PS3 Slim Ultimate Size Comparison

August 27th, 2009 by

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(click all pictures to enlarge)

Well, we have our new PS3 already, and we thought that we’d give you as thorough a guide as we could to the size and general hardware features of the new PS3 Slim.   So, we’ll start off with some size comparisons to the Big Daddy version of the PS3 and then carry on to compare the size of the PS3 to most other home console systems.  Hopefully you will own at least one of them and be able to gauge the size of the PS3 Slim for yourself before you decide whether or not to take the plunge and purchase the system.  At the end of the article we have a couple of bonus pics highlighting a nuance of the new hardware.

So, here are some general hardware pics of the PS3 Slim next to its older sibling.  We didn’t include the bottom or back of the system because pictures to that effect are already all over the internet:

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From the angle it’s a tad hard to tell, but the systems in all top-down pictures are lined-up so that their backs are flush with one another.  Therefore from this picture we can see that while the slim is a good shot smaller in both height and length, it did and up to be a bit longer vertically.

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This picture showcases the true level of slimming that the system’s height has encountered.

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And one more angle for height difference comparison.

Now, starting with the newest systems, we’ll take you on a journey back through time as we compare early advances in slimness technology with that used in the new PS3 Slim:

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From this angle we can see that width-wise the PS3 Slim beats out the Xbox 360 by an okay margin and does fail, however, to be smaller length-wise.  Let’s see how they compare height-wise:

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Well, the PS3 Slim turns out the victor in height as well.  For being slimmer in 2/3 dimensions, the PS3 Slim takes this one.  Seems that slimness technology has taken a leap, or has it?

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Oh, no!  A challenger approaches!  The Wii easily takes the PS3 Slim on in both the length and width categories.  Say what you want about hard-drives and Blurays, it’s just plain smaller, the slimness is strong with this one.

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Another handy dimensional defeat for the Wii.  Being smaller in all three categories, the Wii definitely has much more developed slimness abilities than the PS3 Slim.

Now, let’s take a step back another generation in gaming and see if last generation’s slimness technologies can compare to the PS3 Slim:

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Well, a generation and a half back in its own family, the PS3 slim is put to shame in length slimness by the PS2 Phat which is just over half the size of the PS3 Slim in this dimension.  It’s a close one width-wise, but the PS3 Slim does take the cake by a couple of centimeters.

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The PS3 Slim just manages to squeak by in the height category.  This is a disappointing showing of the PS3 Slim’s slimness technology considering that these systems were made almost 9 years apart.

Turns out none of us have a PS2 Slim…  So here’s a picture from the Joystiq comparison gallery:

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With the addition of a hard-drive and heat-management issues, slimness tech got put on the back-burner compared to the very, very slim PS2 Slim which is still one of the best examples of slimness tech out there.

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Everyone knows that the original Xbox was a hulking monstrosity, but it still manages to beat-out the PS3 Slim length-wise.  The PS3 Slim is turning out to be a relatively long system, I suppose that this particular slimness tech only applies to two dimensions…

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The PS3 Slim naturally wins single-handedly  in the height dimension making it the victor over the original Xbox, but raising concerns about its comparative length.

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The GameCube easily halves the PS3 Slim in both length and width.  Nintendo has been using secret slimness tech for a while, apparently.

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But the PS3 Slim pulls and underhanded move and halves the GameCube’s height.  Slimness in height seems to definitely be the PS3 Slim’s forte thus far.

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The least contender for sales in the last generation of game systems turns out to be quite a contender as far as slimness tech goes.  The Dreamcast expertly takes both the length and width categories.

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The PS3 Slim still takes the height category, but that’s not enough to give it the win this time, Dreamcast prevails with its slimness tech of the future, FROM THE PAST!  :O

Okay, time for the next generation hop.  Let’s go all the way back to 64/32-bit!

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Another generation and a half back and the PS3 Slim is still having trouble keeping up with the slimness tech used in its grandparent system.  The PS1 takes both height and width for slimness.

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The PS1 takes all three dimensions in a great upset, leaving its grandchild system in its proverbial dust (as well as the dust that the PS1 itself is covered with).

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Sony’s first experimental test with slimness tech is still one of its best uses in the video game world.  The PSone more than halves the PS3 slim in both length and width.

