Although the handheld gaming trend has been going strong recently, especially with the likes of the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck leading the market, major console makers haven’t taken the plunge completely yet. Granted, Xbox isn’t too concerned because every Windows gaming handheld PC can theoretically run some of its titles, but Sony introduced a rather odd and quite unsatisfying version of this idea. The PlayStation Portal isn’t being “portable” for a reason, since it basically just streams games from the PS5 sitting somewhere in your house. Take it to more enterprising creators to bring the PlayStation 5 Portable dream to life, like this rather impressive gigantic PlayStation 5 “Tablet Edition” that is very much worth all the hard work involved.
Designer: Matthew Perks
The PlayStation 5 diverges from generations of console design with a sleek, futuristic, yet also alien aesthetic that some have compared to a trophy. But it’s especially thanks to that new design, especially the improvement Sony quietly made after launching the console, that makes this creative endeavor even possible. In a nutshell, Sony trimmed the PS5 motherboard down to a smaller size that could be made to fit inside a thick and hefty 14-inch tablet. That, however, was the least of the project’s problems, considering the things inside that actually make the bulk of the PS5’s, well, bulk.
The PlayStation 5 generates around 200W of heat at full power, so the majority of the console’s internals are actually devoted to thermal management. These include bulky fans and a strange-looking heatsink that would never fit any portable design. That’s why the majority of the effort around this PS5 tablet was spent on figuring out an equally efficient thermal management system that didn’t take up too much vertical space. Thanks to some creative thinking and a lot of research, that problem was eventually solved to much satisfaction.
With the biggest engineering hurdle out of the way, putting the rest of the giant tablet was relatively easier. A 3D-printed shell had to be made that matched the black-and-white aesthetic of the PS5. The screen of choice for this project was a 14-inch OLED salvaged from a broken laptop, allowing game graphics to really shine. Finally, an external power source had to be designed since the original PS5 power supply was just too large and too weird to use as is.
After much work, the PS5 Tablet Edition, a.k.a. PS GO, was ready to be put to the test, and the end result is truly impressive, both from the thermal aspect and especially in performance and visual quality. It’s a truly portable system that can fit inside a backpack, though you’ll have to plug it somewhere to actually use it. Then again, the idea was to create a more social console that you can take to your friend’s or relative’s house so that you can enjoy the experience together, rather than sitting in a corner, alone in the dark, mashing the buttons on your handheld PC.
