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Old PS3 > New PS3
Arbadacarba
Member Posts: 304
Sony's action of amassing a great amount of PS3 hardware components reinforces the rumors of a slimmer model lurking around the corner. But does "newer" always directly translate to "better"? The newer 80gb and 160gb models prove this is not the conclusion.
In an obvious effort to cut production cost for the PS3 units, the exclusion of some components is present:
August 2007 - August 2008 80gb model (you can always buy a 3rd party hard drive and install the playstation 3 system software)
USB ports: 4
Flash Card Readers: Yes (SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I/Type II, Microdrive, Memory Stick/PRO/Duo)
Support for SACD: Yes (Super Audio CD, a high-resolution, read-only optical audio disc format)
PlayStation 2 "Emotion Engine" CPU chip: Yes (This is for backwards compatibility with PS2 games)
August 2008 - Present 80gb and limited edition 160gb models
USB ports: 2
Flash Card Readers: No
Support for SACD: No
Backwards compatibility with PS2 games: No
I believe the slimmer PS3 models will have even less components in an attempt to establish a console with a lower price to compete against the other consoles in the market. Or they will charge even more even though it's capable of less similar to their upcoming handheld system PSP Go (the PSP Go doesn't have a UMD drive because media will be available via direct download, so it is actually cheaper to make than normal PSP, but will be more expensive).
I also think the original PS3 system gets hot enough and less space might escalate this issue.
Comments
That's bullshit the biggest thing for me is backward compatability.
Seriously Ps3 has near no games to play that I can't already enjoy on my 360 if they took away my Ps2 library It would be totally worthless!
I refuse to buy a console that doesn't that doesn't support backwards compatibility.
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
I had a 20gig ps3 that had firmware problems, after every system update the system would stop reading discs. I would then have to do a system restore then lose all of my game data. I think that might be one of the reasons that they stopped supporting BC.
After numerous restores I ended up upgrading to a 80gb ps3 and really haven't had any issues since. For BC I picked up an old ps2 used which works fine for playing ps1/2 games.
Sony has been losing massive amounts of money per PS3 sold, I guess they are trying to turn it around so they can make a profit from it, and get more consoles into homes.
Current Games:
My pre-2008 80gb model with backwards compatibility hasn't had any problems. And Sony has been making profits from the PS3 since Q3 2008:
The PlayStation 3's initial production cost is estimated to have been US$805.85 for the 20 GB model and US$840.35 for the 60 GB model. However, they were priced at US$499 and US$599 respectively, meaning that every unit was sold at an estimated loss of $250, contributing to Sony's games division posting an operating loss of ¥232.3 billion (US$1.97 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2007. In January 2009 Sony announced that their gaming division was profitable in Q3 2008.
Since the system's launch, production costs have been reduced significantly as a result of phasing out the Emotion Engine chip (backwards compatibility for PS2 games) and falling hardware costs. The cost of manufacturing Cell microprocessors has fallen dramatically as a result of moving to the 65 nm production process, and Blu-ray diodes have become cheaper to manufacture. As of January 2008, each unit cost around $400 to manufacture; by August 2009, Sony had reduced costs by a total of 70%, yielding about $250 per unit.
Back on the main topic:
Following speculation that a 'Slim' edition was in the pipeline, Sony officially announced the PlayStation 3 Slim on August 18, 2009 at the Sony Gamescom press conference. It will feature an upgradeable 120GB hard drive and is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and consumes 34% less power than previous models. The cooling system has been redesigned (discrediting my presumption that this model will get hotter) and Cell processor has moved to a 45nm manufacturing process. The PS3 Slim will also include support for BRAVIA Sync allowing control of the PS3 Slim over HDMI and will run quieter than previous PS3 models. The ability to install third party operating systems such as Linux has been removed in the PS3 Slim. The PS3 Slim will be priced at $299/€299/£249/¥29980 and is scheduled to be released on September 1, 2009 in North America and Europe and on September 3, 2009 in Japan and New Zealand. FCC filings also reveal a second Slim model, the 250GB CECH-2000B.
Sony had to cut back a bunch of hardware to get cheaper units out in the market. Game Developers were reluctant to develop games for the console that had the worse sales (why would you make a game for a console that only sold 100 million units instead of a console that sold 200 million units?). Although I don't agree with the hardware cutbacks, they did need their system to be more accessible.