It’s smaller, thinner, lighter, better, uses less energy and best of all…IT’S ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS CHEAPER!!!
I know, I know…I’m a little slow on reporting the release of the new PS3 Slim from Sony. (Give a guy a break! I’ve been a little swamped with all this vacationing lately, you know!) But this is really important news to gamers and Blu-ray enthusiasts alike, so I thought I should chime in with some thoughts and a collection of links to check out.
First things first – check out the announcement video above for a quick, corporate look at the new system. All right. All done? Here are the rest of the details you need to know.
- $299 (MSRP)
- Matte finish replaces shiny, grand-piano black
- Touch-sensitive power and eject buttons replaced with matte click buttons
- 33% Smaller than original model
- 36% Lighter (7.05lbs down from 11)
- Stand (for vertical placement) not included
- 2 USB Ports (down from the original 4)
- 802.11 b/g wireless connectivity (still no Draft-N wi-fi for higher bandwidth, faster connections)
- Ground pin removed from A/C cord
- BD-Rom drive still only 2x speed
- Physical On/Off switch removed from back of console
- Third-party OS install discontinued
- No flash memory slots
- No PS2 backward compatibility
- New 45nm Cell processor uses almost half as much power
- 2 to 3 decibels quieter on average during gameplay, and up to 10 decibels quieter while watching Blu-ray movies
- Bitstream lossless TrueHD and DTS-HD MA audio
- Bravia Sync
Looks pretty decent, don’t you think? Even considering what Sony has left out of the system since it’s initial offering, you really get a lot for your 300 bucks here. Not only is this still one of the best Blu-ray players on the market, but it’s also a great media server and, oh yeah, it plays videogames too! I would love to have a PS3 that’s smaller and quieter and sends lossless bitstream audio to my receiver. That’s a pretty fair trade for losing the ability to play the handful of PS2 games I’ve got left sitting around.
While I’m not quite ready to trade up to the Slim yet, I think this new machine is bananas! You better believe I’m going to be recommending this thing to all of you who’ve been on the fence about bringing home a PS3 for the last couple of years. It plays videogames. It plays Blu-ray and DVD movies. It plays CDs and MP3s. It streams all of your media from a Windows or Mac OSX computer. It downloads more media directly from the Sony Store. It does just about everything you need a full featured media system to do and it does it for way less money than last year at this time! What are you waiting for? Go get yourself a new PS3 Slim now!
More PS3 Slim Info Links:
Joystiq.com – PS3 Slim sports cooler, cheaper (faster?) 45nm Cell processor
Joystiq.com – EA, Ubisoft pleased as punch post-PS3 price plummet
Joystiq.com – Video: Joystiq unboxes the PS3 Slim
Engadget.com – PlayStation 3 Slim review
Also on The Blu-ray Blog: The Top 10 Reasons the PS3 is the Best Blu-ray Player
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