PSP Go Gets Butchered (teardown)

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Not due to be released until the beginning of October, a PSP Go demo unit (shipped to G4TV) has already earned itself a teardown from [iFixit]. Among what was discovered:

– Once a few screws are removed, the battery is user replaceable (as-in: no soldering iron required)

– Wireless connectivity is only supplied through a 802.11b chip (no update to ‘n’, or even ‘g’, by Sony)

– Almost all chips are EMI-shielded (making them a bit more annoying to get to)

With a cheaper version of the PS3 ready to hit shelves, one can only wonder whether the relatively high price tag on this new PSP is worth it.

Update: It seems as though no party involved wanted the info leaked this early, which explains why the video and picture gallaries (up courtesy of Google) have been removed.

Update 2: The article (linked above) and video are now available. An explanation on why Sony had them remove the items for quite some time (plus some repair manuals) was posted by iFixit.

20 thoughts on “PSP Go Gets Butchered (teardown)

  1. @Ted, fail:
    Maybe I’m just behind the times but I don’t know many people that have an 11Mbps+ internet connection that would be bottlenecked by 802.11b. On top of that they probably have some sort of speed limit below that on the store to control bandwidth.

    @Skitchin: Maybe you’re talking about some other Sony hardware but the PSP does have an FPU and VFPU. Although they were quite stingy with RAM for the PSP.

  2. @marshallh

    my linksys WRT54 gets what? something like 30 mbit max. It’s not like your 11 Mbit AP is going to deliver 11 Mbit continuous, and even if it does so, my 20Mbit ADSL2 (very common in the Netherlands) _Will_ saturate it.

    because my 2000 also has B, I for shure, won’t upgrade.

  3. I agree that most people don’t have enough speed to cap 11Mbps+ 802.11b — however, most situations don’t allow for the full speed of a spec to be realized. Not to mention the fact that b has worse range than g or n, it does make the decision by Sony more than a little disappointing. The other problem is that some people’s networks are set up specifically not to be dual/tri-mode, because a single b devices bottlenecks all the devices on it to b speeds. It really is unfortunate they went with that chip, while pretty much all other modern devices are coming out with at least g.

    Not to mention that if I had one, I’d want it running a custom firmware anyway (like my PSP-1000 does now) so that I can use it for a variety of unintended applications… :D

  4. While I can understand not liking that it doesn’t have g, every other PSP uses b also so it’s not a loss, just no gain. And that’s the whole problem with the Go, it brings few advantages with many disadvantages over the old PSP models.

    Advantages: Smaller, Bluetooth.

    Disadvantages: Costs a lot more, smaller screen, no UMD drive, new accessory connection, no removable battery.

    For owners of the old PSP I see no reason to “upgrade,” and for perspective owners the price tag alone would make me think twice about which model to get.

  5. To me it sounds like the PSP go is pretty stable.. but as the person right before me posted.. there are a lot more disadvantages on it then there are on the regular PSP’s. I have to say though… one of his disadvantages are incorrect, because when it was talking about the “breaking down” of it, the specifically said it only takes two screws to get to the battery… (unless I read incorrectly).

    The whole 802.11 thing I am not really sure about. I never really thought about it being so low.. or maybe possibly so high. Considering this device has to download games in order to play them..I hope they have a bigger bit of memory and etc on it.

    Still seems like a good investment.. maybe for the rich for the time being. I’m still trying to get my hands on just a PSP in general that doesn’t cost and arm an a leg if you do not mind me saying.

  6. 802.11b is not only slow & low range but it also causes g & n networks in the area to fall back to compatibility mode. Yes, your neighbor’s Sory PSP can ruin your wireless network connection.

    Overpriced leftovers in a fancy case again.

  7. It will become worth having, only after somebody breaks into it and gets custom firmware on it. Looks like a PSP designed for people who don’t want to play PSP games (no UMD) i.e. for hacking. The small form factor and slide-open gimmick are its sole selling point until then. I love my model 3000 (unhacked) and Gen1 PS3 (plays PS1/PS2 and runs PS3buntu); I don’t see how Sony figures they can make money by continually cutting the balls out of their products.

  8. Got the new PSP GO today in Australia. Was time for an upgrade lol. I have the Old Original still workin PSP-1000. Pretty good price i get Gran Turismo with it so im happy. picked it up for $398AUS. So far so good the features are almost simmilar to the update which ive got on my old psp but it is way slicker lighter by heaps lol. cant wait to get a game on it and let you guys know how it realy feels. love that its got the 16GB on oard memory. If the PSP Go could be hacked it would be even better.
    Will get back to you guys soon as i play a game on it and do some other stuff with it too.

  9. just a fyi all, psp 4000 has a umd slot, this is more for people who ONLY want to play legit games(ie, bought through psp store)
    *hugs his 1001 5.0 m33-6*
    btw, anyone know what the funky little connector near the headphones can be used to do?

  10. hi. There. Just. Saw. A. Psp. Go. Magic. Show. With. 4. Psp. Gos. That’s. 1.92. Ghz. If. In. A. Raid. 256. Mb. Of. Ram. If. In. A. Raid. And. 64. Gb. Of. Flash. Memory. In. A. Raid. Or. 4 x. 480. MHz. CPUs. 4. X. 64. Mb. Of. Ram. And. 4. X. 16. Gb. Flash. Drives. Bascaly. You. Get. A. Green. Ps3

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