Sony PS3 sales soar on slimmer system Punters may be peeved that Sony didn’t cut its prices when it pruned the fat from the PlayStation and released the PlayStation even-slimmer, but the decision doesn’t appear to have hindered sales. Quite the reverse, according to official UK sales data from GfK Chart-Track and released through the Association for UK Interactive …
Through hole is more reliable for such things as mechanically the components are attached to the board in a more sturdy and secure manner. Surface mount is generally about shrinking component size and having automated construction, but PSU components can't really be shrunk down that much.
I often wonder how much PSU and wall wart junk we could jettison if we all had AC and DC supplies in the house. One big central AC/DC converter to supply all that DC tech.
> if we all had AC and DC supplies in the house.
I've often had similar thoughts, but trouble is you get a drop in potential difference ('voltage') over distance. You could put out, say, 24 v, in a ring around your house and then regulate it down to 19v,12v or 5v where required, but I don't know enough to know if this would be any more efficient than the current situation.
One bit of speculation I've seen recently is that Nvidia are up to their old tricks and are blocking Sony from putting the RSX and Cell onto a single chip. Nvidia pulled something similar with MS on the Xbox 1 so I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia were doing it again, especially if the rumours of AMD winning the design for the PS4 are true.
So all Sony can do is try to save costs elsewhere like on the system casing and drives.
When it happened to MS they just dumped the Xbox 1 and moved on to the next generation. Sony on the other hand don't really have that luxury as the whole company is currently struggling to turn a profit. If it were up to them I'd bet they would have loved to stick with the PS3 for another 5 years!
When will a console manufacturer ever make a console that can stack nicely with other AV kit?
PS3? There's no proper arcade FPS games that really take my fancy, that landscape seems to be filled with war simulators these days. Give me a new Quake/Doom or even a new Timesplitters then I'd probably buy.
When will a console manufacturer ever make a console that can stack nicely with other AV kit?
They do that precisely so you don't attempt to stack it with other AV kit. Xbox 360 got the most press coverage for overheating but you'll find plenty of accounts of PS3 overheating as well (search for "yellow light of death"). These consoles throw off a lot of heat in operation so being able to stack another AV component or a pile of DVD/Blu-ray cases on top of it is asking for a meltdown.
I think the word "soaring" is being used a little bit liberally. That 138% increase is from whatever dwindling sales they had on the 6 year old system the previous week. How many could they have been selling at this point in the life cycle? We're not even sure if this increase is enough to cover costs of redesigning it.
I have a 'fat' 40GB PS3 from around the time Metal Gear Solid 4 was released. I recently tried to do something (I forget what) and tried to login but it failed to connect. Long story short, after much checking and even trying a replacement network board I have no network at all. I don't know what the problem is but it works fine for everything else. I may be tempted to get one of these if the price drops a little as there are some very tasty looking games coming out. I was already considering a Slim but hate the look, even though this new model has a top loading disc I quite like the look.
You can laugh but Microsoft's only edge has only ever been that it was released 1 year early. If their sales remained the same but they were launched at the same time, Microsoft would have been beaten a long time ago. This is the best Microsoft can do is rely on launching a year early and still end up losing out.
>the slowest selling console of this generation.
1. If you look the sales rate of both platforms flat lined some time ago so basically you end up with tie. Everybody who is going to buy one pretty much already has (only growth is from population growth at this point). You could give both platforms another ten years their numbers won't be all that much different than today.
2. One could consider the Vita part of this generation and its the definition of DOA.
You miss the point. Sony and Microsoft should not be in the same sentence. Sony should be laughing at M$ tiny market share like in the smart phone market. Look back at the PS1 and PS2 days when even Nintendo was on its heels and Sony was owning everyone. 3rd place fighting for 2nd after the runaway success of the PS2 even a decade ago is a major fail.
Why would a slimline PS3 suddenly stop people from buying one?
Another important aspect is that the new model also has more storage capacity, so its not as if people suddenly get less hardware for more money or such.
Even so; I'm still happy with my "fat" PS3. Bought it approx. 3.5 years ago, upgraded the HD from 80Gb to 500Gb and it just keeps running.
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