PS5 ‘slim’ teardown shows the clever engineering of its detachable disc drive
The new PlayStation 5 isn’t out yet – it doesn’t even have a specific release date – but a few YouTubers have gotten their hands on it, including Dave Lee of the Dave2D channel. Lee posted his takedown of the console yesterday, and if you’re curious about how that removable disc drive works, this is the best look you’ll get without buying the $499.99 PS5 yourself. later this month.
After Lee removes the PS5’s plastic side cover, you can see the drive sitting there with three screws staring back at you. At first I thought they were pentalobe screws, but later zooming in shows they are just standard Phillips head screws. Philips head, if you will. Okay, no surprise there. GOOD.
But then it’s just comes out right away. The screws were a red herring! What refined modularity!
When Lee pulls the drive aside, he reveals a port framed in an oblong hexagon where the drive connector installs. That’s what I loved so much about designing machines like the PowerMac G5. You see the piece, grab it, and pull it out – there’s no hard, angular plastic connector to stab your sweaty fingers as you pull it free. Very good taste.
The player aside, the new PS5 is a pretty system if you like the pointy Dracula collar look of the first one. And when Lee places it next to the original, the size disparity is more drastic than past comparisons made it appear, even if they are really not so different size; after all, it’s still larger than the Xbox Series
Here’s the full video, if you’d like to see the rest of the teardown.
