Report: Microsoft is Prepping an "Xbox 1.5" For 2017

[KaraFang]

Well not everyone is as tech savvy as you, I could never build a PC in a million years. So why waste time trying?

My first PC was created by reading PC pro magazine and following the guide they have in there and the manuals from the components.

If you can do this, you can build a PC. So much of it now is like putting a lego set together.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Well not everyone is as tech savvy as you, I could never build a PC in a million years. So why waste time trying?

My first PC was created by reading PC pro magazine and following the guide they have in there and the manuals from the components.

If you can do this, you can build a PC. So much of it now is like putting a lego set together.

Well, until you plug one wire in wrong and fry your motherboard anyway.

If not for the grace of God, I'd have owed my roommate a new $300 part at least. And I've built computers before this one.

OT EDIT: Sounds like the start of a new console generation to me. Hopefully this one starts off better. The WiiU, PS4, and XBox One didn't quite hit the ground running.

 

[Zipa]

Microsoft and Sony don't have much of a choice in this. This happened because AMD will no longer produce 28nm parts. They're moving on to their 14nm FinFet designed for Zen and GCN 4.0. Microsoft and Sony had a choice. To use the newer tech but to gimp it and basically pay for potential that will never be utilized, or to use the offered increase in performance to develop a faster console while they're at it. They were also probably both scared that the other company would choose to upgrade and make their console more appealing to consumers.

This is AMD's fault first and foremost. And yes, it could be a pretty devastating blow to the entire console market.

That... makes no sense. AMD would have happily provided them with 14nm boards that ran at the previous specs, especially since if designed right it would have allowed them to use a significant chunk of otherwise unusable silicon. That they allowed their fear of what the 'other guy' would do drive their decision in now way makes it the fault of AMD.

They're not about to pay more to get less performance than they could be getting for the same money. Bottom line is that the performance gains don't cost extra and gimping the chips might actually cost more.

AMD doesn't produce the chips, they design and licence them to be manufactured by foundries in China. I am guessing that TSMC and/or GlobalFoundies built the 28nm chips that are found in the PS4 and XB1 and both companies still prominently advertise their 28nm production facilities on their respective websites. Just because they have begun production of 16nm and 14nmFinFet, doesn't mean that 28nm production disappears overnight. 28nm node production will exist as long as there is sufficient demand and profit to be had. 28nm is currently more profitable for these foundries as the yields are far better than smaller nodes.

Sony and Microsoft are squarely to "blame" for these half step consoles. There are more and more 4K TVs in homes now, but no consoles that are able to play games at these screen's native resolution, hence the need to upgrade the GPU in the XB1 and PS4 consoles.

AMD has used Global Foundries for everything as they have an agreement with them to purchase so much silicon per year from them. Zen their upcoming 16nm processors are the first time that they have elected to go with another manufacturer, in this case TSMC.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Wait, what happened to all the "Xbox One Cloud" stuff that was promised would close the Xbox One power gap.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/04/26/xbox-one-microsoft-claims-cloud-computing-can-provide-power-of-3-xbox-ones-32-xbox-360s/

During the stage event the Microsoft Japan representative claimed that the Xbox One has roughly eight time the computational power of an Xbox 360, but that's not all, as combining the the local machine with the cloud, the computational juice of roughly three Xbox ones units could be used.

If it had 3 times the power why are they selling an extra uprade for a similar power increase.

But wait...

http://www.develop-online.net/news/microsoft-cloud-makes-xbox-one-four-times-more-powerful/0114948

"If you look to the cloud as something that is no doubt going to evolve and grow over time, it really spells out that there's no limit to where the processing power of Xbox One can go," said the spokesperson.

4 TIMES MORE POWERFUL! WITH NO LIMIT!

And here's more:

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/12/21/phil-spencer-xbox-one-cloud-computing-power-available-to-all-including-ps4/

Azure, the cloud-based technology owned by Microsoft, can be used to power any games regardless of platform.
Read more at http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/12/21/phil-spencer-xbox-one-cloud-computing-power-available-to-all-including-ps4/#Cgpg2fLvrcYQjp7X.99

Any game regardless of platform! Play Halo, Infamous, Mario Cart, Banjo Kazooie, Pokemon Moon and Sun! ALL ON THE XBOX ONE WITH THE POWER OF THE CLOUD!

All of these were said by Microsoft employees. At what point does this become false advertising because seriously they might as well just have claimed it increased penis size and cured cancer for all the truth in their statements.