PS3 Slim

Some of you may have noticed the new looking PS3 available in shops which is set to replace the origional model. I guess some of you are wondering what is different about this "new" piece of hardware, and why the sudden change?

Well to start the cell processor has been replaced with a 45nm version, resulting in more efficient power usage without a loss in performance, so this version is a money saver as far as electricity bills are concerned. But this is about it for hardware differences, this new PS3 also comes with an 120Gb harddrive as standard (much larger than my 40Gb one ). There has not been an introduction of backwards compatability that many PS3 users wanted, and the ability to put linux on your PS3 is suposidly lost with the new design.

But the main reason for this change in appearance is actually down to cutting unit production costs. When the PS3 was first released it was estimated to cost around $800 to produce and was retailing for around $400 - $600 (depending upon model), a pretty substantial loss. The new system has been re-designed and is now estimated to cost around $400 to produce and is retailing at $300. Quite a difference in the loss made per unit.

So the real reasoning behind the change isn't a relaunch of the product or a new superior machine, simply a cost cutting measure to reduce Sony's losses from this console. Personally i don't much like the new design it looks incredibly cheap, but the increased harddrive size is a bonus.

What are your views on the new design, and does the new price tag make the PS3 more appealing?

Meh, consoles...

lol.. indeed
I have only played my platstation a handful of times, and i only liked one game on it, Metal Gear 4. But if that had come out on PC you bet i would have brought it for my computer instead. But lets not turn this into a superiority war hey...

Looks sexy, though.

really? Personally i thought the old design was much better looking.

or

Frankly the old design looked cheap, if anything. It was gaudy (though minimally), where as the slim is basically the opposite of gaudy. And, as you'll learn, gaudy = cheap, not the other way around.

The bright silver was gaudy, to me.

What do you find cheap looking about the slim?