does't make use of all its capacity/features so it ends up being just as fast as a 5000RPM HDD. But the X720 will have newer motherboards with higher speed bus and connectivity and it will be able to take full advantage of it.
SSDs aren't so unthinkable. Unlike tradditional Hard Drives, the same amount of storage in an SSD will get cheaper over time. HDD's hit a "limit" whereby the cost of components just can't get any cheaper. That's why both the 360 and PS3 have upgraded the HDD space sold over time, because it's actually cheaper to do so.
Now Flash memory is different, it always gets cheaper and cheaper so over time the same amount of space WILL cost less money. SSDs are just flash memory (with a controller) packed into a HDD-sized shell. It's not unthinkable that Microsoft may bundle say 16Gb of SSD-like flash memory to be used purely as a cach for games to load faster, faster than a normal HDD can allow.
SSD is no where near being cheap or reliable enough. And one year probably won't bring them to that point. Not when downloading games, DLC, etc is becoming bigger and bigger.
The costs of SSD's are shooting down so fast at the moment. If we assume xmas time next year as the earliest release possibility for new consoles, a lot can happen in that time.
@Mikefizzled, regarding SSD life-span.
The life-span limits you mention are so out of reach for most people that they aren't worth worrying about. I mean, the Samsung 830 256gb hdd, for example, has a suggested write cycle limit of 3000 cycles. That's 256gb*3000 = 750 terabytes. That'd let you write over 200gb to it every day for 10 years before you should expect it to start faltering. That's in the worse case too.
Moron. You can buy a Sandisk Extreme 120GB SSD for less than $100 now. They are no longer expensive and soon will be reaching the point of being inexpensive.
What the hell are you talking about ? SSD have no moving parts which make them last longer than traditional HDD's. Educate yourself before posting pleas.
You do know that SSD's dont have a very good lifespan. If you use your Console (with SSD) for more then 4 years, you will notice some impressive slow downs.
SSD's are using Cells..The cells can run out and the SSD will die.
HDD's on the other hand..have the advantage of lifespan.
What do you prefer?
Speed, or lifespan? Besides the diffrence in gaming with an SSD is minimal. So SSD's would be useless for a gaming console.
SSD's are built these days to replenish their cells. they now have higher life capacity but i would prefer a cross hybrid of HDD nd SSD where only certain game data is ported to SSD when u play that game.
If they have plenty of Ram SSDs wont be needed really. But SSDs are due for some more price crashing, but vendors are still trying to get rid of old stock first.
With all the digital content they want to sell you however I think they will want a bigger hard drive. Unless they choose to gimp it at first with small sized SSDs so the fanboys will constantly upgrade hardware with each refresh.
I wouldn't mind small SSDs if they allowed external storage though, because it makes the speed of SSDs standard for all game developers to work with from day one on all systems
XBOX 9 The developers already have the kits and so far I've read that AGAIN, the xbox kit is superior to the PS4 dev kit. PS4 is has done away with cell according to insiders. Article doesn't make sense especially when they said the speculate the name is going to be simply XBOX. The first one is just called XBOX, so how do you distinguish the two? If someone walked in a store and said can I get a Playstation, iPod, Nintendo,or Samsung Galaxy...the clerk is going to ask DUH, WHICH ONE?
A small fraction of the harddisk could be ssd to reduce cost but provide performance, and only the active game would use it for streaming frequently used assets, and the SSD portion could be flushed after the game.
However I would like an 8x bluray drive instead of SSD. That'd be pretty good.
Why would we need ssd's ?. I bet you believe them articles too saying next gen game production costs are going to multiply....
BF3 maxed on ultra settings @ 1080p on pc, we'll be lucky to get hardware capable of getting close to that level of performance, games that have already been made over a year ago needing no ssd or crazy high production costs, no need "next gen" either..
8 GM RAM is quite impressive. 4 times as much as the Wii U.
I played Halo 4, Gears of War 3, Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption and thought they look great. Now imagine what devs could create on a console with these specs... Crazy shit.
Assuming that's true, developer consoles tend to have 2x the RAM of the final console. So that would mean the 720/Durango/whatever will have 4GB of RAM. That might change, of course, a similar thing was done with the 360 that was originally going to only have 256MB of RAM.
