Report: Xbox One costs $471 to build

Xbox One costs $100 more than PS4 at retail. And unsurprisingly, it costs Microsoft almost that much more to build their console versus Sony. Even less surprising: a bulk of that cost comes from the Kinect camera bundled with the system.

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Xbox One costs $100 more than PS4 at retail. And unsurprisingly, it costs Microsoft almost that much more to build their console versus Sony. Even less surprising: a bulk of that cost comes from the Kinect camera bundled with the system.

While PS4 costs $381 to build, the folks at IHS have figured out that the cost of manufacturing Xbox One is $471.

According to the report (via AllThingsD), the cost of manufacturing Kinect (pictured) is $75. That alone explains the difference in cost between the two next-gen machines. However, the single biggest cost of making Xbox One is the combination CPU-GPU from AMD. At an estimated cost of $110, it costs $10 more than the AMD chip found in PS4.

Of course, as with other teardowns, this cost only covers the materials to build the systems--not any R&D or marketing or shipping or retail costs that also add to the cost of actually bringing a box to market.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    November 26, 2013 10:15 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Report: Xbox One costs $471 to build.

    Xbox One costs $100 more than PS4 at retail. And unsurprisingly, it costs Microsoft almost that much more to build their console versus Sony. Even less surprising: a bulk of that cost comes from the Kinect camera bundled with the system.

    • reply
      November 26, 2013 10:49 AM

      Should have spent a little more on better Disk Drives.

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        November 26, 2013 11:43 AM

        I think it's funny that people are latching into this when a good amount of ps4's didn't work at all.

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          November 26, 2013 11:53 AM

          People were going to be all over them no matter how expected or minor any failures were.

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            November 26, 2013 12:50 PM

            RRoD was a major publicity failure. The fact that the publicity was corroborated by so many friends and family who had their own RRoD stories only made it worse for MS. It should be understandable that any XB1 hardware failure be scrutinized.

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              November 26, 2013 12:52 PM

              I'm not discounting anything that happened with the RRoD fiasco. But this is FAR from anything like that, and in fact, it seems they are going above and beyond what they needed to be doing in this situation.

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          November 26, 2013 12:03 PM

          I believe a good amount of people latched on to that too.

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      November 26, 2013 11:22 AM

      should have made the kinect optional. my kinect gets zero use

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        November 26, 2013 11:28 AM

        Just because you're not using it doesn't mean it's not being used. It's still there, watching, waiting.

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          November 26, 2013 11:45 AM

          just like ceiling cat

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          November 26, 2013 12:08 PM

          Learning, judging, plotting...

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            November 26, 2013 12:48 PM

            Jesus Christ, is that the 3rd day in a row he's worn those fucking sweatpants? This guy really stopped giving a shit. Yeah, have another bite of that Big Mac you waste of space. Maybe I can cause some kind of permanent damage by directing my IR at his eyes for an extended period of time.

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          November 26, 2013 12:33 PM

          I don't get why people are so up in arms about this. Couldn't your phone be doing this too?

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        November 26, 2013 11:54 AM

        [deleted]

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        November 26, 2013 1:20 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 26, 2013 7:26 PM

        I'm guessing around April 2014 you'll be able to buy one without Kinect.

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      November 26, 2013 11:42 AM

      Should have dropped the HDMI-in. Who wants to leave their console on 24-7?

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      November 26, 2013 11:42 AM

      Packaging probably cost a good bit more than the ps4 as well. Actually felt like opening a high end product instead of the plain Jane box we got for the ps4.

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        November 26, 2013 11:47 AM

        ...lol

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          November 26, 2013 11:53 AM

          [deleted]

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            November 26, 2013 11:54 AM

            Yes it was, almost felt like opening an Apple product since everything had it's own place.

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              November 26, 2013 12:19 PM

              Yep, in fact MS took cues directly form Apple on this.

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              November 27, 2013 5:46 AM

              Nintendo Wii had some pretty nifty packaging as well, totally possible they took the cue from the most sold console during the 360 era.

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      November 26, 2013 11:45 AM

      So are people loving the Kinect games? I have not seen any Kinect game comments so far, how is it, or are we just using it for the voice commands for the OS?

