PS5 Slim Teardown Proves It’s Not That Much Smaller Than The Original

A new PS5 Slim teardown video seems to confirm that the upcoming mid-life redesign isn’t all that much smaller than its predecessor.

The teardown video, posted by YouTuber Dave2D, places the hardware side-by-side with the original ‘thicc’ PS5. Sat next to each other on the table, the gulf between them isn’t all that great. While the PS5 Slim is certainly smaller overall, the thicc model doesn’t exactly tower over it either.

The PS5 Slim’s exterior introduces a change of aesthetic — its top half is rendered in white, glossy plastic while the bottom half is the same matte white plastic of the original model. I don’t know how I feel about this. The gloss feels like it’s going to show up much more dust than the matte plastic and be harder to clean overall. It also means that those of you who purchased those custom panels for the base model are up shit creek, because they won’t fit the Slim model.

According to Dave3D, the new model is substantially lighter than the original. The original disc drive model PS5 weighed in at 3.9kg. The Slim version: 3.2kg. The discless model is lighter again — 2.6kg, down from the original model’s 3.3kg.

Internally, it doesn’t look like things have moved around all that much. The fan is in more or less the same spot it was before, though the SSD expansion bay has swapped sides. Dave2D doesn’t believe that Sony has changed up the chip from the previous model, though does note that the Slim appears to draw more power than the base model when running certain games like Death Stranding and less in others, like Astro’s Playroom and Spider-Man 2.

The console’s heatsink design method hasn’t changed, with heatsink radiators and pipes wrapping around the shroud externally, similar to the original PS5.

The PS5 Slim is set to launch in the US this month. There is no Australian release date just yet — it is currently expected that the PS5 Slim won’t make it to our shores until early in the new year. That means, if you were planning to get a PS5 for Christmas and were holding out for the Slim, change your plans. For now, at least, the Thicc model is still your only option.