8GB of ram is more than I expected so that's good and that design isn't that bad either. Just curious to see what kind of GPU will be in it! Anyone have any ideas??
We know Halo 5 is in development for XBOX (can we drop the 720 now?), but I wonder how deep Activision & Microsoft are in bed together, and if COD 10 is going to be a launch title, assuming we see the console next holiday season. That would possibly drive millions in sales for both software & hardware in those 2 months, especially since Activision just raked in $500 million so far this week.
If the regular cycle of events take place the next Xbox will come out 2014. They normally like to have a year to build anticipation and hype. Like a E3 debut. The earliest I could see would be late late 2013 like October, November late and that would be only if they have been secretly completely done with the specs, features and ready for production in the next 3-4 months. You also have to look at the games coming out. Once a system is announced it chops off a percentage of current gen game sales because ppl start saving for the new system. So Gears Of War Judgment, GTAV would have to come out fairly early to warrant seeing a new system 2013.
That was Sony's tactic not MS. Xbox 360 was announced in 2005 and launched that holiday. Sony announced in 2005 and launched in 2006.
Also if you look at the release window for Gears and GTA...both are set to be out in the March - May window. Plenty of time to let someone save for a Holiday purchase.
I dont use the 360 transition as a regular process. You have to remember MS wanted to make sure they were out first to lock up some ground. It led to faulty hardware that could have ended up a lot worst for them than it did. I doubt they will be rushing any thing out. Not to mention this time out they have a stronger following so they can a little more traditional.
I do agree with the release dates of GTAV and Gears judgement, it cutting it kind fo close but its still viable. But that would be lots of information to pump out in that 4-7 months. Its possible but it would be very sloppy from a market view.
I know they're vaporware now, but remember the Move & Eye(Toy) for the PS3? Yeah...
Also, I HATE being grammar police, and I can deal with shorthand & texting lingo, but I make an exception for YOUR & YOU'RE. If you don't know how to properly use each one, just use "YUR."
i know its spelled that way im just TOO FUCKING lazy to move my hand to the apostrophe it leads to the inevitable missed key and i dont want to break my flow.
EVERYBODY KNOWS ITS SPELLED You're clunky ass BFE apostrophe key is clunky and in bum F&^K egypt on my keyboard and i dont want to reach for it
this is not a college paper this is an online forum and if youre gonna point it out it just says things about you that people say behind your back.
Man talk about going on with a bang... I am sure these guys originally wanted to hold these stories for later in 2013 instead of now. I may need to get a hold of this mag and the PSM one and stash them away for collection sake.
It's funny how some people say that 8gb of ram is not enough, this have to be pc gamers. If developers for consoles can make the games they have made for Xbox360 and playstation 3 with the little ram they have I can only imagine what they will be able to do with 8gb available to them. Can't wait for the next gen consoles and games.
Well considering I am a PC gamer as well as a Console gamer, 8Gb of ram is quite fine. Thats my recommended amount of ram to have in your pc to get optimal performance while playing a game and doing lots of other things in the background. Its funny how people assume something that the dont know about. If anything, it is the mainstream console gamers that think that 8Gb of ram is not enough because they know nothing about ram.
The amount of Ram does not matter nearly as much as the speed of the actually RAM. If any console had 4GB DDR3 @ 2000mhz I would be floored and everyone would notice a dramatic difference. 8GB @ 1466mhz will be significantly slower. So before getting excited, I'll just wait for final specs.
If you understand discrete GPU's then you understand these won't be put in new console due to the price and size limitations. Which is why I said the speed of RAM will make a big difference in a new console.
That's how these type of communities are. Mostly everyone aren't experts in any of this but will regurgitate what they hear from other and discuss it as if they knew what they were talking about.
yeah, and I'm finding it hard to believe that final hardware will have 8gb of ram - it could which would be great but I'm thinking 4gb is going to be final spec. And as you pointed out faster ram and little less would do more in the case of gaming.
Its almost here.. I cant wait for nx gen beasts to arrive.. If MS puts out some great exclusives w normal controls as well as kinect 2.0 controls, i will be VERY tempted to buy one.. So far im only interested in Orbis because i know it will receive all multiplats as well as a healthy amount of exclusives n free features.. However im a gamer, so if 720 has some great software, ill be buying it too..
