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SonyPS4-Feature

The big news at Sony'due south PlayStation unveil was the PS4 Pro, merely it'due south not the but new console coming to market. Sony'due south new PlayStation four Slim (Sony is but calling information technology the PS4, but we need to differentiate it from the current platform) is already shipping to retailers and will be on store shelves past September 15 for $299.

Sony'due south "Slim" versions of its consoles accept ofttimes removed functionality when they hit lower price points, but the PS4 hasn't lost much in this redesign. The new Slim design drops the optical sound out and some of the fan vents, merely reviewers who've had fourth dimension with the pattern say it's actually quieter — provided you aren't using the Blu-ray drive. That's patently actually gotten louder. The hard drive can exist swapped (earlier rumors suggested this function might accept been removed).

The lack of UHD Blu-ray support means that there'southward fiddling reason to opt for the Slim if y'all already own a PS4, and while Sony wants this panel to entreatment to buyers who "haven't joined the PS4 community simply yet," it'south not clear why this platform would convince them to practise so. Sony touts the fact that "nosotros've reduced volume by 30 percent, weight by 16 percent, and power consumption by 28 per centum" compared with the original PS4, but we don't know anyone who put off ownership a next-gen gaming platform until ability consumption came down past 30%. That degree of power savings does imply that Sony did a dice compress for the PS4, simply whether they built it on 20nm or 14nm is open to speculation for now.

HDR-vs-SDR

SDR on the left, HDR on the right

The one major upgrade coming to all PS4s is HDR back up. High Dynamic Range lighting tin can offer superior visuals compared to standard television, but only if your TV supports information technology. It's mostly been touted every bit a 4K characteristic, but the PS4 lacks a UHD Blu-ray histrion and Sony simply mentioned 4K streaming support for the PS4 Pro, not the PS4. Presumably some games will get an HDR update, forth with upcoming games like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

On a personal notation, I'one thousand surprised that Sony chose non to upgrade whatever role of the PlayStation 4'south hardware or to add together additional capabilities. Leaving UHD Blu-ray off both consoles was a surprise — Sony has always aggressively supported new media standards, fifty-fifty when doing so significantly increased the launch price of the PS3. The company may no longer believe that physical media is worth supporting with its consoles and the Xbox 360's lack of Blu-ray playback didn't hurt its popularity — simply with Microsoft having already promised 4K playback with the Xbox One Southward, it's odd that neither of Sony's consoles will answer that challenge.

At that place was no particular focus on PlayStation VR, fifty-fifty though that peripheral is supposed to launch in just over a month. Mark Cerny has said that PlayStation 4 Pro users will run across improved VR operation thanks to better hardware, but VR itself wasn't a major theme. Surveys take suggested that developers and game studios are watching closely to run across if Sony'south VR experiment succeeds — simply Sony isn't playing up the capability as much equally y'all'd await. We'll know soon enough if that was a strategic decision or a sign of problem.