if PS3 Slim is considered loud, i dont even want to know what any other system would be considered

Well, it is smaller and made of plastic, what do you expect. It was made cheaper for a reason........to sell cheaper.

I have a new Phat that is less than 3 months old so I am happy with it regardless.

On another note, my 360 would probably be louder than 2 slims duct-taped together so it really isnt a big deal....is it?

It's easy enough to use an ammeter or to plug the console into a power-use meter (one of the engineers who works for me owns one) and then measure the wattage.  I think I've seen numbers for the most recent fat PS3s maxing out at about 130-150 watts, and assuming the PS3 slim uses about a third less, then 100 or less watts max usage would seem about right.

By the way, the measurements were taken under various loads, i.e. - watching a Blu-Ray movie, playing games, etc.

Why would you assume that?

Also, interestingly enough, ranges of data allow for a lot more Sony spin than static numbers do, and a lot more speculation.

What is your point, exactly?

I thought we were discussing the difference between power usage of the new phats, and the slims.

Obviously the Slim NOR the phat use the amount of power the PS is rated for, but why are the power sources so close in size, if they are so vastly different in power usage.

Also, Sony admits that their own number spinnings are based upon launch consoles.

The new Slims vs the new Phats in power usage? We have no idea.

I can't say much for the slim itself.

But my PS3 is dead silent. And I can't imagine why Sony would make the slim louder than the fatties.

It would not surprise me if the Slim emitted some noise. My PS3 is noisy, but it is not intolerable.

Is there an objective test handy? Otherwise this whole thing is just blowing blue smoke.

You post this after 30-odd responses with not a bit of flammeage in any of them? This seems like a thread with very mature responses so far.

I have Phatboy pre-Slim. I'm happy with its noise output, I only really notice the noise when the fan switches off I.e. I realise the room has gone quiet, and mostly that is when there is no other sound going on in the living room. So sound attenuation means the noise of the PS3  Phat is negligible. By the look of the responses here Slim noise levels seem to be about the same or better.

Individual units maybe have the fan housing not so tightly screwed down (or however it's attached to the casing) which means more vibration when the fan is running. More vibration means more mechanical stress on the whole PS3, which means potentially higher chance of malfunction. I'd suggest taking a load PS3 (Phat or Slim) back for fixing under warranty or replacement. Given the claim by manufactuer and pundits that PS3 slim is notable quiet a loud PS3 Slim is a faulty PS3 Slim.

Some models are bound to have problems and this is the first revision of the slim. Who knows there may be a plague of failures in a few months. Time will tell but for now, with the flood of new adopters in the coming weeks, you will hear a lot more complaints about the system.