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 published his takedown of the console yesterday, and if you’re curious about how that removable disk drive works, this is the best look you’ll get without buying the $499.99 PS5 later this month.

After Lee removes the plastic side cover of the PS5, you can see the unit there with three screws staring back at you. At first I thought they were pentalobe screws, but a later zoomed-in shot shows they are just standard crosshead screws. Philips head, if you want. Well, no surprises there. Good.

But then just appears immediately. The screws were a red herring! What elegant modularity!

When Lee pulls the drive aside, he reveals a port framed within an oblong hexagon where the drive’s connector sits. This is what I loved about the design of machines like the PowerMac G5. You see the piece, you grab it and take it out; There’s no hard, angular plastic connector to stab your sweaty fingers as you release it. Very good taste.

Handling aside, the new PS5 is a compelling system if you like the pointy, Dracula-necklace look of the first one. And when Lee puts it next to the original, the size disparity is more drastic than previous comparisons make it seem, even if they’re not actually that different in size; After all, it’s still bigger than the Xbox Series

Here’s the full video if you want to see the rest of the teardown.