Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s slimmed-down PS3 is a cute little ugly duckling, and not without its concessions. From fewer USB ports to an over-priced vertical stand, and its removed “Install Other OS” feature, here’s what you should know before picking one up.

First off, it’s not actually called the PS3 Slim, that’s just it’s nickname. It’s officially called the PS3 120GB. Either way, I plan to buy one myself. I like that the matte finish is more scratch and fingerprint resistant, even if it comes over as a little retro Chinese knock-off. In the same vein, these 10 considerations may not affect how you plan to use the Slim—but knowing is half the battle, right?

1. Available September 1, Prices Already Dropped (North America)
If you prefer your PS3 fat and glossy, the existing 80GB model has now dropped to $300—that’s how much the new 120GB PS3 Slim will be in September. (The current 160GB PS3 has also been reduced, to $400.) And be on the look for bargains as retailers wind down stock: Today’s Gadget Deals of the Day has an 80GB bundle that includes LittleBigPlanet and a Blu-ray copy of Wall-E for $299 (normally $400).

2. You’ll Probably Want the Stand
As Jason said in his hands on, the Slim isn’t really stable enough to balance vertically without its stand. Problem is, the stand is sold separately, and at $24, seems over priced. You also won’t be able to pick one up until 2 days after the PS3 Slim first goes on sale. Expect to eventually see third-party alternatives in a Skittles-rainbow of colors.

3. Hard Drive Upgrades
As we’ve mentioned, FCC records indicate that Sony may also have plans for 150GB and 250GB versions of the PS3 120GB. Either way, it only takes one screw (now located under the front, instead of the side) to swap in your own SATA laptop hard disk (and doing so won’t avoid the warranty).

4. PS3 3.0 Firmware Not Initially Pre-Installed
That’s because it’s released on September 1, the same day the Slim goes on sale. So to get the 3.0 Firmware goodness, you’ll need to sit through a software update out of the box. Sony says it’ll preinstall 3.x in later units. Sounds fair to me.

5. It Won’t Play Your Old PlayStation 2 Games
That won’t be returning,” Sony’s John Koller recently confirmed. Likely not a big deal unless you’ve got a massive collection of PS2 titles that you don’t want to part with. If so, the launch PS3s with hardware PS2 Emotion Engine are your best bet (for greater compatibility), but the second-generation 60- and 80GB models will also play PS2 games using software emulation.

6. No Linux for You!
In its infinite wisdom, Sony has removed the “Install Other OS” feature (Settings -> System Settings -> Install Other OS) and official Linux support along with it. The current 80- and 160GB PS3s support Linux, but Sony’s cut the cord on the Slim because it wants to “standardize” the OS. Counting down to open-source hack in 3, 2…

7. No On-Off Switch
The Slim has no on-off switch at the back, so now relies on the standby power button at the front. Both the power and eject buttons are no longer touch-style; they’ve been changed to physical buttons.

8. No Media Card Reader
No surprise here: PS3s haven’t had media card slots for ages. Why not just stream photos from your laptop to the PS3 wirelessly, or copy them to a USB drive? Speaking of which…

9. Two USB Ports, Not Four
Not what we had hoped for, but again, not surprising. Not only is this a slimmed-down model, but all third-generation PS3s have only 2 USB ports (and skip the media card reader).

10. Bravia Link
Connect the PS3 Slim to a Bravia Link-capable Sony HDTV (via HDMI) and you’ll be able to control the XMB interface with your TV remote. The TV will even automatically power down the PS3 when it gets turned off.

11. It Plays The Same PS3 Games!
Slim or not, it’s still a freakin’ PS3 and will play the same PS3 games and Blu-ray movies you throw at it! Plus, the smaller 45nm Cell chip helps it consume less power, and may potentially even be a little faster.

Sure, it’s not as sleek as some of the other options out there, but the specs of this HP Pavilion Elite e9110t desktop, for the $649.99 asking price, are pretty stunning: a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor, NVIDIA GeForce G210, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive , 802.11n, Blu-ray player, and a free Windows 7 upgrade when it finally launches. Offer ends this Saturday, August 15th, but if you’re interests have piqued and your wallet has giving the go-ahead, dealnews has all the details and pertinent coupon codes.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Desktops

HP Pavilion Elite makes an offer you (probably) can’t refuse: Blu-ray, Win 7, quad-core CPU for $650 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone likes to try and predict the future and with the Custom Electronic Design & Installation (CEDIA) show only a month away, the crew at Engadget HD threw all of their crazy ideas out there for your reading pleasure. For the most part all of the predictions are around Windows Media Center and how it will integrate with other products like the Zune HD, Digital Cable and HD satellite services, but there are some other fun things throw in. We really believe that this is going to be the year that Redmond brings everything together, so if you’re the type who doesn’t think it’ll ever happen, then click through to find out why we think you’re wrong. Either way, you can expect we’ll be on the scene in Atlanta to check out what’s new first hand.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Windows Media Center is set to thrill at CEDIA 2009 next month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d already heard that Toshiba — the outfit best known for solidly backing HD DVD during the two-year format war of the early 21st century — was preparing to swallow its pride and kick out a Blu-ray player by the year’s end, but now it’s official. The outfit just announced moments ago that it has “applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and plans to introduce products that support the Blu-ray format.” Sadly, Tosh doesn’t bother to mention exactly what kinds of BD-capable wares it hopes to produce, nor is it ready to disclose product launch time frames. We’d tell you exactly how it wants us to just be patient and all, but you’re probably better off hearing it directly from the horse’s trap:

“In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA. Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course.”

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Toshiba applies for BDA admission, Blu-ray players and laptops coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take this rumor with a fairly large grain of salt and please hold your “bag of hurt” comments until the end. Boy Genius claims he’s got it on word from a “pretty reliable source” that the next big iTunes revision will include better organization options for your iPhone / iPod touch apps, something vague concerning integration with Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm, and… Blu-ray support. To be fair, the HD disc format wars are all but over at this point, and the most recent Final Cut Pro actually lets you burn video directly to a third-party BD drive, only to have to play the discs on another, non-Mac device. This is all pretty sketch at the moment, and we doubt the boys in Cupertino will be showing their hands until just after the eleventh hour — let’s not forget, also, that iTunes is also available for Windows which does have other third-party Blu-ray playback software. In possibly related whispers, AppleInsider has offered some none-too-descriptive hints at possible iMac refresh with some improvements catering to the “semi-professional audio / video crowd.” Between this and talk about a tablet, we can’t wait for the next Apple press conference, if only to subside all the rumors for a few months.

Update: Our resident HD expert Ben Drawbaugh has chimed in on the matter, hypothesizing that this might be referring to support for Managed Copy, a digitized (and DRM restricted) copy of the film that you would save onto your local hard drive. But in that scenario, it still doesn’t behoove Apple to add that to iTunes unless it was looking to put Blu-ray drives on its own machines, which makes this (still very faint) rumor all the more interesting.

Read – Apple iTunes 9 details, Blu-ray, app organization
Read – Apple’s next iMacs rumored with compelling new features

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Blu-ray support coming with iTunes 9? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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