That thing is a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY.
What surprised me more is their ballsy move of using Liquid Metal A lot of things can go wrong with the application.. Although they're not the first manufacturer to ship units with LM, but this is a very welcoming change. Now it makes more sense as to why people were saying the system was super quiet. Better TIM means and a capable cooling solution should mean it doesn't need to ramp up the fans too much.
Also that foam barrier is a page taken out of the laptop overclockers. I was planning to do this on an Alienware 17 R5 2 years ago but it was difficult to find a good foam to use since you can't have it too porous otherwise the potential LM beads will slip through and short your board. You also can't have it to stiff otherwise it will push up the IHS and shit mounting pressure will screw your setup.
Now if they use a good quality Nickel plated IHS and the procedures of application is very good, this thing will last the console's lifetime. If Sony succeeds, here's hoping more manufacturers make this a standard and portal devices like gaming phones and the Nintento Switch follow suit. The latter is a pipe dream since portable devices have inconsistent mounting pressures and gets jostled around too much which could cause failure.
Essay Pro