This is an interesting read for those of you that are following this.
The current news on intels plans to dump LGA in favour of BGA seem to fit the small form factor plan. With a BGA mount you loose a lot of the depth of the modern cpu, This with clever cooling solutions means that manufacturers will have a very powerful tool in comparison to atom/arm. I'll leave AMD out of this for the minute as they have other designs, and or use arm when they need to. Grated CPU's like the atom have been using BGA for a while, a more powerful chip on this socketing type is actually a big step forward. It means mainboards can be more compact and the fact intel are moving features from the mainboard to the cpu is a good indicator that mainboards are going to get simpler.
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Because it wouldn't cost you like $2000?
Assume the TV was a modest size--40''--there's $400; with a high-end GPU--the equivalent of a 7950--there's another $200+; some SSD--32GB?--there's $100+; a tablet there's $300; and a keyboard, mouse, and controller adds another $100. There's $1100 worth of electronics, but you know they'll charge a premium for having such an all in one system, so assume $1200 for that 40'' TV with gaming capabilities, and probably $300 for a Tablet, and $100 for inputs. That's a conservative guess at $1600 for what you're talking about.
You're going to tell me you'd rather have all that shit than just buying and assembling a PC for about $600-800 and getting a bigger or better TV without the gaming capabilities, and the input devices (KB\M\Controller) which would run you like $1200 total? Or a gaming console for $300 and a (better) TV for $600-700--total of $900-1000?
People need to realize, Tablets are just the new in tech item. They won't ever completely replace Game Consoles or Desktop PC's, because they will never be as versatile. Their mobility and low profile forces them to make sacrifices when it comes to power, performance, control, and responsiveness. I hate playing most games on my phone or a tablet, because you always lack the precision you get with physical buttons, and I know most people feel the same way. Yes, games like Angry Birds work great on a tablet, but try playing something like Gran Turismo, or Gears of War, or Zelda on a tablet, and then tell me it's just as good.
Also, as for the Tablet mentioned, that was a Tablet with a dual-core i5 with HD4000 iGPU, 2GB RAM, and a 64GB SSD. The exact one they reviewed cost $850-900. Not exactly a cheap investment.
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I think your missing the point. That tablet has already been stated to be flawed. This does not detract from what it actually is, A full CPU in a tablet form factor. It also does not detract from a TV with an intergrated GPU/CPU. I think your assuming these devices are going to be on a par with a full on desktop. That is a fundamental flaw in your logic. Clever use of components, and a mid range GPU can and will work on either of these form factors. Haswell has already been stated at having an 80% improvement on the HD4000 IGP. That and the fact it will be BGA, pre soldered onto a motherboard, and the storage does not have to be an SSD when your using the Television form factor can all reduce the price. Your also not needing a top end CPU. Most current games will play on a much older system, Provided you have a good solid chip, with reasonable clock speeds CPU should not be an issue.
If you took the current range of 1155 cpu's and modified them to fit this role you'd probably be looking at the G620, with a HD4000, single ram slot, and 1 sata port for a laptop/desktop HDD and 1 usb. Haswell should mean the HD4000 is better and more versatile in game playing. And because the package will be using a similar Board design to the tablet market there should be some manufacturer crossover. Perhaps the Television version could afford better clocks since power saving and HSF options will be easier to accommodate.
The device itself would also not be targeted at the desktop gamer. Gamers in general love hardware, this is a faceless device capable of playing games, net browsing, and file storage. Without the need to invest in expensive often complicated hardware. Think apple. You name it, It asks if you want it to connect to the network, after that it's windows idiot mode, with games direct from the M$ store.
I also think it's more than a strange co-incidence that Win8 has an interface that will support a cursor style input method. Remotes have had cursors for a long time, and M$ have also have the Xbox platform to test simple interfaces. Between the 2 there is room for a fairly simple user input style that is already in use and intuitive.
I like the overall direction this appears to be taking.