i just bought a new school psp slim and lite (PSP-2001) and i put it to the test versus my old one in load times, screen response visuals. real talk ahead; fanboys and ninthings get out.
i tested the game with: guilty gear slash; monster hunter freedom 2; dynasty warriors vol. 2; sega genesis collection.
first impressions: the new d-pad is LIGHT YEARS better. LIGHT YEARS. i quickly swapped between the two playing guilty gear slash, and while the game does a great job compensating in software for the psp-1000's shit d-pad, the raised d-pad on the 2001 felt ever so much better. i can hit dizzy's bizarre-ass supers motions 100% of the time as opposed to maybe 60%. better yet, i could do the motions much more lightly, rather than pressing down like a fiend. i played it for almost an hour in the airport with little thumb fatigue. AWESOME.
also it is so light it is freaky. the dimensions don't seem much smaller, although it FEELS thinner even as it doesn't immediately LOOK it. man, though, it feels like it weighs next to nothing. this also rocks.
screen response time: gaf lies. it IS improved, although not very much when there's large amount of blacks. dynasty warriors vol. 2 used to be a bit of a blurry mess on the 1000, but it is crystal clear on the 2001. on the other hand, sega genesis collections side scrollers with lots of black swathes like shinobi 3 didn't seem to benefit as much, although there *is* some clear improvement. basically, it seems like significantly better response times when the pixels change color, but not so much going from off->color. contrast ratio is a lot higher; it is easier to view it clearly from the sides and top/bottom. my wife will confirm this; she could even see the difference with her eyes totally rolling. also, NO DEAD PIXELS. i rock!
load times: dynasty warriors vol 2 has load times quartered, and guilty gear slash has no load hitch when going to a new stage/character. sega genesis collection, however, seems to have the same lengthy load times -- there was maybe a trivial second or two difference. booo. games that stream data seem to benefit the most; games that "chunk" whole data blocks seem to not benefit at all.
speakers are MUCH louder and clearer, and the wlan switch is wisely placed on the top. the new springless umd tray is eh. the silver glossy finish does not seem to smudge nearly as bad. lan performance/range seems roughly the same, and there are less web cache errors with the 64 MB RAM.
DOWNSIDES: no protective sleeve included! FUCK YOU SONY. also, no tv-out cables were available for sale. FUCK YOU X2, SONY.
overall, i say: WIN. it is right on the cusp of being worth an upgrade for psp fanboys. it's definitely worth choosing over the old psp if you don't have a psp. for everyone else, keep your old psp -- like i said, it's right on the cusp of being a worthy upgrade, but better pixel off->on responses need to happen.
