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PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro and a little surprise

7.9.2016

Translation: machine translated

Christmas already? At the PlayStation meeting in New York, Sony presented two new consoles and, as a bonus, a few scenes from a highly-anticipated sci-fi game.

At this year's E3, Microsoft surprised us with not one, but two consoles. Now it's Sony's turn during the PlayStation meeting" in New York. Both manufacturers are thinking outside the box. The last generation of consoles lasted around seven years. Admittedly, small updates have been made from time to time to make them quieter and slimmer, but we can't really talk about new hardware. That's about to change. According to Microsoft, the Xbox Scorpio is set to become the fastest console on the market if it comes out in 2017. But Sony isn't going to let its Redmond rival go down without a fight, and wants to further increase its sales lead (40 million compared with 20 million). And the Japanese have a lot to answer for.
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The essentials in brief

PlayStation 4 Pro

Release: 10 November
Price: CHF 449
More than twice as fast as the current PS4
Play games and movies in 4K
HDR mastery
Benefits even without a 4K TV
No UHD Blu-ray support
1TB of memory

PlayStation 4 Slim

Release: 16 September
Price: CHF 329
HDR support, but not 4K
Physical buttons
No optical audio connection
500GB of memory

New controller and camera

Slightly revised Dualshock controller
New PlayStation camera with stand

For 4K enthusiasts and friends: PlayStation 4 Pro

The PlayStation 4 Pro is the opposite of the forthcoming Xbox Scorpio. As advertised, it masters 4K resolution and HDR-enhanced colour display, which is provided by a new AMD graphics chip that's claimed to be twice as fast as the classic PS4. In concrete terms, the PS4 Pro offers 4.2 TFLOPS. The Xbox Scorpio would have a big advantage with its promised 6 TFLOPS. However, the game demos shown were perfectly sharp and the colours powerful. PlayStation surprised with scenes from the new game "Mass Effect Andromeda". On the other hand, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was not shown.

Games must be specially optimised for the PS4 Pro to take advantage of 4K and HDR. However, gamers without 4K or HDR should also be able to enjoy the benefits of the PS4 Pro. Older games such as "Shadow of Mordor" have been refreshed with Antialiasing Supersampling.

4K under reserve: not all tites will run at full 4K resolution. Developers can choose between Resolution Mode and Quality Mode. The former sets the resolution beyond 4K, while for Quality Mode, the resolution is tailored to the game. But true 4K is apparently definitely possible as with "The Elders Scrolls Online" among others. For games with demanding graphics, it will certainly be somewhere in between. Activision has already announced that "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" will run in 4K with 60 frames per second.

All PS4 games will work on all consoles. PlayStation VR games should be better on the PS4 Pro. On the contrary, the missing UHD Blu-ray support was a bit of a surprise. Even the weakest Xbox One S has a head start. On the other hand, unlike the Slim, the PS4 still has an optical audio output.

For anyone who likes slim or doesn't yet have a PS4: PlayStation 4 Slim

Few devices are as widely available as the PS4 Slim. It's even already on sale on eBay. There are already Unboxings and reviews. After Sony unsuccessfully tried to stop the proliferation on the internet, the company put on a brave face and presented the new PlayStation Slim as if nothing had happened.

Compared to the classic PS4, the Slim has been improved in almost every aspect. It's much thinner, quieter and finally has real buttons, so you don't have to turn the console off when you want to remove a disc. The design focuses more on curves. A fast SSD has unfortunately not been installed, but in return Sony has made the hard drive more accessible. The PS4 Slim also supports HDR (as with a firmware update, later also for the PS4) but only for movies. Games will only be upscaled. The optical audio output has disappeared from the back. The controller has been slightly redesigned, with a new light strip above the touchpad. This means you no longer have to turn the joystick on purpose to see what colour you are. What's more, data is now transmitted via a USB cable, rather than by radio as before. But only hardcore "Street Fighter" players should notice the reduction in lag.

Correction: the PS4 Slim doesn't support 4K resolution, even for filming

Game consoles

CHF427.–

Sony Playstation 4 Slim 500GB

Game consoles

Sony Playstation 4 Pro

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Philipp Rüegg

Senior Editor

Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.

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PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro and a little surprise

The essentials in brief

PlayStation 4 Pro

PlayStation 4 Slim

New controller and camera

For 4K enthusiasts and friends: PlayStation 4 Pro

For anyone who likes slim or doesn't yet have a PS4: PlayStation 4 Slim

63 comments

63 comments

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