The misconception has been addressed here. Just thought it'd be best to put it out there.

That's good to hear.

Yes! Thank you gamelord! :3
_{even though I'm not hooking mine up yet}

Wait so where does all the space go after the update?

That's what I'm wondering...if its really 1GB...>.>

Think of it like this. The 5GB is reserved for the system indefinitely, and was pre-allocated before you ever turned on the system. What is contained in that 5GB is system files, and a set amount of "patch space". This way, the system never has to worry about not having enough space to download a new patch should you end up filling the internal storage with your own downloads.

As the article says, the 4GB is consumed after installation. The download itself is only 1-1.5GB.

Good to know, the less space wasted on things that arent even games, the better
Then again the update is for Wii backwards compatibility but still. :3

Thanks for answering man.

That pretty much sums it up.

When I first read that it's actually 1gb I was happy, I was under the impression that Nintendo zipped the files Winzip style, and they unpacked after installation, but the consumption of the other 4 gigs for other things make more sense.

This brings me to another question, how come no company compresses their files for download? That'd be incredibly convenient for those with only a set amount of data available per month.

I'm fairly sure most updates are not only compressed but are also deltas. Basically you get a compressed download that contains all the differences between the new version and the last one. Apple changed to that very, very late in the life of their iDevices (around 2010-2011 from memory) and it went from 500MB updates for every single update to now when some updates are only a few hundred KB.

Pretty sure Nintendo has been doing compressed delta updates since forever. Some Wii firmware updates have been ridiculously small. I'd guess the same is true for the Wii U.

Guys I don't think anyone has actually figured out what the exact size of this download is. People are just having a stab in the dark at it, with how long it takes. The only thing that we can say about it is that it is probably 1-5 GB, and takes about 1-2 hours to download depending on the speed of your internet.

@PoshSnivy: No, there is actual confirmation in the article.

Really? Well it's a little hard to believe it...

On my twitter feed I saw someone post the amount of data their router had passed to the console at 50%. 0.47GB. So I think it's safe to say it's not a 5GB update as originally thought

I finally got around to hooking up my new deluxe Wii U today. Now that I am done with the setup, and ready to play.....I HAVE TO WAIT 45 MINUTES FOR THE STUPID FIRMWARE UPDATE!!!! Nice Nintendo! I have DSL 6 Meg connection and have been waiting close to an hour

I can confirm using my bandwith meter from my ISP that I used up 2.5 GB of bandwith on Wii U's launch day. Taking out some bandwith used by my computer and purchases on Wii U, I can conclude that the update is 1-2 GB

Welcome to the world of consoles that hold a lot of data

Dat Data...