You have to remember that PC hardware and capabilities matter very little in the console world. Simply there are millions and millions of people out there who do not care about what is going on with the PC and will never use that platform for gaming. To those people if the Durango and Orbis release with a jump in graphics that looks good enough to be considered the next gen then people will buy it and be happy. These people are not going to look at how high end PC games look, compare them to Durango, then make a decision because to them the PC is not an option.
On GAF people may be disappointed with the specs and what they can do in comparison to high end PCs but GAF is an extremely small segment of the game buying public.
Again it's not about how much people expect individually, you don't have to go the subjective route to assess (heh, butts) a piece of hardware..
But when making an informed purchase you compare the value presented to what is available right now, not what was available 8 years ago.
I'm talking about price/performance, features and how technologically impressive something is.
When sony or ms go 'here is a 7770 equivalent gpu in a 499 euro box' (arbitrary numbers for arguments sake) you don't go my that is a step up from an xbox 360 take my money...
I'm sure stockholders would love you for this attitude and logic though, dang
Fact remains that it is 2013, a close equivalent both in performance and architecture to a 65W gpu (taking the 7970m orbis is supposed to be based on and ignoring that the orbis gpu is cut and downclocked for argument's sake) with 256bit bus is not cutting edge nor high end nor expensive.
Can you be happy with it?
of course! but it is what it is (and the smart consumer will keep that in mind when they decide what they will pay for it)
Then when you compare the durango gpu to it you can still think it's enough for you, but you don't go rationalise that opinion by claiming it's great because it's a significant step up from xbox 360.
It still very much is what it is.
If people proclaim dissapointment or a neutral stance you don't counter with 'but it's still better than xbox 360/ps3
Imo informed purchases make for happy consumers and less buyer's remorse and less fanboy crap in general.
I'm already awaiting the trolls who will go red mist mode and divert with a 'well what were you expecting a 300W gpu in a console'
that is for another thread.