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PlayStation 3 Slim Teardown

Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

This guide has been found to be exceptionally cool by the iFixit staff.

A first look inside Sony's dramatically redesigned, cooler, sleeker PlayStation 3 Slim! Also check out our PS3 Slim teardown video on YouTube!

It's here! We got our dirty hands on a PS3 Slim a full day before it was set to arrive in the mail!
The box, just like the unit, is, well, slimmer.
Did you know you can post your own teardown on iFixit? Share what's inside your gadgets! Take apart an old cell phone, microwave, or toy robot.
- Our free online editor makes it super-easy to publish step-by-step teardowns.
- We host everything for free, and make it easy for you to have high-resolution photos, professional layout, and full-screen slideshows like ours!

On the front left we have two USB ports, a hard drive indicator light, and a Wi-Fi indicator light.
Front right yields a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, power button, and eject button.
The back has a LAN connection, HDMI port, digital audio-out, multi-connector (RCA or component video) and a new type of power plug.
Owners of the current-gen PS3s will notice an absence of the rear manual power switch. All your powering needs are now served by the front power button.

Now that we've dispensed with the pleasantries, let's get into the meat of the subject, so to speak.
We start with the hard drive first.
- A blue Phillips screw is hidden beneath "the blue Phillips screw cover," as we call it. Remove this screw.
  - You can view this blue Phillips screw in all its glory if you'd like.
- Next, remove the hard drive cover.

The drive enclosure has a metal pull tab attached to it. Pull on it to release the drive from the bay.
The 120 GB Toshiba drive, in all its glory. We have a feeling that it's going to be super-easy to upgrade this drive to 500GB...

Remove the three T8 security Torx screws on the underside of the PS3 slim.
What's that, you say? Security screws? Yes, that's right. These screws have a pin in the center of them that prevents an ordinary Torx screwdriver from working. These screwdrivers are widely available, just not quite as easy to come by as a normal Torx.
Sony did this to prevent people like us from taking it apart.
Those three T8 security Torx screws seem to be the only non-Phillips head fasteners on the entire device.
This seems a little spiteful-- hardware hacking is a fine American tradition. No worries, we'll make sure it's easy for you to get these screwdrivers.

De-warranty-izing and de-tabbing on the underside of the Slim ensues...
If you haven't seen them already, check out our dozens of teardowns, ripping apart everything from a cappuccino machine to an iPhone 3GS.

Seven Phillips screws need to be removed from the bottom.
Interestingly enough, the rubber pad on the front-right corner of the PS3 has no screw hidden underneath it. Imagine our surprise when we removed it!

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