Sony PlayStation 3 Slim Review

Nearly three years after the introduction of the original budget-busting PlayStation 3, Sony has put both the system and its price tag on a diet. The appropriately named PlayStation 3 Slim shaves over an inch off the width of the previous system while keeping the same processing power intact. Sony also drops the price by $100 from the previous model, and bumps storage up from 80GB to 120GB. But the PlayStation’s distinctive piano black shell also disappears, along with the ability to run third-party operating systems.


Needless to say, Sony hopes that a trimmed down--and less expensive--PS3 Slim will similarly invigorate sales of the PlayStation 3, which has lagged behind the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Xbox 360 and has taken some of the luster off the PlayStation brand (even as earlier versions of the PS3 received high marks from this publication). To many industry observers, the Slim PS3 represents a moment of reckoning for the PS3--a chance at redemption if you will--and clearly some serious engineering has gone into the creation of Sony's latest black gaming box and media player.


Like its predecessor, the Slim also supports playback of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4/h.264 video files from USB or disc-based media, as well as JPEG image viewing (the slideshow functionality is quite impressive). Like the Xbox 360, the PS3 can act as a digital media hub, with the ability to stream content from any DLNA-compatible network device, including PCs and network attached hard drives. And you also get a built-in Web browser (optional Bluetooth keyboards are available), which is serviceable, though not as good as any of the major browsers available for PCs.

Call it drab, call it dull, call it penny pinching and conservative, but releasing the PS3 Slim is easily the most sensible move Sony has made in donkeys' years. Where it cuts down on the feature set of the original PS3 it does so in ways that don't really matter, and where it improves on the initial console it does so in ways that offer real, tangible benefits. It's not an essential upgrade for existing PS3 owners, but then it was never meant to be. Instead, this is a machine targeted squarely at those trying to make their mind up between the Microsoft and Sony console. Sony knows that this is its one big shot at getting back into the current generation console wars. Taken on these terms, I'd call the PS3 Slim a success.