The estimated cost of Sony's console will be between $725 and $905 by several estimates, compared to Xbox 360's components cost of just above $500.
The reason why PS3 is this much more expensive, is rather simple - PS3 will be included by a next-generation Blu-ray drive, which will cost from $200 to $300, in comparison Xbox 360 is included by a standard DVD drive for the cost of $20 or less (or a optional HD DVD drive). The rest of the difference is explained by the cost of PS3's Cell processor, which will cost Sony approximately $50-100 more than Xbox 360 chip does for Microsoft. The other components' prices don't make much of a difference between the two competing consoles.
Even though Sony will not comment on pricing, it is expected by analysts that it will drop the console price down to a reasonable cost between $299 and $399. This would give it a possibility to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360. Taking the price down this much will be made possible by taking the money back from game sales, which is also what Microsoft is doing with their deficit problem.
Even though comparisons have been made by various analysts, it is really hard to tell the correct difference in component part prices, because the PS3 components differing from the Xbox 360 ones, are such rare in retail that the future cost is really hard to evaluate.
Source:
News.com
Written by: Matti Robinson @ 23 Feb 2006 14:51
