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Sony really has come through with a smaller, lighter, quieter, and more energy-efficient piece of hardware, and at $300, even if your sole interest is a Blu-ray player, it's a hard value to beat.

A long-overdue price drop, a hard-drive bump, and a compelling physical redesign make the Sony PlayStation 3 more desirable than ever.

Factor in games, social networking features like PlayStation Home, music and custom video playback, Web surfing, and picture browsing, and this may be the best-value Sony game system yet.

With a smaller design, more energy-efficient operation, lower price tag, and built-in Blu-ray and multimedia capabilities, the PS3 Slim delivers a compelling package for an affordable price.

By lowering the price and making a more economical console, Sony's finally more or less evened the hardware landscape with Microsoft, and continued to ensure that the PS3 is still the best-value-for-your-money Blu-ray player. Now all that's left is getting some more games on there.

As the PS3 officially comes to retirement, this latest update proves one thing very clearly, in console terms, life begins at seven. Buy one now, and we're pretty sure you'll still be having fun with it in three years time.

Over all, the PS3 Slim is a phenomenal piece of kit. It's amazing that something so small can do so much. And so if you've just bought a new telly, that extra £50 you'd have to spend over the cost of an Xbox 360 Elite will be worth it just for the Blu-ray player.