Sony also considered a new PS3 that adopted SSD and online storage instead of HDD

In September this yearThe new PS3 which realized the thickness and weight which is two thirds of the conventional size and low power consumptionWas released by Sony, but in thinning the main body, "SSD (solid state drive)" which adopted flash memory instead of HDD currently adopted as the recording medium of PS 3 and data are saved on the Internet It was revealed that introduction of 'online storage' to be done was considered.

Details are as below.
PS3, PSP Made Smaller, Lighter to Capture New Customer Segments - Nikkei Electronics Asia - December 2009 - Tech - On!

According to an interview conducted by Nihon Keizai Shimbun to Executive Vice President and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of the Sony Computer Entertainment Technology Platform Division and Mr. Ko Hiroyuki Chataniya, Director of the Strategic Planning Department, was released in September this year In releasing the new PS3, it seems that it was considered to adopt SSD and online storage instead of the HDD which was included in the conventional model.

This is because the thin PS2 (SCPH - 70000) released in November 2004 reduced the volume to 23%, which is less than 1/4 of the conventional size, by making it non - HDD compliant, and the women who had not been able to approach so far Because we were able to capture the stratum and the elderly, PS3 also considered the same response.

The thinned PS 2 (SCPH - 70000) looks like this. Weight was also reduced to 900 g which is less than half of the weight of conventional machines.


However, since SSD has a higher unit price per storage capacity than HDD, it is sent off and online storage also is incompatible with HDD performance of several 10 MB per second, so it seems that introduction was not accepted.

Also, as for the measures to downsize the main body like Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 without using a power supply and using an AC adapter to externalize it, it is said that it was dismissed because it would be inconvenient. I will.

By adopting adoption of a Cell processor fabricated with a 45 nm process that was more miniaturized than in the past, it has become possible to reduce the main board and improve the cooling mechanism, Although it is a new PS3 which succeeded in conversion, if the unit price of SSD declines or if the spread of high-speed lines is realized, it seems that further downsizing and thinning are possible.