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In a completely unacceptable showing from the PS3 Slim, the PSone takes it ridiculously in all three dimensions.  Did Sony lose its knack for the acute application of slimness tech over the years?

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The Nintendo 64, even with its space-age hips that protrude at the front corners still manages to use more advanced slimness tech than the poor PS3 Slim in both length and width.

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So, it turns out that the N64 has a lovely lady lump in the front where everyone’s favourite RAM expansion went so that we could play Donkey Kong 64 and Majora’s Mask.  Because of this advanced RAM technology, slimness technology was given a smaller role to play in the N64’s height, leaving it very slightly taller than the PS3 Slim, but still taking the contest overall.

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The Sega Saturn, even though it came out before the PS1 and N64, didn’t do so hot on the markets, unfortunately.  This lack of sales was obviously not due to lack of slim tech application in the length and width departments because it still beats out the PS3 Slim and can play AUDIO CDs!  (sometimes)

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The Saturn’s height definitely puts the chunky in chunky monkey due mostly to the unnecessary bubble above the disc-reading area.  The PS3 Slim’s slim tech wins another round in height, but loses overall to a system 14 years its senior.

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Here’s where it gets interesting!  The second-generation 3DO R.E.A.L. wins only in width this round, with the PS3 taking length by a decent margin.

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*cue suspenseful music*  They’re the same height!!   Looks like Sony borrowed its slimness tech directly from the second-generation 3DO as they are a perfect match for height!  So, if you have a 3DO or two sitting around somewhere, then you’ll be able to see first-hand exactly how “slim” the PS3 Slim is in the height category.  This round was the first tie for slimness tech that we’ve seen thus far, with both systems winning in 1.5/3 dimensions.

Now we shuffle back another generation and see if the PS3’s slimness tech can stand-up to systems that came out almost 20 years ago:

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Back in 1990, slimness tech wasn’t even much of a consideration, but the Super Nintendo still wins in both the length and width categories, as well as the “being able to play Mario RPG” category, which is probably the most important category of them all.

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The PS3 Slim still shines in its best category, that of height, but it’s not enough to topple the SNES as the winner of this round.  If only we could play older games on the PS3 Slim….

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In comparison with the first-generation Sega Genesis, which has considerably more options on top like a headphone jack, volume control and a RESET BUTTON, the PS3 slim loses in both dimensions, but only by a small margin for length.  We also must note that the first-generation Genesis has “High Definition Graphics” printed right across the top while the PS3 Slim does not.  What does that say about the PS3’s graphics?  Perhaps they’re too afraid to put such a lofty claim on their system, unlike Sega.

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The height category is pretty close this time, even considering the Genesis’ dome of 16-bit awesome, but I’ll have to give this one to the PS3 Slim.  Overall for this round, I’ll call it a tie, because there are too many similarities and close calls regarding the slimness tech that I wouldn’t want to mis-judge one way or the other.

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Sega was one of the first companies to experiment with slimness technology in the mid-90s.  The second-generation Sega Genesis is a great example of such experimentation, as it easily takes both the length and width categories, although they did ditch the headphone jack of awesome for this model.  🙁

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Surprise, surprise!  The second-generation Genesis takes all three dimensions handily, putting our second-generation PS3 Slim to shame when considering slimness technology.

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The CD-i was a console made laughing in the face of both slimness and low-price technology.  Our particular model is a DVS CD-i player, but they were all about the same hulking size.  The PS3 Slim of course handily takes both the length and width dimensions.

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Similar in size to most surround-sound transceivers of today, the CD-i loses greatly in the height category as well, almost tripling the size of the PS3 Slim.  The first complete victory for the PS3 Slim, but most things, including European economy vehicles, are smaller than the CD-i.

Now we shuffle back one last generation to what was technically the third generation of video game consoles, but what a lot of people consider to be the second or first.  The era of mind-blowing 8-bit graphics!

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Ah, the good old NES toaster.  One would normally consider the NES to be a great example of 8-bit slimness, otherwise known as not slim at all.  But, the NES still trumps the PS3 Slim across 24 years in area-based slimness.  No matter how you look at it, when the NES and PS3 Slim are put on a table, the NES takes up less room.

