PS3: Do I REALLY need a 250 GB system?

[Kumo]

What are the benefits to getting the 250GB PS3 system compared to the other one? Does the extra memory REALLY constitute paying the extra $150 (here in the USA).

Has anybody come close to filling up the 120 GB smaller one? And is there an add on you can get if you want a bigger sized HD? I'd like to find this out before I buy one. THanks if you can help.

[Shoeberto]

Nah, honestly, that's just something they can throw in as a perk. I have an 80gb system and I probably have 60-70gb of free space still, with something like ten games, after about six months of ownership. The only way it'll really fill up is if you actually download a lot of games and demos and never delete them.

[Raistlin]

As Hsu said, it depends on how much you play, but you should really be fine with a smaller HD. 250 GB is an obscene amount to me.

[Kumo]

I'm not a person that really throws things away or sells them. I make my purchases after hearing the reviews and all that. I have like 40-50 PS2 games, but I don't think it will get that out of hand with the PS3. Is the 120 big enough for 30-ish games?

[Slothy]

Is the 120 big enough for 30-ish games?

Easily. I'm a little shy of thirty I believe and have a launch model 60GB system. Some demos and game installs can get pretty big (I've seen many demos over 1GB, and numerous game installs in the 5GB range), but as long as you delete the things when you're done playing them you'll be fine. Actual save files aren't really an issue because I don't think I've ever seen one over 8Mb.

[Raistlin]

You should be fine. If you find yourself needing more space, you can buy a larger HD separately for less money.

[Rad Bromance]

Does the extra memory REALLY constitute paying the extra $150 (here in the USA).

No. :greenie:

I have a 40GB model, and have never come close to filling it up. Of course, I only use mine for gaming and my PC as a PC. Some people want to do everything on their PS3, such as have their entire music/picture/movie library saved on it, so I can see how that extra space would come in handy then. :D

[Rostum]

If you really want more space, just buy a seperate hard drive and slap that in. It'll be so much cheaper.

[JKTrix]

Really depends on your consumption. If you anticipate downloading a lot of demos, downloading a lot of High Definition videos, installing a lot of games, utilize those games that allow you to capture gameplay footage, etc... Then yeah, go for the 250. The PS3 is my least played system, and I have a launch model 60 GB, and it took me just under a year to fill it up. I have a 120GB 360 Elite, also filled that up recently. On a separate matter, i have about 3 terabytes of 'stuff' plugged into my PC right now.

So it depends. I think you will be okay with the 120, though. You don't have to keep everything, particularly game installs for games you don't play anymore, or demos for games you already own.

[Slothy]

Really depends on your consumption. If you anticipate downloading a lot of demos, downloading a lot of High Definition videos, installing a lot of games, utilize those games that allow you to capture gameplay footage, etc... Then yeah, go for the 250. The PS3 is my least played system, and I have a launch model 60 GB, and it took me just under a year to fill it up. I have a 120GB 360 Elite, also filled that up recently. On a separate matter, i have about 3 terabytes of 'stuff' plugged into my PC right now.

I'll grant you that gameplay footage may take up a lot of space if you use it a lot (I don't myself), but unless you're playing a game or demo a lot there's no reason to keep it on your hard drive. I don't care how many demos you download, you'll never have so many on a regular basis that it becomes a problem for a 120GB hard drive (if you actually hold onto a demo for more than a week you should probably just buy the game anyway).

Game installs aren't a huge deal anyway. Once you've put a game aside for a while there's no reason to keep it on unless you intend to get back to it soon. You'd have to really, really hate the install times and have a lot of games to really fill 120GB with game installs.

[Aydin]

Unless you're actually going to use the PS3 for downloading movies and all that jazz, you'll be fine. :)

[Shadowdust]

As others have already mentioned, it's really about assessing your needs. If you plan to use the PS3 as an all in one type media center, then a hard drive upgrade may be necessary. No matter what though, I do not recommend buying the 250 GB version. For less than $150 you could upgrade that drive to a decent 500 to 640 GB drive.

I bought the 40 GB version back in 2008 and promptly upgraded to 250 GB since I planned on downloading videos as well as some PS1 classics. With games and videos installed, I've used a good 70 GB or so. Not to mention, even with the 250 GB drive, only around 200 GB is usable.

[Yeargdribble]

Wait? Since when does the 250 GB cost $450? I thought they were $350. The only way your math seems to work out is if you're getting some sick bundle like the all the BF adds where you're essentially getting $100 worth of games free with a 120 GB at $300.

Fifty bucks isn't bad if for no other reason than to save you the hassle, but I'd probably still go with the 120 and self-upgrade myself if it became necessary (my present course of action as a matter of fact). The 120 is only sweetened by the bundle if that is indeed the case.

