Games

Sony Posted a PS5 Teardown Video and Every Tech Company Should Do the Same

Big companies like Sony usually try to keep this kind of information hidden.
ps5

Sony posted a teardown of the PlayStation 5 to its YouTube channel this morning and revealed the inner workings of its new console. The PlayStation 5 is a behemoth of a machine but Sony has promised it runs faster and quieter than its previous consoles. Thanks to the new video, we now know more about how it's engineered to do that, but more importantly, Sony is showing its customers how to open and clean their machines, which could potentially make them easier to repair at home.

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Seeing the internals of a new system is cool, but that real story here is that Sony posted the video at all. Tech companies are often skittish about showing people how to take apart their own devices.

“Bottom line: this level of transparency from a manufacturer is refreshing,” Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, told Motherboard in an email. “We think it's super helpful. Everyone should know how to open their products, and having the designer show you the process to get inside helps demystify the technology."

Wiens and his iFixit team will do their own teardown of the PlayStation 5 once they get their hands on one, but he’s encouraged by what he’s seen so far.

“First impressions: the large size of this device is driven by the cooling requirements,” he said. “It's clear Sony put a lot of engineering effort into dissipating heat quietly. I think the feedback on the loud PS4 Pro played a role here. We're also excited that there is NVME-standard upgradeable storage, but we don't know for sure whether that will work with off the shelf parts or not.”

The PlayStation 5 is a large console that can stand upright or lay on its side. It has two intake fans on the front. The entire backend is an exhaust port. The white panels clip off easily, revealing a large cooling fan that dominates one half of the system. It even has dust catchers which Sony claimed could be vacuumed out to prevent the collection of dust in the system, a huge problem for previous PlayStations.