Pit of Gadgetry!

Our new toy ~ Junior (PS3)

May 15, 2009 Consoles | 630 views

Two weeks ago we purchased the most popular console in the current year, the Playstation 3 80GB. We traded our old PS2 along with the games and other accessories. We didn’t actually plan to buy it but when we saw  Gamestop’s promo we decided to get it since my husband wanted and waited for it too long. He didn’t get any present on his last birthday and last christmas. And so we got the console almost half of the price. This is gonna be my early father’s day and birthday gift for him.

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So what’s new in the latest version of PS3 compare to 20,30,60GB?

• 20 GB no wifi, no card reader, tiny HDD – DISCONTINUED
• 40 GB (PAL) no PS2 emulation at all, 2 PS2 ports, no card reader, small HDD
• 60 GB NTSC hardware based PS2 emulation, 4 USB ports, card reader, reasonable HDD – DISCONTINUED
• 60 GB PAL software based PS2 emulation, 4 USB ports, card reader, reasonable HDD – DISCONTINUED
• 80 GB software based PS2 emulation, 4 USB ports, card reader, reasonable HDD – RUMORED TO BE DISCONTINUED.

Snippet of an excellent review from a PS3 user. This review is a bit long but have patience to read it. It has lots of information you need for your lower hardware PS3.

Necessary disclosure: I do not own this model. I have what used to be a 60GB model, recently upgraded to 320GB – the gold standard.

As compared to the 60GB model:
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+ less expensive (I paid $599 for my 60GB PS3)
+ 33% more storage
+ needs less power
+ dual shock controller (rumble)
- no memory card interfaces
- 2 USB ports vs. 4 USB ports on the 60GB
- no PS2 compatibility
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This model comes with an 80GB drive. This is nice because, most would agree, 80GB is more than 60GB. If you feel that the extra 20GB is a big deal, maybe you should think again. I upgraded my 60GB to 320GB because I was about to run out of space, with only 10GB or so left. One month or so later, I’m using more than 80GB already – just downloaded the Ratchet and Clank minigame from PSN and it alone needs about 3GB. My advice is to buy this model and upgrade it yourself. It’s (relatively) easy and you can find a lot of advice if you Google for it. If you are thinking about waiting and getting the 160GB model for an extra $100, don’t. $100 would buy you the 320GB drive. I used the Western Digital WD3200BEVT 320 GB Scorpio Sata 5400 Rpm 8MB 2.5 inch myself. The nice thing about upgrading your disk is that you are also going to be left with a perfectly good 80GB drive which you can place into a cheap enclosure, and the StarTech SAT2510U2 InfoSafe 2.5-Inch USB/SATA Hard Drive Enclosure worked for me. I am using the free (in my case) 60GB drive as a backup device for family photos. Digital, of course.

The lack of memory card interfaces is annoying but you can get around it. Copy your stuff to a USB drive or flash drive and… problem solved. You can then upload your things through the USB. It’s somewhat inconvenient but it’s no big deal.

My old (10 months) 60GB model has 4 USB slots and I am using all of them. One for the PS3 Eye (camera), a second has a wireless keyboard dongle, the third is where the racing wheel plugs in and the last one I use to charge controllers. Can you live with 2 slots? I suppose you can but there’s going to be some plugging/unplugging if you begin adding peripherals. I suppose you could get one of those USB ports multiplexers. They’re ugly but… it’s doable.

PS2 compatibility… can’t get it. Sorry. I don’t play PS2 games but my kids do. In fact, they just bought some Sonic game a couple of days ago. I was surprised but… de gustibus. They’re also playing Kingdom Hearts and Destroy All Humans.

This model comes with a couple of improvements over the gold standard. It burns less electricity, which is a good thing for the rain forests, keeping them cool and maybe you save a few dollars on your electric bill. And, of course you get the advanced controller.

To summarize: buy it, upgrade the drive to 320GB or larger for $100, use the 80GB disk as a backup device, get yourself a USB port multiplexer if you need more than 2, transfer your photos to flash drives to get around the missing memory card interfaces, sell your PS2 games to finance the above, enjoy your PS3.

Review by A. Dent “Aragon”

Tags: 80GBps3, conceptual photography, freya, ps3