http://www.computerandvideogames.com/34 ... et-rumour/

The BR drive is about the only bit of that that sounds plausible.

I forsee micro stuttering issues unless they produce better drivers than SLI or Crossfire. I suppose that's possible as you only have to code for one set of hardware.
Still, I see no reason to do that rather than use one large powergated GPU unless you're expecting yield issues. You could arge for one small GPU for the OS display with a more powerful one kicking in for games, but it does say they'll both be equivalent to AMD's 7000 series. (Or could that mean a 7900 and 7300 for example?)

Modern powerful GPUs draw a lot less at idle than they used to, so there's little advantage in having a low power and high power one to hand unless you're running on batteries and need to save every last watt. A games console is designed to be thrashed for hours - or it should be - so they need to spec the power and cooling for the maximum anyway. A PS4 is not an iPad.

The key, as l3v1ck says, is that it's a known custom platform so the drivers can be designed accordingly. SLI and Crossfire are probably pretty inefficient compared to what you could do with truly native low-level code combined with custom silicon designed to excel at one task.

Of course, it has to be designed brilliantly in every detail or it won't perform...

What the fudge is it with always on connections? That basically renders it useless for times when the internet is down, or there are problems with the ISP.

Or if your broadband just isn't very good. Its a stupid idea until you get the level of guarantee of internet service we get with (for example) electrical supply.

Jon

^^^Exactly what I was thinking.

My parents frequently have power cuts. It has improved somewhat in the last few months, but they have been used to having 3 cuts per week for anything up to a couple of hours. It's so bad they keep a torch and candles ready in every major room.

On that note it is sometimes worth keeping a USB broadband modem handy, as during a power cut you can still connect to the internet and get decent speeds as phone lines carry their own 9v supply.