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USB HDD: a cost saving measure: they already have a usb bus, why add sata on as well? we're talking a platform that's going to last for a decade possibly...

arm soc southbridge also not a surprise, xbox one has something similar. enables the console's rest mode to be "smart"

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But in the talk he says the BlueRay player is hooked to the SATA bus. There is a SATA bus on there.

I know the xBox one hard drives are removable. Are PS4s the same way? (I haven't owned either; more a PC gamer). Maybe with their device hacks, USB was easier to plug-n-play than SATA?

PS4 hdd is indeed removable/upgradable. I swapped my 500gb for a 2tb.

Sony even gives out instructions on how to do it: https://support.us.playstation.com/articles/en_US/KC_Article...

My WAG (all points are conjecture):

1) There's only one SATA port on the southbridge.

2) USB-SATA chips are cheaper than SATA port multiplier chips.

3) They needed a USB hub anyway for other stuff.

Those Marvel SoCs are build on NAS oriented IP, they have tons of SATA ports onboard.

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