With so many YouTube channels and creators who disassemble new hardware the moment they can get their hands on any, Sony has preempted them and released their own teardown of the PlayStation 5 hardware.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: the PS5 is big

As Yasuhiro Ootori stated, the console—with disk drive—is 104mm wide, 390mm high, and 260mm deep. For my fellow imperial unit using friends, that's 4.1" wide, 15.4" high, and 10.2" deep. For comparison, the PS4 Pro is 55mm (2.17") wide, 328mm (12.9") high, and 295mm (11.6") deep.

The primary reasons for the larger dimensions are the increased power, of course, and more robust thermal management and cooling. It's got a massive 120mm fan which looks to be at least twice as tall as standard 120mm PC case fans; it looks like the kind of fan you'd see on top of a CPU heat sink. Several Japanese outlets who have received PS5 units (Famitsu, 4Gamer, AV Watch) have commented on how quiet the hardware is already. Not having to turn game volume up to drown out the fans at max speed sounds like a luxury for PlayStation owners.

The side panels are user removable

I'm not a huge fan of the predominantly white PS5 console, so seeing the side panels come off was a relief to me. I guarantee that some folks who dislike them will run the console "naked" in protest but for the less extreme, it means being able to replace them with third party or, hopefully, official solutions at some point. It also means third party skins like Dbrand (not sponsored) or similar may be easier to apply around launch.

Sony is serious about temps and keeping their hardware cool

The PlayStation 5 is using a liquid metal thermal interface material, which I'm sure doesn't mean much to the average consumer. I'm going to oversimplify but this strongly suggests the PS5 will dissipate heat from the SoC much better than the PlayStation 4 did. The reason this reveal means very little to most is because it's not something that's easy to do and thus is not as common. It's an impressive feat of engineering to see it in a console that can be purchased for $399. I can't say whether it will work the way Sony says and for the entire lifetime of the console, but it is a sign of their commitment to addressing how hot powerful hardware will get because of physics.

The stand is neat, albeit over-engineered

It's neat that the stand can be used in both orientations and that it thoughtfully stows the screw/screw hole cover; it's well designed but almost comically overdone. Xbox UK's now removed tweet digging at the stand was great and they should have stood by it. Some, however, will be annoyed that the Series X stand can't be removed in the more commonly used horizontal orientation, which throws off its symmetry. The real moral here is for console makers to stop trying to get gamers to stand their consoles up vertically.