I don't have disposable income, I'm not a millionaire, just a simple spoon salesman. I'm married, mortgage, 3.5 year old girl etc...
But I've got no problem dropping £500 on these things, day one, for both. I'm not waiting out a year just incase they drop it £20.
People have to remember that these things are going to be damn good machines, yes, even the paltry 16 generation old slow weak sauce 9.2tf PS5.
Sit down, joke, chill out Sony tits.
So what you're getting is bloody fantastic. Plus as said, this thing will last you half a decade at the very least.
You can't just compare them to phones you have for a year because now the standard time you have a phone is two years, and even then, you pay monthly on your contract.
But I CAN compare it to other things. I just dropped £700 on a new bed for my daughter, which she will undoubtably destroy within a week because she's a freak of nature and is a clear foot taller than anybody else in her nursery. I spent £3k on a holiday for us all recently that lasted a week. Hell I spent £200 for some dodgy guy to come around and wallpaper our stairs.
£500 is pennies for what you get.
It's the age old discussion for us too of price vs enjoyment. Disregard the spec difference, because to me, spec means bugger all compared to the experience. You go to the cinema, and pay £15+£15 for tickets and then another £25 for food and drink, this lasts like 2 hours. So for 2 hours fun I just paid £55... which is crazy BAD value. (Hell, I build my own computers every time, you want to talk bad value for money!)
What you get from these machines is waaaaaaay better value. I understand people may not be in the position to have both, or even one, and taking the piss out of these people is a bit sad really. Not everybody has the same financial status, some people here are actual KIDS, without a job even. That's a totally different discussion.
But £500 it's a steal for what you are getting. They could quite easily charge more, even. The problem they have is charging enough to keep it going while not too much that they price themselves out of the market. And this is totally out of my realm of expertise haha. If it was me, I would take a big loss on the hardware, and sell that 12tf Xbox at £399.99 knowing I would make up the loss in other areas. But then, there's a reason I'm not running a multi million dollar business