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The PS3 Slim still trumps the NES in terms of height, which can be a moderate consideration based upon where the systems are being stored, but overall, the NES wins the slimness fight in spite of its modestly chunky height. (which rhymes)

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A couple years earlier and Nintendo was really pioneering the slimness technology.  The Famicom remains today a particularly compact system, especially in relation to its North American counterpart.  Even with the built-in controllers docked, the Famicom is handily smaller than the PS3 in both length and width.

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The Famicom system proper is a good shot smaller than the PS3 Slim, but the docked controllers technically add additional girth to the system’s height.  Since it’s a good idea to generally have your controllers docked when they’re not in use, I’ll have to give this to the PS3 Slim.  The day still goes to the Famicom as it won 2/3 of the dimensions.

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Last but…  well, maybe it is the least, but here is the Sega Master System.  The Sega Master System is a shoe-in for the width competition, but looses decently badly in the length competition.  With the score tied between these two we move on to the height.

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The PS3 Slim manages to pull ahead just barely compared to the Logan’s Run-esque Sega Master System.  This gives the PS3 its final slimness tech win for the overall competition, now, let’s tally up the scores:

We’ll list all of the comparisons and tally the scores.  The bold green system name is the one who won with more advanced slimness technology:

PS3 Slim Vs. PS3 Big
PS3 Slim Vs. Xbox 360
PS3 Slim Vs. Wii
PS3 Slim Vs. PS2 Phat
PS3 Slim Vs. PS2 Slim
PS3 Slim Vs. Xbox
PS3 Slim Vs. GameCube
PS3 Slim Vs. Dreamcast
PS3 Slim Vs. PS1
PS3 Slim Vs. PSone
PS3 Slim Vs. N64
PS3 Slim Vs. Sega Saturn
PS3 Slim Vs. Second-Generation 3DO R.E.A.L.
PS3 Slim Vs. SNES
PS3 Slim Vs. First-Generation Genesis
PS3 Slim Vs. Second-Generation Genesis
PS3 Slim Vs. DVS CD-i
PS3 Slim Vs. NES
PS3 Slim Vs. Famicom
PS3 Slim Vs. Sega Master System

Final Score:

PS3 Slim – 8
Other consoles – 14

So, compared to the vast history of video game consoles that have graced the world, the PS3 Slim is not actually terribly slim.  But, compared to the previous PS3s and Xbox 360s it holds its own in the slimness technology category.  Sony could have used more slimness technology and made the PS3 Slim even smaller, but that would likely have brought the price tag up, which would put a damper on their wishes to rejuvenate the current PS3 line by replacing it entirely with PS3 Slims.

Overall, the PS3 Slim is a decent system which would be great for people who want a PS3 but haven’t bought one yet.  For those that already own a PS3, I wouldn’t suggest looking into one unless you want another, smaller “cheap” Bluray player and are tired of hiring forklifts and engineering teams every time you need to carry the old beast up and down stairs to watch Blurays on your main household TV.

From my experience, there is no notable speed increase in either the PS3 Slim’s network or loading capabilities.  The Bluray drive itself still makes about the same amount of noise, and there’s still a loud hardware beep when you turn the system on.  There are only fans on the back of the system now, but that only decreases the noise output of the system (which was never really considerable) by about 30%.   When the system boots up, it still makes the same orchestra tuning noise, but the new logo is shown on the side of the screen for a moment in addition to the usual wavy XMB background.  The new eject and power buttons are clickable, which is good, but if your PS3 Slim freezes (as basically  everything does at some point) there’s no hardware power-off switch anymore to do a quick restart, and holding the power button to turn off the system takes about three times longer than it did with the original PS3, so that’s not fun.

Bonus Pictures!

The one feature that I particularly like/dis-like in the PS3 Slim is the power/disc indicator lights.  The lights are now on top of the system, which is good when you’re looking at it at a glance from the top, but not so good if you have it up on an entertainment system like I do.  I cannot see if my PS3 Slim is off or on at a glance anymore, and that is kind of annoying.  But, it is great to have a blue disc-in-drive indicator light telling you if a disc is in there or not and preventing you from trying to jam a second disc in there as well.  The symbols on the buttons are also illuminated, so you don’t have to grope around in the dark to eject discs from your PS3 anymore!

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