      Well MS could of saved a lot of money in terms of the voice commands and gone with Sony 's route that they did with the PS4 -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWvHLR8gwoU how much do you think that mono head set cost? probably like a $1.50 and it provides the same sort of voice commands.

      Weird, well I hope they make some sort of incredible Kinect games else it just sitting their, I suppose you have the face scan in log in and the scan codes that uses it.

      • Ziz legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        November 26, 2013 11:49 AM

        I want more games being able to scan your face and use it for your character.

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        November 26, 2013 11:58 AM

        probably like a $1.50 and it provides the same sort of voice commands.

        Sony is loving that you think this

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          November 26, 2013 12:12 PM

          With this comment I hereby decree valcan_s captain of the Sony Defense Force.

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          November 26, 2013 12:17 PM

          I mean, you're talking about a headset that has been pretty universally derided (even before comparison with the XB1 version) and voice commands that got at best a lukewarm reception in reviews vs Kinect ones which had reviews saying things like "when it works it feels like a device from the future." There's very obviously a huge difference between the two even with the imperfections that exist today (which will be refined over time).

          With the relative position of each company and their relative existing and future investments in the related technology I only see the gap widening. What expertise in voice recognition does Sony have and what reason do they have to invest in it? For a Playstation peripheral (we know how well those have been supported historically...) and what else? Google's voice recognition would dwarf anything Sony would do on their Android phones. Smart TVs? That's about it. Meanwhile MS has decades of experience in the domain and reasons to invest significantly in it further for numerous device classes that will be selling hundreds of millions of units in aggregate.

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            November 26, 2013 12:35 PM

            [deleted]

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              November 26, 2013 12:40 PM

              as I recall it doesn't let you switch between things when you're not on the home screen, third party apps don't use them, there's no natural language understanding anywhere, some other stuff too.

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                November 26, 2013 1:14 PM

                [deleted]

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                  November 26, 2013 1:17 PM

                  potentially, it depends on how many resources it requires from the OS. Any time you want to add new OS features available while the game runs you have to find the headroom to do so without increasing the OS footprint.

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                    November 26, 2013 1:29 PM

                    [deleted]

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                      November 26, 2013 1:44 PM

                      it's not really that simple. The OS reserves x% of the console's power and developers get promised y% of the power for their games. If you ever made a change to the OS that lowered y you would break older games. The x that is reserved includes the power necessary to do something like stream to twitch. That doesn't mean that then anything that requires less power than streaming to twitch can surely be added, unless you intend for that feature not to work while using twitch. Of course if the chosen x% has up front headroom for future OS changes then that makes things easier but it's not a straight forward thing to just add OS features on top of games if they require real resources. Consider if you wanted to add voice recognition and background streaming music while playing and streaming a game, but the OS currently used 100% of its x% allotment before those features were added. Then adding those features means finding a way to make the current ones more efficient in some way or else not letting them all work concurrently. Of course it would be strange to ship a console today that left you no headroom for future developments like this but I'm just saying it's not a simple substitution based on power required per feature.

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                        November 26, 2013 3:18 PM

                        [deleted]

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                          November 26, 2013 3:20 PM

                          ok, so it depends on if they're going to invest in making them more robust and are capable of doing so. I don't really think they're going to bother much unless the camera starts selling really really well without any marketing.

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                      November 26, 2013 3:05 PM

                      I believe there's dedicated hardware for the kinds of things you just mentioned, that wouldn't help at all with voice recognition.

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          November 26, 2013 1:54 PM

          Exactly.

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        November 26, 2013 12:03 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 26, 2013 12:09 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 26, 2013 12:15 PM

        [deleted]

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          November 26, 2013 12:19 PM

          Dance Central and the good fitness games were the killer apps driving those sales. They were well reviewed with broad appeal. Unfortunately 24 million isn't even a very compelling install base for something like a hardcore AAA RPG when you could alternatively target the entire 360 + PS3 base (well over 100 million people). Having the entire XB1 base as a target makes that more attractive.

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          November 26, 2013 1:49 PM

          Dance Central was worth it alone and was cheaper getting a Kinect than filling out an entire band for Rock Band with its instruments. At least with Kinect it would work with more games potentially where the Rock Band stuff you could really only use it for Guitar Hero.

