An article discussing price, Tom's readers go in depth on the hard drive. I'll humor it, since it's an x86 platform it would probably be easier to swap drives since the interface may not be as different from PC hardware as it was with previous consoles. Put in a 250GB HD (which would be cheaper for them buying direct than it is to you buying retail) and leave it as an accessible bay to swap for something larger at the user's expense. The question is whether the console gamer (NOT PC gamer) is willing to spend $500+ on a console at this point and time. The PS3's high price was too much for many to swallow for the first year, and many who did did it not for the console, but for the Blu Ray drive. The hardware inside does not mattter to console consumers, they just want it to work and want to know what it does to change their playing. The PS4 supposedly will be able to play 4k video, but I don't find it as appealing as the DVD/BR drives of the past generation were. The only platform for 4k ATM is download/streamiing, which can't be pleasant on bandwidth for US consumers. 4k TVs will still be pricy for several more years, and I don't think the average user is interested in buying another new TV anytime soon.