The new PlayStation 5 hasn’t released yet (there’s not even a specific release date for it), but a few YouTubers have gotten their hands on it, including Dave Lee of the Dave2D channel. Lee posted his teardown of the console yesterday, and if you’ve been curious about how that detachable disc drive works, this is the best impression you can get without buying the $499.99 PS5 yourself later this month.
After Lee pops off the plastic side cover of the PS5, you’ll see the drive sitting there with three screws staring back at you. I initially thought they were pentalobic screws, but a later zoomed-in shot shows they are just standard Phillips screws. Philips head, if you will. Okay, no surprises there. Good.
But then it’s normal immediately stands out. The screws were a diversion! What tight modularity!
When Lee pulls the drive aside, it reveals a port framed in an elongated hexagon where the drive’s connector is located. This is what I liked about the design of machines like the PowerMac G5. You see the part, you grab it and you pull it out – there’s no hard, angular plastic connector to stick in your sweaty fingers as you pry it loose. Very tasteful.
That aside, the new PS5 is a nice system if you like the pointy Dracula collar look of the first. And when Lee places it next to the original, the difference in size is more drastic than previous comparisons have made it seem, even though they are actually not that different in size; After all, it’s still bigger than the Xbox Series
Here’s the full video, if you want to watch the rest of the teardown.