Why the PS5 Slim Digital Edition Wins for Everyday Players at $399

Holiday shopping season typically means crowded stores, but buying a console online flips that script. The PS5 Slim Digital Edition is a sleek option you can slip right into Sony’s universe without the bulk of the extras which can be a real pain for anyone who just wants a simple setup. They’ve knocked the price down to $399 (was $499.99), so right now its a great deal for gamers who just want some real power without all the fuss.

Shrinking the volume by over 30 percent compared to the original PS5, and cutting the weight down by almost a quarter, makes this console a lot more portable. That means you can now put it on a living room shelf without taking up half the room, and the family can stack their books or speaker there instead. And if you live in a tiny apartment you can tuck it beside your monitor and it won’t take up much space at all. The glossy white panels catch just enough light to make it look okay but they also don’t call too much attention to themselves. There are still dual USB-C ports at the front so you can easily charge up controllers or plug your headset in, no need to crawl behind the furniture. And they’ve also made it easier to manage cables by moving the ports around.

That 1TB of storage is double what the launch model had, and you can already stash 12 major titles on there right out of the box. That means you can download a game like Astro Bot or Spider-Man 2 and it will fit along with another dozen games or so to keep you entertained. Plus, the backwards compatibility is just fantastic – you can load up old PS4 games and they just run smoothly. If you need more space you can always just pop in an M.2 SSD which takes just a minute to do and will give you even more room to play with. And because you can just download games digitally you never have to swap out a disc mid-session and that means no interruptions to your gaming sessions.



The performance is identical to the full PS5, with no concessions in speed or graphics. Ray-tracing in titles like Demon’s Souls improves shadows and reflections, while a 120Hz refresh rate in shooters makes action appear incredibly fluid. And, given how fast SSDs are now, you’ll be able to load games in seconds rather than minutes. The DualSense controller gives wonderfully lifelike sensation, and the customizable triggers make you feel like you’re actually in the game.


Sony’s exclusive games like God of War Ragnarök and Ghost of Yōtei launch are all optimized for the hardware. And the cloud saves sync your progress across all your devices if you have a PlayStation Portal, so you can just pick up where you left off on whatever device you’re on.