Let’s face it; PS3 Slim news is everywhere and looks like every gaming website is squeezing in information that’s not even news anymore. And there were debates about the PS3 Slim getting any actual upgrades compared to its fat, older brothers.

While many speculations were floating around the web, Kombo came up with an interesting article about how PS3 Slim is getting performance upgrades. They borrowed a statement from IBM, the Cell processor manufacturer for PS3, admitting that the (Cell for PS3 Slim) is “manufactured using an advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process,” bringing “many performance improvements while drawing less power than earlier chips.”

So what kind of performance improvements?
Not much news about that, except for an interesting find from Engadget about PS3 Slim.

They’ve found that the PS3 Slim can “bitstream” Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Audiophiles (and 90% of wannabes who think they are audiophiles) rejoice.

To put it simply, the old fat PS3 had to internally decode the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA formats. This means an additional processing step before the sound goes to the receiver, thus risking a lower sound quality. Now with PS3 Slim, it can directly bitstream the audio information without the extra processing step that can translate to lower sound quality. In the audiophile world, more processing steps usually means degrading the original sound quality.

So there you have it. PS3 Slim is not just about being lighter, smaller and more efficient; it’s also about being smarter about performance management.