If Sony had to do it all over again...

[Toptube]

Originally Posted by haushausman

I use my constantly. I love being able to pop it in from my digital camera and review all my movies and pictures on my 61" screen.

To each their own. It's one of my favorite features

Its nice that its there, but it was completely unnecessary. You can buy a USB card reader for a few dollars, at the most. It probably costs SONY more to include it in the PS3 than it would to offer their own USB universal reader. When you are talking about a device that sells in the millions (the PS3) every penny you can save is important.

More USB ports sounds better. But the fact is that average use of the PS3 does not call for 4 or more USB ports to be constantly populated. And besides, each single USB port supports several devices at one time via daisy chaining and/or a hub. Again, this is an extremely cheap item that can be easily and cheaply acquired by the consumer if needed.

Dual HDMI outputs defeats the point of a unified design (see: sound and video in one cable). The PS3 is also not designed for multi-tasking or productivity. So multiple display devices is moot. Multi-display gaming currently requires horsepower much beyond the capability of current consoles, so that's also out the window.

I cannot think of a reason that a PS3 would need dual gigabit Ethernet. Thats a special setup for very specific scenarios, all of which you would never see in anything resembling typical use of a PS3. Typical use of a PS3 isn't even on a gigabit network.


This number may be inaccurate, but I think I read this somewhere so lets just run with it:

I think I read estimations that Sony saved about $30 in parts with the Slim PS3 VS. the original. Lets say on average, Sony sells 200,000 PS3 per month.

That's some real cash saved in negligeble* parts.


*there was a lot of *****ing about the loss of PS2 Backward Compatibility. But to a company that just got finished selling PS2's to everyone, chances are good that you probably already have a PS2, and therefore effectively including a PS2 inside of a PS3 is gross luxury that they don't need to pay for.



and as far as having USB ports in the back. Well, that's pretty unecessary from a design stand point, when considering the PS3. PS3 are typically placed in an entertainment center or some sort of shelf unit where the rear of the device is difficult to access therefore, almost never touch once its in place. Therefore, it makes sense to include the USB ports on the front, because USB ports are typically meant for non-permanent devices and peripherals. It sounds nice, elegant, the idea of a semi-permanent HDD which you could plug into the back of the PS3 and leave in place and you won't have a cable sticking out, obstructing other things and looking ugly.

That's a pretty specific scenario, for which your options are:

1. deal with the ugle cable sticking out the front and wrapping around
2. Hey did you know that you can buy any off the shelf standard size 2.5 inch SATA HDD and use it in your PS3?
3. Hey did you know that your PS3 can connect to a DLNA media server and stream multimedia files over your home network?


**please note, I'm just pointing out facts of design considerations. So, I'm not trying to sound like a snarky jerk or anything.