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Specifications

PlayStation 5 Slim Specifications

Complete verified specifications for the Sony PlayStation 5 Slim, including our measured figures rather than manufacturer claims.

Last revised

Full specifications for the Sony PlayStation 5 Slim, as measured and verified during our review rather than copied from a press release. Where our figure differs from the manufacturer's, ours is the one listed.

At a glance

Manufacturer
Sony
Released
2023
Category
Gaming
Price at review
£479
Our score
4 / 5

Full specifications

SpecificationValue
Output4K 120Hz, 8K capable
ChipCustom AMD Zen 2 / RDNA 2
RAM16GB GDDR6
Storage1TB NVMe
Weight3.2kg
Power draw201W under load
Load time4.1s average

How we verified these figures

Nothing on this page is copied from a press release. Each unit spends two weeks as the reviewer’s only games machine, across a fixed set of twelve titles. The same twelve games on every device, handhelds at a metered 200 nits, consoles on a calibrated 4K 120Hz OLED.

What we measureHow
Play timeBattery life in three demanding titles at default settings, averaged, from full to shutdown.
Sustained frame rateThirty minutes of continuous play, reporting the 1% low rather than the average.
Load timeCold boot to playable across ten titles, timed to the tenth of a second.
Thermals and noiseSurface temperature at the grip and fan noise at 30cm after the sustained run.
Power drawAt the wall under load, because it is the running cost nobody quotes.

We deliberately do not publish peak frame rates in menus, and any performance figure from a launch trailer. Handheld battery figures assume default power profiles; capping frame rate changes them substantially.

How it compares in the category

A specification only means something next to the alternatives. These are the gaming we have measured under the same conditions.

ModelReleasedPriceOur scoreBest for
Xbox Series S2020£2494 / 5A second TV, a first console, or Game Pass on a budget
Switch OLED2021£3094 / 5Families, and anyone who wants Nintendo games
PlayStation 5 Slim (this page)2023£4794 / 5Living-room play where exclusives and controller feel matter most
Steam Deck OLED2023£4795 / 5Anyone with a large Steam library who wants it to just work
Xbox Series X2020£4794 / 5Anyone who plays broadly rather than chasing exclusives
Ayaneo Air 1S2023£6493 / 5Travel, where weight and size matter more than battery

What the spec sheet leaves out

  • Sustained performance — the output figure above is a capability, not a promise about what happens after twenty minutes
  • How it behaves when warm, which is where most of the difference between similarly specified gaming actually lives
  • Software support length, which decides how long this stays usable and appears on no specification sheet we have seen
  • The thing we actually noticed most: it drew 201W under load, down 18 percent from the launch console

What the numbers mean in use

Specifications describe capability, not experience. In practice the detail that mattered most was this: it drew 201W under load, down 18 percent from the launch console. That is the sort of thing a table cannot capture.

Strengths on paper and in practice

  • The DualSense haptics are still the best controller feedback in gaming
  • A strong exclusive library
  • Quiet under load compared with the launch model

Known limitations

  • Storage expansion needs a specific NVMe spec
  • The disc drive is a £99 extra on the digital model
  • The stand is sold separately, which is petty

Who this suits

This hardware is a good fit for living-room play where exclusives and controller feel matter most.

Behind this page

What this page covers — PlayStation 5 Slim Specifications
Where this page sits in the reference library.

This reference page is written from the same testing notes as the reviews it supports, and it is revised whenever the hardware or the software underneath it changes. Where a figure appears here it has been measured rather than quoted from a specification sheet.

If something on this page no longer matches what you are seeing, it is out of date rather than disputed — tell us and it gets checked again.

The reviews this page supports go into the measurements behind these figures, and the knowledge base collects every reference page we keep.

Elsewhere in specifications: ROG Ally X Specifications, Razer Blade 16 Specifications and Roborock S9 MaxV Specifications.

Frequently asked questions

They are listed in full above, including our own measured figures where they differ from the manufacturer.
It launched in 2023 at £479.
Only where we could not measure them ourselves. Everything measurable was measured here, and where the two disagree the figure above is ours.
£479 in 2023. Street prices drift below that within months.
The hardware figures do not. Measured performance and battery life absolutely can, in both directions, which is why we re-test after major updates.

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