Hole On Side Of Ps4 Pro

Gaming & Culture —

PS4 Slim: A smaller, sexier console with surprisingly few compromises

Aside from the lack of an optical out, you won't miss the original PS4.

(Re)Introducing the PS4 Slim.

The PS4 Slim was announced aslope the 4K-capable PlayStation Pro at the visitor's 2016 PlayStation Meeting event. For more on the PlayStation Pro, check out our coverage from the result.

Unlike Microsoft's compact console offering, the Xbox Ane Southward, the new smaller, slimmer, less glossy PlayStation 4 doesn't support 4K (UHD) resolution. Information technology doesn't accept a 4K Blu-ray histrion, nor does it feature slightly faster graphics processing than its bigger brother. Instead, the new PS4 (which replaces the old one) is much like the PS3 Slim: a bacteria version of an existing console.

That's no bad affair. When it goes on sale on September 15 the 500GB version of the new PS4 Slim volition retail for £259/$299. That price ways the new PS4 costs largely the aforementioned as the old one, and some features accept been cut despite the lack of price reduction. That said, they're non ones most players will miss. In fact, later on a week playing around with the new PS4, I'd even say some of those cuts have fabricated it more attractive.

Thin is in

Take the light bar that once split the sleeky plastic on the left (or the top if you're one of those horizontal users) from the matte plastic below on the launch PS4, for case. Sure, the visible glow was a prissy bit of electronic bling—and arguably useful when it glowed orangish to let you know the PS4 was in rest fashion—but its removal has rid the new PS4 of the horrors of the fingerprint-friendly glossy plastic, as well equally given it a lovely compatible look.

The overall split-parallelepiped aesthetic remains, simply the precipitous, angular corners that gave the PS4 a monolithic vibe accept been rounded off for a softer look, while the matte blackness surface is much closer to the slightly rougher surface of the PS3 Slim than the original PS4, resisting fingerprints well. Aesthetics are ever going to exist divisive, simply I'g a fan of the subtler PS4 Slim.

Upwards front are the new oblong power and circular eject buttons, which are thankfully bodily physical buttons this time around, again mimicking the changes made in PS3 Slim and the Xbox One S. Why electronics companies feel overly sensitive, difficult-to-find capacitive buttons are worth the premium over far-more-practical physical buttons is puzzling, although I exercise wish the buttons on the new PS4 were a wee scrap bigger.

Higher up the power and reset buttons is the slot-loading Blu-ray drive, likewise equally two USB ports. At that place's a wide gap between them, which may seem a little odd at first, but it makes getting a cablevision into the port that much easier. Plus, those using chunky USB cables or USB sticks will have no trouble filling both ports at the same fourth dimension. On the right of the new PS4, tucked into the gap between the two halves of the console, are teeny square, triangle, circumvolve, and cross symbols, the circle doubling up every bit a hole to insert the optional vertical stand.

Unlike the original PS4, which did OK without a stand, the reduced thickness of the new PS4 does brand it wobbly when stood vertically. If information technology'southward in an AV cabinet and unlikely to get knocked nigh, information technology might be fine, but for those with bustling households the stand is a wise investment.

Round the back of the new PS4 are more changes. The optical port has been removed, as has the extensive venting, leaving just the gaps effectually the border of the console to pump out hot air. Interestingly, this hasn't fabricated the console any louder. If anything, the new PS4 is actually slightly quieter than the older model, at to the lowest degree when playing downloaded games that don't use the Blu-ray drive. Unfortunately, if y'all practise demand to use the drive information technology'southward noticeably noisier than on the original PS4, emitting a rather irritating humming sound.

I/O on the new PS4 consists of gigabit Ethernet, HDMI one.four, Aux for the PlayStation camera (which y'all'll need in gild to utilize PlayStation VR), and a standard figure-viii atomic number 82 for power. Those worried that the new PS4 wouldn't feature a replaceable hard drive can rest easy; there's a removable piece of plastic on the dorsum that reveals a standard SATA difficult drive. Removing the drive requires undoing a single screw, after which the bulldoze caddy slides out.

That'southward virtually it for the panel itself, other than to say that—like the original PS4—the new PS4 rocks a wee flake when laid down flat on a table. But some of the square, triangle, circle, and cantankerous symbols that adorn the bottom of the console are raised up and made of safe. Why not just make them all the aforementioned tiptop? Not that you'd become around gently prodding PS4s to exam their balance—and if yous do, I'd suggest trying some other pastime, knitting perhaps?—but notwithstanding, it's an odd design quirk.

You love the DualShock 4 lite bar, right?

Bundled with the new PS4 are an HDMI cable, the aforementioned crappy, if functional, headphones and mic that came with the original PS4, a micro-USB cablevision, a power cable, and an updated DualShock four controller. Well, I say updated, merely the changes are small. The D-pad and analogue sticks have been given a grey makeover along with a slightly more than rubbery texture, which is easier to grip, while the light from light bar now shines through the top of the touchpad, which goes some mode towards replacing the light ring on the old PS4. The overall weight and feel of the controller is much the same as the old DualShock four. In other words, at that place's little reason to upgrade your controller.

Overstate / Updated DualShock 4 on the left, OG DualShock four on the right.

Enlarge / OG PS4 on the left, new PS4 on the right.

Similarly, there'south trivial reason to upgrade to the new PS4 panel. Those hoping that it might run cooler than the former one are out of luck: the thermal camera shows an external case temperature of effectually forty degrees later on running Resogun for half an hour—nearly exactly the temperature as my launch PS4 (your panel may vary, depending on ambient room temperature). While the AMD APU inside the new PS4 may accept may have undergone a dice compress—indeed, the similar AMD APU inside the Xbox Ane S underwent a 16nm FinFETredesign—Sony appears to take used the improved efficiency to cram the chip into a smaller case, rather than opt for a cooler console.

Unlike Microsoft, which had a lot of work to do to ready the Xbox One—or indeed Sony, which had to set the huge and costly original PS3—the original PS4 was already a desirable piece of hardware. The new PS4 isn't a big blueprint change, nor is it a desperate costcutting measure like the cheapo PS3 Super Slim. It doesn't add together new features, nor does it fix one-time issues (yet no support for 5GHz WiFi, guys? 5Ghz WiFi is supported, although I had to reboot both console and router a few times to go information technology to work), and if you need an optical out, good luck hunting downwardly an older PS4 before they disappear.

Plus, I doubt the new PS4 will convince Microsoft fans without a current-gen console to convert, especially since information technology lacks 4K Blu-ray support.

The new PS4 is only a cheaper, amend-looking PS4 that'll slide into sleeker slots in your AV chiffonier with few compromises. If you're new to the system, this is the panel to buy—at least until the PS4 Pro arrives.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/ps4-slim-review/

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