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        November 26, 2013 12:15 PM

        I'm surprised you haven't picked up an X1 as you seem to be just fascinated with video games in general and usually don't 'pick sides' in console wars.

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          November 26, 2013 12:18 PM

          He did, but then had some really bad experience with it that he never elaborated on.

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        November 26, 2013 12:15 PM

        did you just really compare Sony's voice commands to what Kinect 2.0 can do? Seriously.

        I don't need a game to make Kinect rock. The voice commands for the system rock. The passthrough cable works perfect.

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        November 26, 2013 12:18 PM

        Valcan, you seem like a cool guy. And I can understand differing opinions, that's fine. I'm not necessarily calling you because this goes for both sides of the console spectrum. I just happen to be thinking about this after reading your post and recalling similar post of yours.

        But we get it, you have your issues with the Xbox One and the Kinect requirement. Same goes with people who have their issues with the PS4.


        WE GET IT.

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        November 26, 2013 12:22 PM

        the headset is the part that processes and understands the voice commands???

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        November 26, 2013 12:27 PM

        Xbox STOP LOOKING AT ME. >:(

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        November 26, 2013 12:32 PM

        What happened to your console then dude?

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        November 26, 2013 12:32 PM

        I do not think we will ever see a 100% Kinect driven video game. Controllers work for gaming, and to think they will disappear in any fashion is a mistake. What we will see is the Kinect being an ongoing addition to games. Games that use the Kinect controls like more buttons/sticks available for player use, or incorporating voice into games in solid ways. I for one would love someone to take an RPG and incorporate voice and body language into NPC interaction, for example.

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        November 26, 2013 1:13 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 26, 2013 1:18 PM

        could of :(

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        November 26, 2013 2:09 PM

        Nevermind the games. Yesterday I quickly hooked everything up and calibrated it before having to take off. When I returned home that evening, what followed made me <3 their vision:

        I walked into the room. "Xbox, on". The TV, receiver, cablebox and xbox light up while I'm unpacking some shit off to the side. It hasn't signed me in, so I walk towards the Xbox to grab my controller. The kinect sees me and immediately signs me in and greets me before I can make it half way across the room. I sit down. "Xbox, watch TV". We're now watching TV. When we were done and the gf went off to do her thing, I sat up to go pick up the controller. On my way I said "Xbox, go to forza." Grabbed my controller, sat down, game was loaded and I was ready to go.

        tl;dr - I'm not loving the kinect games. I'm loving the kinect. I probably won't GAF about kinect games but the gf is really looking forward to the sports & carnival type ones that will inevitably come out so there's that.

        I'm all for the ps4 as a pure, unaltered gaming device, but "put out better hardware so that games play better" is a mindset from last generation and one that I can definitely see being retired for good for the next generation. I'm loving the direction Microsoft is going with the One, and I'm really excited to see it refined and adopted by others (e.g. Sony). You should be too. It's beneficial for everyone.

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          November 26, 2013 2:21 PM

          That sounds pretty cool man!

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          November 26, 2013 7:59 PM

          Yep, I do the same thing and it's fantastic.

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          November 26, 2013 8:03 PM

          [deleted]

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          November 26, 2013 9:07 PM

          I really like how Kinect knows when you put the controller down so it immediately goes into low power mode until you pick it up again.

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        November 26, 2013 3:14 PM

        Everything I've been reading has said the PS4 voice commands aren't really in the same league. I'm sure that will change over time with both systems. My guess is that MS plans to Siri up the console as time goes on.

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        November 26, 2013 3:18 PM

        There's no way a launch game would be primarily Kinect based. You'd have to deal with the problems of programming to a changing platform and pioneer a new game type at the same time. That's a recipe for disaster.

        If we do see a great Kinect game that creates a new game experience, it will be a year or two down the line. Possibly closer to a year if it's more of an Indy game.

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        November 26, 2013 8:04 PM

        Aside from the OS stuff, my favorite part of Kinect is Xbox Fitness.

        Seriously, it is amazing stuff. Critiques my form, keeps me motivated with neat little challenges and scores, and monitors my heart rate. It's extremely nice. The only issue I have with it right now is that there are way less free videos aailable than I was anticipating. I thought there were a lot more videos on there. Someone said that it isn't "officially" launching until December, is this true?