If they focus too much on media features/services & casual software, i wont even get it.. If u dont have xbl u cant do very much with their products.. No cross game chat, voice messages, multiplayer, etc so im not paying them unless theirs some great games i want that cant be found elsewhere...
Soon enough we will all know what to expect from nx gen Sony/MS machines & the anticipation is killing me.. Ive seen nintendos cards & they have an "OK" hand but im not buying until i see games i want, not gimmicks.. Same goes for the rest
Not ever been An Xbox gamer but the design of the console looks slick. Will keep an eye on information being released. It does sound a bit bloated though. And I hope pachters idea of subscription based console isn't true.
That's just an artist rendition of what THEY THINK it will look like which is probably the only thing that will be waaay off...in this generation (and previous) we've had consoles come down to "slim" status so i really don't see them going back to BIG for the next...i'm curious about the "innovative controller" though.
Ok, now can we get more details on that CPU and what about the GPU? Its been shrouded in mystery long enough. Ram wise, 4GB or 8GB. I personally think any thing more than 4 would be over kill. Unless MS plans for a ton of programs in the background, 4GB would be more than enough. I mean just look at what 512MB gave us.
pc's are more powerfullis true! but consoles dont need the same power to do good grafics. look to PS 3, and XBOX 360 whith games like uncharted, halo 4, GEARS 3, CRYSIS 2, they look very good for an hardware whith 6 years! try to do that in a pc whith 6 years!
0°
40°
30°
40°
Ad 
20°
Load times will be vastly quicker even without the next gen having SSDs anyway.
There is going to be a very fine line in their pricing though. They will have to sell at a bigger loss than previous generations unless it isn't top of the range hardware (I suspect neither the PS4 nor 720 will be pushing any boundaries, but the difference between the two consoles could be large)
I think that model shown looks rather cool. They should call it Xbox Durango.
Hmm..so this confirms the new Xbox coming out next year. The magnesium case looks kinda cool.
Hopefully the Orbis is coming out afterward, if not prior.
edit: the shape reminds me to AppleTV and the chrome frame makes it look like an obese iP4. The minimalist approach does the sexy look.
so those arguments dont really hold water.
it would be a great feature.
an ssd would improve everything from boot-time load-times browsing librarys install times literally everything depends on the hdd.
and an ssd is the answer to all that.
who knows if they would use them but it would cut load times in 1/4 for levels 4 times the size in data.
my argument here is that is IS a good idea, question is will they use it or not.
For example, the Seagate Momentus XT($90 newegg). I have one in my PS3. It has sped everything up by ~25%-35%, just imagine if Sony or M$ specialized their systems with such a drive.
Now Flash memory is different, it always gets cheaper and cheaper so over time the same amount of space WILL cost less money. SSDs are just flash memory (with a controller) packed into a HDD-sized shell. It's not unthinkable that Microsoft may bundle say 16Gb of SSD-like flash memory to be used purely as a cach for games to load faster, faster than a normal HDD can allow.
SSD + Cloud.
SSD for important files that need loading but also dependable Cloud storage and server-based data storing methods.
Accept they will be over priced xbox branded 100GB HDD's for $99.
@Mikefizzled, regarding SSD life-span.
The life-span limits you mention are so out of reach for most people that they aren't worth worrying about. I mean, the Samsung 830 256gb hdd, for example, has a suggested write cycle limit of 3000 cycles. That's 256gb*3000 = 750 terabytes. That'd let you write over 200gb to it every day for 10 years before you should expect it to start faltering. That's in the worse case too.
Are you joking? 8gb of ram is all it will need for years to come. Skyrim on PC only allocates itself 2gb.
Research.
I have two ssd drives in my alienware they were not expensive.
http://i1114.photobucket.co...
You might want to find a new hobby next gen light weight. Or find a better job.
What the hell are you talking about ? SSD have no moving parts which make them last longer than traditional HDD's. Educate yourself before posting pleas.
You do know that SSD's dont have a very good lifespan.
If you use your Console (with SSD) for more then 4 years, you will notice some impressive slow downs.
SSD's are using Cells..The cells can run out and the SSD will die.
