I have debated whether to share this particular rumor on these forums for the past few days. I think it will be seen as fairly inflammatory. Honestly I cannot say I do not see it as being any less then a invitation to righteous anger. This rumor goes right to the heart of what you think a PS3 ought to be. So for some it will be seen as a threat. However since the debate is shifting to possible pricing, and how Sony will be able to cut costs. I think this rumor needs to be shared, because if nothing else it only adds to constructive discussion. Before I go on let me reiterate that this is only a rumor I heard. I am not even claiming that I believe it myself. Please no knee jerk emotional responses. Think about it, and share your thoughts about how feasible this rumor actually is or is not. In other words keep the profanity to a minimum, and your civility at its maximum.

RUMOR

The new PS3 model that is being called the Slim is actually closer to a Core. This isn't hyperbole either it is quite clearly a core PS3. The new model will no longer have wireless capability. Will have almost all additional readers and ports removed. They will have also removed the hard drive from the console replaced by a cheaper internal memory. Though installation of a drive will be possible. The console will obviously not be capable of online play out of the box. Positive modifications will be a redesign of the motherboard allowing for a few new chips one being an emotion emulator, and two that will help with data management and storage. The BluRay drives read speed is also seeing a very marked increase.

I know it sounds implausible, and I entirely agree with you. The crux of the entire rumor is that the new BluRay drive, and the new chipsets will allow the system to function without a hard drive, and thus the machine would only need to be modestly online capable perhaps through a ethernet port. However if it is true it will be a massive reduction in production costs. This console may cost as much as a Wii. This rumor also does not preclude Sony having a higher end model. Honestly I am not even sure this rumor is technologically feasible. Though it definitely matches some of the rhetoric we have been reading. This could give the PS3 a seventy percent price reduction from launch prices.

Beyond the technological it seems viable. It isn't as if Sony has not done this before. So it would be in line with their thinking, and frankly it is the best option for Sony to move forward dramatically on the price front. To move to a feature light model. Anyway what is everyones thoughts about this. Do you think it is possible. Do you think this is what Sony is doing or has done. Once again don't maul me. I was really reluctant to post this, and only did so, because I thought it was necessary for the ongoing discussion.

IF this happened, watch how quickly the Xbox 360 Core becomes a perfectly acceptable hardcore gaming machine in the eyes of PS3 fanboys anywhere.

Suddenly lacking an HDD wouldn't matter.

And 360 fanboys will suddenly think it's a travesty of justice.  Fanboys suck, we get it.

How much does wifi cost?  Because it doesn't sound like the subtraction of wifi and a hdd (hdds would be super cheap for Sony to provide in bulk for PS3), and the addition of a vastly superior blu-ray drive would itself save them much money.  Doesn't seem like they could get down to Wii prices, does it?  All the other listed changes to the motherboard, etc, may provide a cost savings, but wouldn't require elimination of hdd.

I really can't imagine a machine that's not online capable, in this day and age, and given that Sony sees PSN as one of the most valuable components of the Playstation business, and one that needs to be grown.

Rumor is just that rumor. Getting rid of the wireless is silly at this point as wireless chips only cost around $3. Replacing hard drive with flash memory instead barely plausable since 40gb hard drive would be roughly equal to 40gb flash costwise. Getting lower than 2 usb ports isn't possible since there's no cost savings and going without usb ports entirely defeats their psp strategy. Faster bluray drive, maybe but I wouldn't hold my breath.

rumor? is there a blog or twitter or even a sliver of possibility of a source cause it really sounds like you wrote this whole thing.

that said, IF a slim model exist (heavily rumored i know but i'm not believing it until i see it) i wouldn't doubt some features are missing like wireless internet. i guess we'll find out (or not find out) soon enough.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to run this model along with a higher end model. As long as a separate WIFI adaptor and more user friendly HDD install (ie screwless) option is available. Maybe a 10GB flash drive would be enough to install 1 game at a time, plus a few saves etc.

After the whole 70% figure came out, I did some thinking and even after reducing the chips to 45nm (RSX and Cell), and shrinking the mobo, the cooling system, and casing, I still could not see how they reduced the price by nearly $200 more all of the sudden. It would seem they are still about $50-75 short if those were the only reductions made.

Adding a better blu-ray drive and removing the hard drive and Wi-Fi does seem very plausible as it would mean no need for installs. Not all games would work though, or would need patched as some games REQUIRE the install or the use of HDD as virtual memory.

That's a pretty dramatic redesign. The problem with removing the hard drive is compatibility with titles that require an install. Internal memory would need to be greater than 10 gig to allow up to 2 installed games at a time. The faster Blu-ray speed would remove the install requirement for newer PS3's, but it doesn't seem likely that developers will revisit their existing games to patch out the install. Many of them refuse to provide a trophy patch, I suspect that this would take much more work than that. It would be an interesting approach, but I don't think it's likely.

Would you care to provide the source of the rumor, or at least provide the credentials?

It's possible that the 70% was a comment referencing a design that is not currently in production.  It may be a design that is dependent upon getting the GPU or Cell to a certain size before it's possible to produce.  I don't think it's likely that Sony is currently manufacturing a PS3 at the 70% reduction (unless the slimline does exist).