Last week, new PlayStation 5 models went on sale in some markets, and the only visible difference was the ability to tighten and loosen the screws on the stand by hand, without the need for a screwdriver.

However, this change did not account for the not-so-large weight difference of 300 g between the two PS5 units. This may not sound like much, but it is not insignificant, as the new revision is about 4.5% lighter than the original hardware.

YouTuber Austin Evans paid an exorbitant amount of money to have the new PS5 Digital Edition (model number CFI-1100B) shipped overnight from Japan to California to compare it to the US released model (CFI-1015B).

The weight difference turned out to be due to the cooling system. And as the provocative name of the video ("The new PS5 is worse") suggests, early adopters have reason to rejoice.

In short, the new PS5 uses a smaller heat sink. It's a much smaller heat sink:

"Totally, it's like the heat sink has been cut in half," Evans exclaims, somewhat surprised.

"There's no scenario where this is a good idea," he adds.

Disassembling a bit more, we weigh the two heat sinks. Sure enough, this was the source of the 300 g discrepancy.

So how does this actually affect performance? Well, early in the video Evans had already obtained some data by connecting two PS5s and letting them idle in the included Astro's Playroom. As you might expect, the smaller the heatsink, the higher the temperature, and according to Seek's thermal camera, the newer model was "fairly consistently 3-5 degrees hotter."

"It may not seem exciting, but this is enough temperature to make some difference in the performance and longevity of the console," Evans explains.

There is a slight advantage. According to the sound meter, the new PS5 is slightly quieter in operation, from 42.1db to 43.5db. But even that is not much of a plus." I can say with great confidence that "if you are more than a few feet away from either one, technically this one might be a little quieter, [but] it's not something you would notice.

And the purpose of the new revision seems to be to reduce Sony's manufacturing and shipping costs, which makes sense given that the company recently stated that it is no longer making losses on its consoles.

Obviously it is not a good thing that the new console runs a little hotter, but if you are still looking for PS5 inventory, it will ultimately have little impact. However, it does give early adopters one more reason to be happy.