HDD's on the other hand..have the advantage of lifespan.
What do you prefer?
Speed, or lifespan? Besides the diffrence in gaming with an SSD is minimal. So SSD's would be useless for a gaming console.
Extra money, for a very tiny gain.
Loading screens literally cease to exist, amongst other benefits.
With all the digital content they want to sell you however I think they will want a bigger hard drive. Unless they choose to gimp it at first with small sized SSDs so the fanboys will constantly upgrade hardware with each refresh.
I wouldn't mind small SSDs if they allowed external storage though, because it makes the speed of SSDs standard for all game developers to work with from day one on all systems
The developers already have the kits and so far I've read that AGAIN, the xbox kit is superior to the PS4 dev kit. PS4 is has done away with cell according to insiders. Article doesn't make sense especially when they said the speculate the name is going to be simply XBOX. The first one is just called XBOX, so how do you distinguish the two? If someone walked in a store and said can I get a Playstation, iPod, Nintendo,or Samsung Galaxy...the clerk is going to ask DUH, WHICH ONE?
A small fraction of the harddisk could be ssd to reduce cost but provide performance, and only the active game would use it for streaming frequently used assets, and the SSD portion could be flushed after the game.
However I would like an 8x bluray drive instead of SSD. That'd be pretty good.
I bet you believe them articles too saying next gen game production costs are going to multiply....
BF3 maxed on ultra settings @ 1080p on pc, we'll be lucky to get hardware capable of getting close to that level of performance, games that have already been made over a year ago needing no ssd or crazy high production costs, no need "next gen" either..
I played Halo 4, Gears of War 3, Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption and thought they look great. Now imagine what devs could create on a console with these specs... Crazy shit.
I actually like the design, too.
That might change, of course, a similar thing was done with the 360 that was originally going to only have 256MB of RAM.
These are all rumors anyway.
Not going to buy day one, but you can be sure I'm going to be following the PSNext and the NeXbox to a tee.
Can't wait for nextgen
They made $500 million in the first 24 hours.
This isn't something to be proud of.
You also have to look at the games coming out. Once a system is announced it chops off a percentage of current gen game sales because ppl start saving for the new system. So Gears Of War Judgment, GTAV would have to come out fairly early to warrant seeing a new system 2013.
Also if you look at the release window for Gears and GTA...both are set to be out in the March - May window. Plenty of time to let someone save for a Holiday purchase.
I do agree with the release dates of GTAV and Gears judgement, it cutting it kind fo close but its still viable. But that would be lots of information to pump out in that 4-7 months. Its possible but it would be very sloppy from a market view.
Also, I HATE being grammar police, and I can deal with shorthand & texting lingo, but I make an exception for YOUR & YOU'RE. If you don't know how to properly use each one, just use "YUR."
THX!
you're funny
EVERYBODY KNOWS ITS SPELLED You're
clunky ass BFE apostrophe key is clunky and in bum F&^K egypt on my keyboard and i dont want to reach for it
this is not a college paper this is an online forum and if youre gonna point it out it just says things about you that people say behind your back.
comment nazis are cool in billoriellys book.
Ram speed is really only effective for those GPU chipsets that don't have discrete VRAM.
Barely any FPS/performance difference with a 1066Mhz Ram on the same setup than with a 1866Mhz.. and where not even talking about RAM timings yet!
Will only recommend faster RAM if the price difference is almost non existent.
Just google this..
And as you pointed out faster ram and little less would do more in the case of gaming.
http://g-ec2.images-amazon....
It looks like nextbox oficial reveal is just around the corner...
If they focus too much on media features/services & casual software, i wont even get it.. If u dont have xbl u cant do very much with their products.. No cross game chat, voice messages, multiplayer, etc so im not paying them unless theirs some great games i want that cant be found elsewhere...
Soon enough we will all know what to expect from nx gen Sony/MS machines & the anticipation is killing me.. Ive seen nintendos cards & they have an "OK" hand but im not buying until i see games i want, not gimmicks.. Same goes for the rest
An Xbox gamer but the design of the console looks slick. Will keep an eye on information being released. It does sound a bit bloated though. And I hope pachters idea of subscription based console isn't true.
But at the same time, Ram is dirt cheap.