I awoke bright and early today (and by that I mean 12:30 PM, which is pretty bright and early for me) and rushed to my local GameStop. Why? Well, the title of this article should give it away: to acquire a brand-new PS3 Slim.
Even the box is smaller.
Three hundred bucks later, I was back in my humble apartment with a working PS3 – something I haven’t had in almost three months now.
There she is, in all her glory... pardon the apartment in the background.
The first thing that I took note of was the new plastic finish that coats the system, forgoing the glossy “piano black” of the original model. Essentially, the PS3 Slim has the exact same casing as the original PS2/PS2 Slim. It looks fine, honestly, though I’m unsure which I prefer – I rather liked the shiny finish of the original model. But since I don’t consider myself a shallow guy, I’ll just let it go.
The second thing I noticed – unsurprisingly – is how much smaller the system is. It’s not as drastic a difference as the PS2 Slim was from the original PS2, but it’s still quite a notable decrease in size and weight. A most welcome change indeed, as the original PS3 was quite the space-eater.
Yep, definitely smaller.
Perhaps the most welcome change in the design of the PS3 Slim is the new Power and Eject buttons. Sony was nice enough to give us actual buttons this time around, rather than little symbols that hover over some invisible pressure point. Anyone who’s owned or used a PS3 before knows how frustrating those little bastards could be. Trivial as it may sound, it’s incredibly satisfying to turn on the system with the click of an actual, physical button. Also worth noting is that a blue LED above the Eject buttons lights up when there’s a disc in the tray – another small, but welcome change.
Good...
Bad.
The Slim has a different power supply than the original model; no longer is there a “main power” switch on the back. I’ll just let the pictures do the speaking:
The original AC In
Slim AC In
The final thing worth noting is that this thing is quiet. You thought the original PS3 was a silent beast? Wait until you power up the Slim. It makes the original sound like a dying cow by comparison.
So, as you’ve likely gathered, I’m quite happy with Sony’s redesign. There’s literally nothing to complain about at all; it’s the same great system at a lower price, in prettier packaging. If you’ve been holding out on a PS3 purchase, there’s no better time than now to give in. Of course, the question still remains: is it worth purchasing if you already own the original model? Well, if you’re an electronics snob like myself, the answer is apparent. If not, the PS3 Slim doesn’t exactly offer enough new to warrant $300. Regardless, it’s a fantastic little machine, and I’m more than satisfied with the purchase.
Tags: PS3 Slim
“There’s literally nothing to complain about at all; it’s the same great system at a lower price, in prettier packaging.”
-You just complained about the finish, way to contradict yourself.
-Also I don’t see what was so frustrating about the old buttons, other than they’re a prime example of how Sony needlessly over-engineered the original model, they still worked well enough though.
Well it was more like a note on the VERGE of complaining!
But I agree, SN, I loved the old “buttons”. They were never hard to use, and it’s the only thing I’m disappointed in with my new snug little system.
Haha semantics, it was a complaint!
I think I’d prefer te matte finish to the shiny surface of the original (I hate finger prints and dust), but yeah, why change the buttons? The only time they were confusing was that first time you hit them and wonder if the press actually took or not. All in all, the Slim seems like a nice system, but I don’t see any reason to trade in my old fattie.
[...] -Both Riddles and I got the PS3 Slim this week. Riddles documented his purchase with a picture post. [...]
Really, no main power switch, that’s kind of annoying, but I guess you could always just unplug it.
Yeah, I didn’t have a problem with the main power switch. I’m aware the new one takes up less power, but it’s still a bizarre thing to remove.
[...] A random PS3 button issue – I never mentioned this earlier, but when Riddles made his picture post, he talked about the Slim power and eject buttons being better because he could never tell when he [...]