Formerly known as ‘Neo’
At its PlayStation Meeting event in New York City today, Sony announced PlayStation 4 Pro, a higher-end console that will “sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” according to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Andrew House. Neo no more! The system is called PS4 Pro.
Lead system architect Mark Cerny came on stage to assure that this enhanced system, which has more than double the power of the standard PS4 GPU, a boosted CPU clock rate, a 1TB hard drive, and support for 4K and HDR, isn’t “intended to blur the lines between console generations.”
The event is still happening (very, very slowly!), and Cerny is showing off already-announced games running at 4K, something we can’t really get a good sense of on a compressed live stream.
Sony has said that “Every PS4 game title, including those already available and those launching in the future, will run on all PS4 including PS4 Pro. Furthermore, all the PS4 system employs the same user interface and shares the same online community for multiplayer gaming and network services.”
According to the PlayStation Blog, “Some developers are updating previously launched PS4 games to add PS4 Pro support, while other developers are building PS4 Pro support into upcoming releases. At launch, you’ll be able to download patches for games – such as Uncharted 4 – which are enhanced when playing on the new console. Future releases that will have PS4 Pro enhancements built-in include Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Days Gone.”
Even if you aren’t a 4K TV owner who can take advantage of games and streaming video content running at those higher resolutions (most of us aren’t even thinking of upgrading to a 4K-ready set yet!), PS4 Pro will offer some benefits. “HDTV owners will also be able to enjoy the enhanced gameplay experiences on PS4 Pro, as the system delivers 1080p resolution for all PS4 games and higher or more stable frame rates for some supported titles,” according to Sony.
System Specs
Product name:
- PlayStation 4 Pro
Color:
- Jet Black
Product code:
- CUH-7000 series
MSRP:
- 44,980 yen
- $399
- €399
- £349
Main processor:
- Single-chip custom processor
- CPU: x86-64 AMD “Jaguar,” 8 cores
- GPU: 4.20 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon based graphics engine
Memory:
- GDDR5 8GB
Storage size:
- 1TB
External dimensions:
- Approx. 295×55×327 mm (width × height × length)
- (excludes largest projection)
Mass:
- Approx. 3.3 kg
BD/ DVD drive (read only):
- BD × 6 CAV
- DVD × 8 CAV
Input/ Output:
- Super-Speed USB (USB 3.1 Gen.1) port × 3
- AUX port × 1
Networking:
- Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)×1
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- Bluetooth® 4.0 (LE)
Power:
- AC 100V, 50/60Hz
Power consumption:
- Max. 310W
Operating temperature:
- 5ºC – 35ºC
AV output:
- HDMI out port (supports 4K/HDR)
- DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) port
Sony is launching the PlayStation Pro on November 10, 2016 for $399.99.
