Remember the good old days in 2020 when the PlayStation 5 first came out and people were going nuts trying to get their hands on one? Alerts set on smartphones to let you know there were 3 in stock 100 miles away? Third-party flippers selling them for over $1,000? Things aren’t that crazy six years later, but seeing a big sale on a PS5 is still a vanishingly thin happening. So this one’s a big deal on more than one level — Amazon’s just dropped a $100 price break on the Disc Edition PS5, which brings it down to just $549.
There’s more than meets the eye to this deal — the rapidly accelerating shortage of memory for computers and gaming consoles is about to hit the console gaming world like a tidal wave. Console prices are going up, steeply and quickly, and Sony’s raising the prices on the PS5 for the second time in less than a year. So these rare PS5 sales? They might be going extinct entirely.
Years Later, Still the One
It’s easy to realize what the big deal was, because six years on, the PS5 is still the gold standard of gaming consoles. It’s amazingly fast, was among the very first consoles to support haptic feedback, delivers 4K gaming resolution and 3D audio, has built-in ray tracing to create incredibly accurate shadows and reflections for more immersive gaming, and most importantly there are hundreds if not thousands of games available. Backwards-compatibility with the PS4 aids in that regard, and since this is the disc edition of the PS5, those older games are worth hanging on to.
The disc edition of the PS5 that’s now $100 off at Amazon is the 2023 updated model also called the PS5 Slim, simply because the chassis itself is smaller and thinner than the digital version — roughly 30% smaller overall. That might seem like a small detail, until you’re stealing that precious half-inch or inch that makes the difference between your console fitting on a desktop or TV stand or having to take an inconvenient place on the floor. The smaller space and smaller price do not translate to smaller performance, either – the PS5 Slim has the same 4K resolution and 120Hz speed as the bigger digital model, and the 1TB of storage is exceptional.
Little Differences Matter
Some of the other nuances that came with the PS5 Slim include the front ports being upgraded from USB-A to USB-C, and if aesthetics are important to you, the overall design of the PS5 Slim is more sleek and attractive than the original PS5. The upgrades are all the more reason to take notice of this surprise sale — if Amazon and Sony were considering clearing stock on any of their consoles, you would think it would be the original PS5.
Hyping a tech sale with lingo like “this is selling out fast” and “this might be your last chance” is normal, but in the case of this Amazon deal offering the PS5 Slim for $100 off price, it might be closer to literal than ever, thanks to the rapid rise of memory prices now fully hitting the console market. And, yes, this one will sell out in a hurry, so delay at your peril.