This is not really a review of the PS3 Super Slim as I think everyone in the world is familiar with the PS3 and it’s hardware but I do have a few comments about it and my experiences with it.
The first thing I will say is; don’t buy the 12GB base model unless you have a 2.5in hard disk and PS3 Super Slim caddie spare as gaming with the base model will be limited because updates for games and applications need a decent amount of hard disk space, certainly much more than 12GB. The 12GB onboard is flash memory, e.g. soldered solid state; which I did not know when sliding off the right side panel to find an empty drive bay, Sony elected to not include a caddie to mount a 2.5in drive.
As I was replacing a PS3 Slim (second generation) which had developed a fault with the BluRay laser and I had the 120GB hard disk and caddie from the slim model; I simply reused those parts; although I did have to break off the small metal tab on the caddie to make compatible with the Super Slim.
For those of you without the caddie, they are readily available on eBay for about $10.
Performance wise it’s still a PS3, the hardware remains unchanged but the big differences are the new top loading BluRay drive and much smaller footprint. From an improvement point of view, the most significant change is the fan noise; which is down from a vacuum like sound from the PS3 Slim to a dull light breeze sound even when under full gaming load; which is a big plus point for me!
Should you buy one? it depends, if the fan noise of the PS3 Slim doesn’t bother you and it’s working properly, then stick with what you have. But if the fan noise bugs you and you use your PS3 in a home theater setting like I do; then the $200 price tag is well worth it, the PS3 is still the best BluRay player on the market in my view and at this time, I see no reason to upgrade to a PS4.