Think about the PlayStation 2. Not all of the PS2 Slim’s simplifying originated from chip enhancements– it likewise shed a full-sized 3.5-inch hard disk bay and a little-used IEEE 1394 port, and at first needed an external power brick. Diminishing and combining the console’s CPU, GPU, memory, and other parts took the console from its initial style in 2000, to the Slim in 2004, to an even lighter and lower-power variation of the Slim that returned to utilizing an internal power supply without increasing the size of the console at all.

Over that exact same period, the console’s cost dropped regularly and considerably, from $299 at launch to simply $129 by 2006 (the rate was decreased once again to $99 in 2009, deep into the PS3 age).

Or take a look at Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Its external style didn’t alter as much for many years– the mid-generation “slim” revitalize was really just a little smaller sized than the initial. In between late 2005 and early 2010, the CPU, GPU, and the GPU’s high-speed eDRAM memory chip went from being developed on a 90 nm procedure, to 80 nm, to 65 nm, and lastly to a single 45 nm chip that integrated the CPU and GPU into one.

Over that time, the system’s power supply fell from 203 W to 133 W, and the base cost fell from $300 to $200. The mid-generation 65nm refresh likewise significantly repaired the early consoles’ endemic “red ring of death” concern, which was triggered in part by the heat that the older, bigger chips created.

As you can see when comparing these numerous consoles’ external and internal style modifications, diminishing the chips had a waterfall of other useful and cost-lowering results: smaller sized power products, smaller sized enclosures that utilize less metal and plastic, smaller sized heatsinks and cooling assemblies, and smaller sized and less complex motherboard styles.

A downturn of that development was currently apparent when we struck the PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch generation, however technological enhancements and prices decreases still followed familiar patterns. Both the mid-generation PS4 Slim and Xbox One S utilized a 16 nm processor rather of the initial consoles’ 28 nm variation, and each likewise had its rate cut by $100 over its life time (comparing the Kinect-less Xbox One variation, and leaving out the digital-only $249 Xbox One). The Switch’s single die diminish, from 20nm to 16nm, didn’t featured a rate cut, however it did enhance battery life and aid to allow the less expensive Switch Lite version.