The new PS5 “Slim” is not more powerful than the version it replaces. But it relies on more extensive storage, which increases to 1 TB… on paper. What is the real storage capacity?
The new PlayStation 5 “Slim”, more compact than the model launched in November 2020, is available from November 24 in France. This is an aesthetic overhaul to gain compactness, in no case a more powerful version (as the PS4 Pro was for the PS4). There is still a small change inside: the SSD storage capacity goes from 825 GB to 1 TB.
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Well, 1 TB… not quite. You may be aware that there is always a difference – downward – between the storage capacity advertised and that which owners actually have. Thus, the 2020 PS5 was satisfied with 667 GB. For the PlayStation 5 Slim, you will have to make do with 822.3 GB out of the box. Also announced at 1 TB, the Xbox Series X makes do with 802 GB.
Why the 1TB PS5 doesn’t really have 1TB
Video game consoles are not the only devices to observe this phenomenon of loss between what is written on the technical sheet and what is displayed in the settings (the real usable space). It’s the same for your smartphone, your tablet or your PC. Two reasons explain this difference: the manufacturers’ calculation method and the place occupied by the operating system.
There is in fact a difference between the decimal measurement used by manufacturers (1 GB = 1 billion bytes) and the binary measurement used by operating systems (1 GB ≈ 1.07 billion bytes), reducing thus the space available to the user. Companies therefore round to their advantage, knowing that it is prettier, from a marketing point of view, to announce 1 TB rather than 822.3 GB.
The other reason is linked to the operating system installed on the device and which, inevitably, takes up space. The more advanced it is, the heavier it weighs in the available space. That of the PS5 is complete, for example, and peaks at almost 15 GB (incompressible data).
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It is possible to scrape around ten GB with the PS5, by deleting the video game Astro’s Playroom (which is installed by default). In short, you have a total of 833.3 GB of usable space, on an SSD which is actually 848 GB.
As a reminder, the PlayStation 5 can accommodate an additional SSD to expand its storage capacity. Simply remove one of the protective plates, under which is hidden a compartment in which you can insert a compatible SSD. This feature allows you to install many more games.
