Sony PlayStation 4 Pro Asserts Console Dominance With 4K HDR Gaming And 2X GPU Horsepower
Sony formally confirmed its more powerful PlayStation “Neo” console earlier this summer, and today it officially announced its range-topping console and presented it to gamers. We never expected the Neo name to make it production, and we were correct: the console is simply called the PlayStation 4 Pro.
So what does the “Pro” moniker bring if you decide to upgrade from your current PlayStation 4 console? Well, for starters, the PlayStation 4 Pro has a 30 percent faster processor and the onboard GPU is twice as powerful (as we reported back in July). The console also comes standard with a 1TB hard drive.
The upgraded internals mean that you will now not only be able to play games back at stunning 4K resolutions, but you will also be able to take advantage of HDR as well. Sony says that supporting HDR doesn’t really tax the hardware all that much, and is more of an output support/interface issue than something that will be a drag on gaming performance. In fact, Sony says that a future firmware update will enable HDR support for all PlayStation 4 consoles, which is a nice touch. Sony also showed versions of Tomb Raider, WatchDogs 2, and Killing Floor 2 running at 4K and all were equally impressive to our eyes.
According to PlayStation 4 chief architect Mark Cerny, “[The console] is not intended to blur the line between console generations. Instead, the vision is to take the PS4 experience to extraordinary new levels."
The PlayStation 4 Pro will launch November 19th priced at $399. For comparison, a 2TB Xbox One S also rings in at $399, but doesn’t represent nearly as far a leap in performance over its predecessor. You’ll have to wait for Project Scorpio to see huge gains in Xbox gaming.
At the same event, Sony announced a slimmer version of the PlayStation 4, which we’ve seen making the rounds in recent weeks. The new slim PlayStation 4, which takes the place of the existing “fat” model, and its revised DualShock 4 controller will be available on September 15th at a price of $299.
