A certain amount of "heft" is needed to assure suitable support for the various inputs / outputs on the back panel. Similarly the front panel, though not as frequently fiddled with in this era of remote controls, will have to provide the proper feel of quality (and calls to mind the not too distant memory of certain high end marketer literally bonding an extra thick front plate to an well know high value player...).

I'm just hoping that with CES right around the corner the news of "when" gets updated for this long awaited product.