'Slim & Lite' PlayStation 3 rumours surface


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Sony is planning to release a redesigned PlayStation 3 console this autumn, according to gadget magazine T3.

According to the report, a source has stated the machine will be a smaller and lighter model but still contain Blu-ray capabilities. The report also suggests the console may also feature a 160GB hard-drive.

The rumour mill has gone into overdrive this week, with various reports claiming new skus are on the way, possibly to be announced this month at GDC 2008. While a PS3 with bigger hard-drive is certainly a possibility, a slimmer hardware offering seems a little far-fetched this early in the products life-cycle.

Sony responded to GamesIndustry.biz's enquires with an expected "we don't comment on rumour or speculation."

Sony has a history of offering slimmer, more compact consoles once the established unit has begun to prove profitable and manufacturing costs have been reduced.

The PSP Slim & Lite was introduced last year, and both the PS2 and original PlayStation received compact makeovers during their life-cycles.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=32668

(Y)

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T3 is not really a great source.

Plus their "mockups" look silly...

t3-ps3-slim-4_w606.jpg

The slim PS3 will come though, that's a given.

With the Cell chip moving to 45nm soon, it may happen this year, but I wouldn't bet on it for sure.

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Well considering they took out the PS2 GPU and CPU from the original design. They have a smaller Blu-ray lazer now and can reduce the size of the disk drive. Cell has sized down from 90nm to 65nm and will go down to 45nm this year. The GPU is 90nm and will go down to 65nm this year (if 45nm this year is unknown). They are really sliming it down. So I'd say this year would be possible but 2009 is more likely.

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The Cell is still to new, still too hot for a new smaller version to be added, in addition Sony isn't even making back the manufacturing osts ofthe PS3 on the units sold yet, not a chance in hell there'll be a slim unit for the foreseeable future. Not untill the PS3 is 3 years atleast.

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The Cell is still to new, still too hot for a new smaller version to be added, in addition Sony isn't even making back the manufacturing osts ofthe PS3 on the units sold yet, not a chance in hell there'll be a slim unit for the foreseeable future. Not untill the PS3 is 3 years atleast.

You should do some research ;)

Sony's game division finally turns a profit -- sells 4.9M PS3s in Q3

After bleeding red for months, Sony's games division finally turned a profit last quarter. Sony sold 4.9 million PS3s last quarter after slashing console prices, boosting game titles, and cutting production costs internally. Of course, we're sure Wii shortages aren't hurting Sony's bottom line either. Sony did lower its annual sales goal of PS3s from 11 million to 9.5 million (citing a slow start) while increasing PSP projections to 13 million from 10 million as originally expected. Sony's fiscal year ends in March. Overall, Sony's profits rose 25% for the quarter. Welcome back to black Sony, it's been a long time coming.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/31/sonys-g...turns-a-profit/

That will be the biggest thing helping them out.

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The Cell is still to new, still too hot for a new smaller version to be added, in addition Sony isn't even making back the manufacturing osts ofthe PS3 on the units sold yet, not a chance in hell there'll be a slim unit for the foreseeable future. Not untill the PS3 is 3 years atleast.

The cell just dropped from 65 to 45nm - will probably end up in the PS3 at some point..

And why wouldnt they introduce a slim model if it was cheaper to manufacture? :huh:

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Looks like a wii with a hat :laugh:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that... :laugh:

I'm going to call BS on this, they're having enough trouble pushing the original out for anything other than a blu-ray player, why would they waste money on putting out a newer version?

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that... :laugh:

I'm going to call BS on this, they're having enough trouble pushing the original out for anything other than a blu-ray player, why would they waste money on putting out a newer version?

They would actually save, not waste money.

This would have to use the cheaper to make 45nm CPU that is on the way, and I know this sounds daft, but a smaller console = less materials used to make, so again that is cheaper.

(even if cutting down on materials only saves a few dollars per console, that over time = millions in profit)

AND, we all know a slim would sell better than a "fat" as shown by reiterations to the DS & PSP. People like things when they take up less desk space.

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I don't understand why people think moving to 45nm will magically make the console able to be smaller. The chip size doesn't change that much, and despite that it takes a bit less to cool, that won't change the size drastically either. And that's not to mention everything else that's in the machine that isn't going to get smaller. Not this year anyways.

-Spenser

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their game division made a profit, their PS3's didn't by themself.

All that matters.

PS3 is part of the gaming division, and anyway, how do you know it didn't start to make a profit?

(obviously overall for the whole year the PS3 will be in the red, but I mean towards the end of the year it actually started making a profit)

It is sold in Europe for $600, and it costs $400 to make.

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I don't understand why people think moving to 45nm will magically make the console able to be smaller. The chip size doesn't change that much, and despite that it takes a bit less to cool, that won't change the size drastically either. And that's not to mention everything else that's in the machine that isn't going to get smaller. Not this year anyways.

-Spenser

Actually, to be perfectly honest there is a lot of wasted space in the current design. If the cooling was totally redone, hardware features removed (much like the 40GB) and the silly "Foreman Grill" portion on top ditched - the unit could be trimmed down quite a bit. Probably not quite the difference from a PS2 to a PS2 Slim, but probably noticably enough to be able to cram it into even tighter spaces. :)

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I don't understand why people think moving to 45nm will magically make the console able to be smaller. The chip size doesn't change that much, and despite that it takes a bit less to cool, that won't change the size drastically either. And that's not to mention everything else that's in the machine that isn't going to get smaller. Not this year anyways.

-Spenser

I agree we probably wont see a slim PS3 this year, but your wrong about it only running a bit cooler. 65nm from 90nm has a large heat drop, and so will 45nm from 65nm. Making the 45nm make A LOT less heat then the orginal 90nm chips. The biggest part of PS3 is it's huge cooling fan and heat-sink system, make less heat (by going to smaller CPUs and GPUs) and you can size down the cooling system.

Not to mention 45nm chips use A LOT less power then 90nm. Just going from 90nm CPU and 90nm GPU to a 65nm CPU and 90nm GPU droped the wattage used by PS3 from 170ish to 140ish. A 30 watt drop!?

Once the CPU is 45nm and GPU is 65nm (witch is probably what we will see sometime before 2009). The system will use less then a 100 watts. The current 200w power supply that runs PS3 can be replaced with a smaller lower wattage power supply.

Sony recently came out with a much smaller blu-ray laser that is going to make for much smaller blu-ray drives.

I don't think we'll see a slim PS3 till 2009 or 2010 but I think very late this year could be technically possible.

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A PS3 "Slim" is sure to come, as every Sony consoles got a Slim vers.

But it won't be so soon, and I doubt that mockup can be serious, it look too mush to a Wii and a PS3 top...

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their game division made a profit, their PS3's didn't by themself.

You do realise the only thing holding back profits was the PS3... right? If the game division made money, the PS3 in turn made money.

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