Should You Buy a PS3 ?

Deciding whether to purchase the PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, or Xbox 360 can be a troubling task.

While all three systems are vastly superior to their previous generation counter-parts, there is however, a list of five specifications that must come to mind when making this decision. Below I have listed those five reasons, followed by the technical specifications of the PS3, which hopefully will guide in your decision making.

#1 - The PS3 Has Hi-Def/Blu-ray

Probably the most famous feature of them all, both the Xbox 360 and the Wii function using an older disc technology, whereas the PS3 is the only system that offers Blu-ray (hi def).

#2 - Ease of Use, Affordability

Although the window-sticker price of the PS3 is higher than the Wii or Xbox 360, the amount of features that come with it more than make up for it. Take the controllers for example. All three systems have wireless controllers, but only the PS3's DualShock 3 is the only controller that's completely rechargeable right out of the box.

#3 - The PS3 Features Games for the Novice; as well as the Connoisseur.

All three consoles have a wide variety of incredible games. Most major American and European games appear on all three systems; however, the PlayStation 3 has the support of Japanese developers. And last time I looked all the great stuff is made in Japan. In addition, consider the unique Japanese and independent games that only the PS3 gets.

Play Station 3

#4 - The PS3 Dominates with Multimedia and Non-Gaming Features

The PS3 shows pictures, plays videos and music either downloaded, or even from a USB. Now, I know the Xbox 360 shares this commonality, but only the PS3 will allow you to remotely stream to your PlayStation Portable. This simply means you can easily access your media, including Blu-ray discs, on the road while using your PSP. In addition, The PS3 also fully supports the Linux operating system, which allows it to be used for a variety of non-gaming purposes. (except your love-life)

#5 - Online Gaming is Free and Easy

All three systems offer web-surfing and the ability to purchase games online. However, online gaming on the PS3 is both easy and free; with no extra fees or complicated friend codes required. The PS3 also offers a unique and free virtual world called Home, where you can chat, hang out and play games with other PS3 owners.

Lastly I have just one extra reason to consider, perhaps the best feature yet. The PS3 has teamed up with Stanford University scientists as they can now actually perform cancer research using your systems spare computational cycles. This of course happens while you are not gaming.

PlayStation 3 Specifications and Details

CPU: Cell Processor 

• PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz 

• 1 VMX vector unit per core 

• 512KB L2 cache

• 7 x SPE @3.2GHz 

• 7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs 

• 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE 

• * 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU: RSX @550MHz

• 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance

• Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels

• Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing)

Memory: 

• 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz

• 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth:

• Main RAM: 25.6GB/s

• VRAM: 22.4GB/s

• RSX: 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)

• SB: 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance: 2 TFLOPS

Storage:

• HDD

• Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O:

• USB: Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0) 

• Memory Stick: standard/Duo, PRO x 1 

• SD: standard/mini x 1 

• CompactFlash: (Type I, II) x 1

Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x3 (input x 1 + output x 2)

Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller:

• Bluetooth (up to 7)

• USB2.0 (wired)

• Wi-Fi (PSP®)

• Network (over IP)

AV Output:

• Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p 

• HDMI: HDMI out x 2 

• Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1 

• Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

CD Disc media (read only):

• PlayStation CD-ROM

• PlayStation 2 CD-ROM

• CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW

• SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD

• DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)

DVD Disc media (read only):

• PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM

• PLAYSTATION 3 DVD-ROM

• DVD-Video: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW

Blu-ray Disc media (read only):

• PLAYSTATION 3 BD-ROM

• BD-Video: BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE