The PS4 fans were quite loud as the games got more demanding.

I think they are cognizant of this going into this generation of consoles.

Possibly over compensating but personally prefer a larger console for a more quiet experience.

It seems cooling and power needs for more recent hardware have called for larger designs to compensate for larger heatsinks, fans, ventilation systems, etc. The actual SoC is quite thin.

Watch the teardown, the heatsink and fan are absolutely huge.

Biggest complaint with the PS4 Pro was noise with certain games. Think this is to address that.

Really off putting. It looks to be due to cooling and unnecessary contours. I’m not sure this fits in my entertainment stand and I have a rather large family room entertainment unit.

I owned 3 Xbox 360s which all failed due to cooling issues aka Red Ring of Death. More power to Sony if it results in a more reliable system.

Let's put it this way. I would rather my MacBook Pro is double its height than having this. In my PC I intentionally put a chunky, oversized cooler just for the fan to be silent as long as possible and keep the performance as long as possible. Consoles should be performance machines, in my opinion, form should follow function, and beautiful does not mean tiny.

I believe they're supposed to be able to stand horizontally as well for what it's worth.

Not interesting in a console standing on the floor in my family room.