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          November 26, 2013 8:10 PM

          [deleted]

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          November 26, 2013 8:49 PM

          what kind of prices are the non-free stuff?

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            November 27, 2013 7:46 AM

            I've seen anywhere from 8.99 to I think 60 bucks.

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          November 26, 2013 9:19 PM

          what exactly are you doing? I always imagined this as some kind of wii fit nonsense but perhaps not?

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            November 26, 2013 11:27 PM

            It's actually well known workouts like P90x and such and it's actually able to measure your heart rate, exertion and form all over your body. And has a bunch of social stuff and challenges with friends.

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            November 27, 2013 7:46 AM

            What derelict said. An IGN writer demoed it before release, you should be able to find on YouTube. I'd link but I'm on my phone. Its pretty tits though.

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        November 26, 2013 9:03 PM

        C'mon Valcan don't be silly...

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      November 26, 2013 12:33 PM

      Wow, so after you factor in the R&D costs they are probably taking a bath on this. I hear the shareholders rabble rousing soon...









      ... http://www.shacknews.com/article/82089/report-ps4-costs-381-to-build?id=31104421#item_31104421

      • reply
        November 26, 2013 12:44 PM

        Yep, I'm sure they are too...

        Also, keep in mind there were no widespread buy 2 get 1 free deals going on to up the Xbox attach rate at launch.

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      November 26, 2013 1:00 PM

      [deleted]

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      November 26, 2013 2:50 PM

      Should have skipped Kinect and just added the voice controls. I love the system and think it's slick but I find no use for Kinect.

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        November 26, 2013 2:52 PM

        i don't understand..kinect is there to receive the voice controls.

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          November 26, 2013 2:56 PM

          [deleted]

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            November 26, 2013 3:09 PM

            it certainly helps if you want to be able to recognize who is talking

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              November 26, 2013 3:13 PM

              it can tell who's talking? from what Ive seen it can barely understand that there was talking..

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                November 26, 2013 3:18 PM

                Kinect? more like sucks! lol

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                November 26, 2013 3:24 PM

                [deleted]

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                  November 26, 2013 3:39 PM

                  so does it know who is talking? or.. how/why would that be useful?

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                    November 26, 2013 3:43 PM

                    yes it knows who is talking and who is holding which controller

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                      November 26, 2013 3:57 PM

                      Does it to racial profiling? Like if we were both playing Call of Duty would it auto assign me to the "terrorists" since I am of beautiful olive-skinned descent? And would you be the Super Mega Navy Seal Team Sixer????

                      I would like to know this. bcs it would be awesome!

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                    November 26, 2013 3:56 PM

                    yes it knows who's talking, it means you can say "show me my stuff" and it switches to your dashboard. It means it could ignore voice commands from a person in the room who isn't signed in. It means multiple people could give commands in a co op game and it'd know who those commands are coming from. It means you could say "Skype __" and it'd know to use your Skype and not someone elses. Etc, etc. I mean, understanding who's talking is a pretty important part of effective human communication.

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                    November 26, 2013 4:24 PM

                    It can also tell who you hand the controller to for hot seat play. It will automatically switch to their account when they get the controller.

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                    November 26, 2013 4:30 PM

                    It really should do some checks before it recognizes "XBOX....OFF". The fact that Jeff was able to "get" a few people watching, and brad whos xbox he was not signed in to at the time nor was he the primary user.

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                      November 26, 2013 4:33 PM

                      Sorry, on the giant bomb xbox one launch live stream.

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                November 26, 2013 8:05 PM

                [deleted]

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                November 26, 2013 9:10 PM

                It even knows when you are smiling as well when you talk because it watches your lips.

                This data can be used by devs. I'd love to see it being used like in Mass Effect where you can shout angry stuff and game responds in kind.

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                  November 26, 2013 9:21 PM

                  [deleted]

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                    November 26, 2013 10:22 PM

                    I just imagined a horror game where the Kinect secretly takes pics of your face while you play and slowly compiles your face into a detailed character in game who is the villain. It was you all along!

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      November 26, 2013 6:54 PM

      Mic in controller. Better GPU. $50 less.

      Bummer.

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