[Vyk]

If you want to download and keep every demo and video that slightly perks your interest then maybe. I frequently clean out stuff on my 120gb 360 that I've had for a year and a half, and consistently hang around 80gb of free space, with usually no more than 3 installed games at a time. Just delete your installs once you're done, and get rid of old demos and smaller hard drives are plenty. As others said

[Kumo]

Guess the places I saw some of them at were doing the bundle deal, hence why it's more expensive. You're right though, $299 and $349 . . .

How long ago were the Slims released? And what was the amount of time between their release and the last one? I'm wondering if I should hold off until March around my Bday in hopes of another release with even MORE data storage for the same price.

[Bolivar]

The slim was released at the end of August/Beginning of September this year. The model before that was the 80GB 2USB slots, no Backwards Compatibility, in summer of 2008.

The answer to your last question in your last post, as well as your original question, is no, you probably shouldn't buy a unit with more storage, nor wait for a bigger storage unit. If you need more hard drive space, you should buy it yourself, since replacing them on PS3's is super easy - you litterally unscrew something, slide out the drive, then slide in a new one and screw it back on. Getting your own hard drive is super cheap compared to the $50 you'll spend extra on a 250GB.

There's many solutions instead of getting a hard drive as well. Like people have said, if you ONLY use your PS3 to play video games, than your game installs will probably never fill it up. This is mostly true because fewer and fewer games on the PS3 are running on installs anymore. Because Blu Rays are so massive, they just run the uncompressed data. Also, I usually expect a demo to be larger than 1GB, but they too are beginning to get smaller, plus you can always delete those once you know you're done with them. Same for video files.

However, if you want to use your PS3 to watch downloaded videos and movies on your TV (like I do) and save some of your music collection to play with games that have custom soundtrack enabled, or hell, even put your photos on it to look at them through the cool photo viewer, then this is where other solutions come in. External hard drives are even ridiculously cheaper than internal ones, so you can just keep that plugged in via USB to your PS3 to accomplish that. Of course, you can choose not to buy any hard drive at all. You could just download a media server application. If you have wireless or can broadcast a signal, your PS3 will be able to pick up media servers and stream them wirelessly from your PC. If you have a decent connection, this is probably the best and easiest way to go.

Recap/For those with attention deficiency disorders, here is a summarized snippet of the general ramblings for you to ponder over -

No, you shouldn't buy a more expensive model/wait for one with more storage. You should buy the cheapest one, and if you find you need more space, either a) buy a hard drive on your own, b) buy an external hard drive, or c) download a media server application.

Any of these solutions would be much cheaper and much better than spending the extra money.

[Yeargdribble]

Yeah, I'll second that. I've been watching the PS3 thing for years waiting to get one. If you're waiting for the next big thing it's probably at least another year off.

Get it now and get the cheap one. The only reason to pay a bit more for the 250 is if you just don't ever want to be bothered to replace the HD yourself. But keep in mind, you can slap a 500 GB in there for nearly the price difference of the two units if you're a savvy HD shopper.

Plus, you probably just won't need the space, and if you do, you won't for a long time.

Sadly, you missed the best Black Friday deals where virtually everywhere had insane bundles. Never know though.

Check out cheapassgamer.com if you want to really keep an eye on good deals. I live by it.

[Yrkoon]

it doesnt matter what size of hard drive your ps3 comes with as you can install a nice cheap laptop harddrive into it pretty easily :)

plus it all depends on what you use it for i have 166 gig free from my 250 that actually has 232 total :)

i have some small video files encoded for my psp on it and a load of psn titles plus game installs and that much space is taken up.

again it all depends on what sort of deal you can get it worked out better for me to get a 250 gig model with the package deal and only cost 30 more than my dads 120 gig.

dads 120 gig was basically ps3 and dirt 2 = £250 my 250 gig was ps3 + assasins creed 2, dark knight bluray, wolverine bluray and the £18 bluray remote for about £280 so in all a much better deal on the 250 and both were bought off line :)

[Croyles]

Get the 120 one. The 250gb is not worth the price. Plus you can always put in your own harddrive for a lot cheaper.

[Kumo]

I'm sold on the fact that you can use the USB to put things on an external HD. I'm guessing USB Jump drives work too then?

[razorrozar7]

You don't need a 250gb one. You need to buy a used 60gb one that has full backwards-compatibility. Smurf extra space.

Anyway, my buddy bought a 500gb laptop hard drive and put it in his 60gb backwards-compatible PS3. Pwned.

EDIT: Crud, didn't notice thread was necro. My bad admins.

[Wolf Kanno]

As long as you have learned your lesson. ;)