Following speculation that a 'slim' model was in the pipeline Sony officially announced the PS3 CECH-2000 on August 18, 2009 at the Sony Gamescom press conference. The PS3 slim (officially called the PS3 CECH-2000) features an upgradeable 120GB hard drive and is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and consumes 34% less power than previous models. The cooling system has been redesigned and Cell processor has moved to a 45nm manufacturing process.
The PS3 slim also includes support for BRAVIA Sync allowing control of the console over HDMI and runs quieter than previous models but no longer has the ability to install third party operating systems such as Linux. The PS3 slim is priced at $299 United States/€299 European Union/£249 United Kingdom/AU$499 Australia/NZ$629 New Zealand/MXN$3,999 Mexico/ P 10,000 Russia/¥29980 Japan and was officially released on September 1, 2009 in North America and Europe and on September 3, 2009 in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. However, some retailers such as Amazon.com, Best Buy, and GameStop started to sell the PS3 slim on August 25, 2009. FCC filings also reveal a second slim model, the 250GB CECH-2000B.
The PlayStation 3 Slim has received extremely positive reviews as well as a boost in sales, less than 24 hours after its announcement the PS3 Slim took the number-one bestseller spot on Amazon.com in the video games section for fifteen consecutive days before regaining the position again one day later. The PS3 Slim also received praise from PC World giving it a 90 out of a 100 praising its new repackaging and the new value it brings at a lower price as well as praising its quietness and the reduction in its power consumption. This is in stark contrast to the original PS3's launch in which it was given position number-eight on their "The Top 21 Tech Screwups of 2006" list. CNET awarded the PS3 Slim four out of five stars praising its Blu-Ray capabilities, 120GB hard drive, free online gaming service and more affordable pricing point, but complained about the lack of backwards compatibility for PlayStation 2 games. TechRadar gave the PS3 Slim four and a half star out of five praising its new smaller size and summed up its review stating, "Over all, the PS3 Slim is a phenomenal piece of kit. It's amazing that something so small can do so much", however they criticized the exterior design of the PS3 Slim as being "ugly".