Sony's PS3 Makes HDD Upgrades Easy


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I guess this means there is no reason to buy the $600 model.

Sony's PS3 Makes HDD Upgrades Easy

Sony trumps Microsoft on storage upgrades with its PS3

When Microsoft announced its Xbox Live Video service that would allow gamers to download high-definition movies and television shows, it started getting some serious flak for the smallish 20GB HDD included with the Xbox 360 Platinum. Sure, the drive had been criticized in the past as it only had about 13GB of useable space from the start; but adding downloadable movies to the mix along with the already abundant game demos and trailers just makes matters worse.

Microsoft didn't make matters any better when pressed on the issue of a larger hard drive being added to the Xbox 360's arsenal in the future. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg suggested that gamers buy an additional 20GB Xbox 360 hard drive and a 64MB memory card to alleviate storage concerns.

Sony is making things a bit easier for gamers with its PlayStation 3. Sony encourages its customers to upgrade their hard drives and even gives them instructions on how to do so in the PS3 user manual. The HDD used in the PS3 is a standard 2.5" SATA unit, so just about any drive should work should you crave more storage space.

Sony has a serious leg up on Microsoft in this aspect of the PS3's design. A quick trip over to NewEgg shows that a 120GB Toshiba drive will set you back $100 while a spacious 160GB Hitachi drive will cost you $165. A second 20GB Xbox 360 hard drive will cost you $100 and the rumored 80GB drive would more than likely top the $200 mark.

Stay tuned for more in-depth PS3 and Wii coverage from DailyTech in the day…

DailyTech.com

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If you have a use for WiFi, and the super duper memory card reader, then the $600 version is for you (and if you like silver).

Best part of the HDD thing is that you don't void your warranty if you change it.

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Best part of the HDD thing is that you don't void your warranty if you change it.

I would certainly hope not if they give you instructions on how to change it :p

I think the average consumer will probably never touch the HDD anyhow, but it's still a nice option.

-Spenser

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People are always whining about how Sony likes to impose their proprietary formats on consumers, but the PS3 is such an open system it's brilliant.

Edited by Bhav
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Other than Blu-Ray i agree, its nice to see them supporting non-propietary formats for a change.

At least the hdd voiding warranty story isnt true, just wish Microsoft wasnt so closed about it.

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People are always whining about how Sony likes to impose their proprietary formats on consumers, but the PS3 is such an open system is brilliant.

I agree this is amazing. CF & SD support and you can use any off the shelf Hard Drive without having to buy some Sony Branded one in a plastic enclosure for 4x the price. Awesome.

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haha I'll admit this is one area that sony got right.

I was pretty suprised myself when I heard that the 360 only had a 20gb hard disk, considering it was 5 years after the first xbox that had a 6gb? hard disk

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I agree this is amazing. CF & SD support and you can use any off the shelf Hard Drive without having to buy some Sony Branded one in a plastic enclosure for 4x the price. Awesome.

Yeah, I think the PS3 is a good step in a good direction for Sony (with the high exception of the price).

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Lets hope this and all their other advantages keep them in the game, if they lose out and quit the whole console thing Microsoft will run a nice little monopoly for a little while.

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People are always whining about how Sony likes to impose their proprietary formats on consumers, but the PS3 is such an open system it's brilliant.

Yup, it's like they've learned from there mistakes on the PSP. :D I'm not sure if I should stand in a line up for it or not, dunno. :pinch:

Is anyone gonna bother buying on of those Future Shop/Best Buy warranty's with there PS3? I'm told that first consoles usually have problems, so I'm not sure. :/

$650 PS3 + $60 Game + $60 controller + $70 warranty + tax = $957 CAD :woot:

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People are always whining about how Sony likes to impose their proprietary formats on consumers, but the PS3 is such an open system it's brilliant.

I must admit, I was somewhat WTF-d by the CF and SD support.

Question! Does it take Mass Storage devices? 'Cos I heard it only takes Sony's stuff...

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I for one, would actually use the CF card reader.

Whenever Ive been on vacation and taken thousands of pictures - I want to show them to all of my family, but all my family cant fit around my PC :p

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Hmmmm, I thought if you did that you voided your warranty?

Too bad I already sold my Ps3, if i had known this, i might have kept it. Guess, Ill be waiting a few months/year, but I'm going to have to get it now.

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People are always whining about how Sony likes to impose their proprietary formats on consumers, but the PS3 is such an open system it's brilliant.

Well PSP certainly.Why Sony didnt make a XNA style kit for it I,ll never know.

But keep in mind FW updates etc may lock some folk out in the future lets hope not

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Hopefully this somehow forces MS's hands to drastically reduce the price of their way overpriced HDD.

Although I doubt it, I really somehow hope that there is a small chance that it does.

If, well actually more like when, I do get a PS3, which honestly ias I said it is very likely I definitely will get one it is just a matter of when (probably sometime mid to late next year), I imagine upgrading the HDD will be one of the first things I do.

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A bit OT, but will buying a PS3 just for playing Blu-Ray DVD's work? Or is it not going to work with purchased movies at all? The cheapest Blue-Ray DVD player is over $1100 and the PS3 is only around $600.

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Why Sony didnt make a XNA style kit for it I,ll never know.
IBM already released reference documents for coding using the Cell, if you want a development kit you will have to pay for it.
A bit OT, but will buying a PS3 just for playing Blu-Ray DVD's work? Or is it not going to work with purchased movies at all? The cheapest Blue-Ray DVD player is over $1100 and the PS3 is only around $600.
Yes you can watch blu-ray movies on it.
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What will a larger HDD offer as opposed to the built in 60GB HDD?

I believe the 60GB HDD it comes with is 5,400RPM. You can get 7,200RPM Laptop hard drives and of course bigger sizes then 60GB. A few games already install a few Gigabytes of data to the hard drive so loading times are reduced by loading from the hard drive and disc drive at the same time. A faster RPM drive would decrease loading times even more, so some crazy games probably wouldn't mind upgrading at some point (like me).

Also you can download Playstation 1 games onto your PS3 for about $5 a game. Some PS3 games were on multiple discs and could easily start to take up lots of hard drive space.

Also being able to have music, and video on your hard drive. Also there is Linux for PS3 and that will take a few Gigabytes to install, plus what ever you install under Linux will take up more space.

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What will a larger HDD offer as opposed to the built in 60GB HDD?

More space :D

I'm thinking more space would be good to store movies, because that's what probably takes the most space.

And if there is a PS1 and PS2 games download service, the games would take a lot of space.

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More space :D

I'm thinking more space would be good to store movies, because that's what probably takes the most space.

And if there is a PS1 and PS2 games download service, the games would take a lot of space.

I guess it would be useful for those that don't have a PC, but I'd see streaming it as a better option since if you stream it you'll have access to the content in at least two locations instead of just on the PS3.

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