After a generation of figuratively towering above its rivals with the monstrously successful PlayStation 4, one thing is certain: Sony’s next-generation contender will also loom large over its peers… literally. This thing is massive. However, what the PlayStation 5 lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for in potential, thanks in part to its amazingly fast SSD but mostly to its truly remarkable new controller, the DualSense.
Make no mistake: the austere and unceremonious nature of the box and packaging is in stark contrast to the PlayStation 5 itself, which is far and away the most flamboyant-looking console I’ve ever owned. Rather than a single shell, the PS5 appears to be made up of four separate pieces: a glossy, black case sandwiched between a pair of warped, matte-white plastic plates, with a detachable stand.
I’ll happily concede the PS5 does look a bit better in the flesh than it did in the initial product shots; the matte, off-white finish to the plates is actually a lot nicer than I feared it would be, and the sloping vents flanking the strip of glossy black plastic that wraps around the edge of the unit are eye-catching. The problem, to my eye, is that the gradually widening black strip on the front and the flappy, overhanging plastic corners makes the PS5 look a little bit like a piece of luggage that’s stuffed too full to zip up properly, and the irregular curves remind me more of a cassette that’s spent a hot summer day on a car dashboard than a PlayStation.
The PS5 is far and away the most flamboyant-looking console I’ve ever owned.
The PS5 is far and away the most flamboyant-looking console I’ve ever owned.
“It’s obviously not the first white games console but, in concert with its sheer size and shape, it’s surprisingly ostentatious for something destined to sit beneath or beside black televisions, black sound bars, black subwoofers, and generations of black AV equipment and gaming hardware. It’s a bit showy and in a world of generally sleek and simple tech it looks a bit out of place, like 2006’s vision of 2046.
On the front you’ll find access to the Ultra HD Blu-ray optical drive, a high-speed USB Type-A port, and a super-speed USB Type-C port, as well as the power button and eject button. These buttons are adjacent to each other but the eject button is noticeably smaller so, if you’re anything like me, there’s now hope of not spending an entire generation trying to remember which button is which. On the back there’s the figure-8 power connection, an HDMI 2.1 out, two super-speed USB Type-A ports, and an Ethernet port. Unlike the PS4, the PS5 does not feature an optical audio out.
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good and good 