Slim Design

Something like the form factor of a console is rather ambiguous in the way it appeals to consumers: after all, it's the games inside the plastic electronics device that truly matter.  However, there's no denying that proportions and looks matter. The original GameCube was chided as the "purple lunchbox" due to its shape, color and handle, while the original Xbox never really lived down it's huge and heavy casing.  The PS3 Slim is an upgrade, and not just because it's trimer and thinner...

2006: The original design of the PS3, sometimes given the "George Foreman Grill" label, had (as seen looking at its profile) a bulky, convex design which could be placed standing straight up or laid flat.  Unconventional touch sensitive spaces were used to control the power and disc ejection.  The whole thing was wrapped up in a glossy "piano black" design with silver trim and "PlayStation 3" lettering in what was called the "Spider-Man font."

2009: The PS3 Slim resembles the original console, but is much more compact and a third smaller, consuming a third less power as well.  The console now features more conventional buttons for power and disc eject, a response to complaints about the original design.  Finally, the console features a "charcoal black" (with matte finish that doesn't attract finger prints) with a simpler "PS3" logo.  Simply put, it's everything we could ever ask for in a PS3, save backwards compatibility.