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Only a fraction more expensive, the Xbox One S offers fine looks, a decent games selection of its own Still not convinced whether the PlayStation 4 Slim is the console for you? Read on for more detailed thoughts. Cast your mind back to when the original PlayStation 4 hit the scene, and you may remember that its unconventional shape drew quite a bit of attention when it was first revealed.
The slimmed down PS4 that debuted in more-or-less retained the core visual identity of the first PlayStation 4, but made the parallelogram package even more compact, smoothing off some of the edges. The first PlayStation 4 measured The overall weight is comparably lighter too. The first PS4 mixed shiny and matte plastics, but the PS4 Slim extends the matte black finish all over the console. The top-mounted colored light bar indicator — showing sleep, wake and off statuses — gets dropped in favor of small illuminated dots over the power button which are actually harder to see, so take care before unplugging the unit.
As before, the disk drive slot is a front-facing affair, above small power and eject buttons. More recent revisions of the PS4 also featured physical buttons on the console, but the launch edition PS4 favored touch-sensitive controls instead. Two USB ports sit on the front of the PlayStation 4 Slim, as was the case on earlier PS4 models, but they're now much further apart and slightly easier to plug into. If you opt for the smaller of the two you might find your hard drive fills up surprisingly quickly with the console's reliance on mandatory game installs, but thankfully it's fairly easy to upgrade the internal hard drive or install games to an external hard drive.
The only major casualty of the slimmed-down design is the Optical Out port on the rear: HDMI will suit the needs of many gamers for carrying audio signals, but the Optical Out port will be missed by those hooking up older home cinema receivers, or souped-up gaming headsets. The PS4 Slim has plenty of nice design touches dotted around its chassis though.
The iconic Square, Triangle, Circle and Cross symbols of the PlayStation brand are stamped into the side of the console with the Circle acting as a fixture for those wishing to stand the console upright with a base accessory. The same symbols are found stuck to the bottom too, acting as feet to raise the machine off a surface for improved airflow.
Setting up the slim PlayStation 4 is very easy — especially if you're upgrading from the original PS4 or even a PS3 , because you can use all the same cables, so no need to stretch behind your TV. Simply plug in the included HDMI and power cables and connect to the internet to download the console's various patches and updates.
Alternatively, you're able to skip Wi-Fi or Ethernet altogether and just pop in a game. Unlike the Xbox One, you can get to the homescreen without initially connecting to the web and patching first. Once you do connect to the internet, you'll need to let the PS4 update before you can make purchases from the store or play online.
Since the very first PlayStation, Sony's home consoles have led the charge when it comes to media playback support. The PS4, while not introducing a new format of its own, picked up the baton passed by the PS3, offering wide-ranging streaming service support, Blu-ray and DVD playback, USB media functionality and even banging out the tunes with its own Spotify player. That's been carried over to the PS4 Slim.
The question is, is it the best console out there? That's hard to say. Microsoft's Xbox One X gives it some serious competition as the best console currently available and it does pack in significantly more power under the hood.
Our review of the PlayStation 4 Pro below details everything you need to know about the powerful console. We've got the specs covered, the capabilities outlined and we've listed some of the games that are available.
There are also some extras to mention too, like whether you should grab a shiny new PSVR headset to go along with it. PlayStation fans will recall that before the PS4 Pro landed on the scene, every one of Sony's new gaming consoles were a clean break from their predecessors. They may be different consoles, but they've taken much smaller steps forward from the original PlayStation 4.
That's obvious in the games too: We're not talking about a PlayStation 5 here, but there are some significant upgrades over the previous PS4 to mention: With all that in mind, is the Pro upgrade really worth it?
It actually depends on what kind of TV you own, and what kind of console you have at the moment. It might be easiest to compare the PS4 Pro to a new iPhone model. Gone are the days of a new iPhone launch really wow-ing us.
Instead, Apple's handsets are hands-down shinier, faster and prettier than previous versions, but they're not a totally different type of device. So while there's no dispute that the PS4 Pro is the best gaming machine Sony has ever put together, with 4K HDR capabilities and higher frame rates, it's not necessarily worth the upgrade if you have an older PlayStation 4 at home.
Do you own a 4K TV , or will you be buying one soon? What about a PlayStation VR headset? How important do you find higher frame rates and GB of extra storage?
Your answers to those questions will help you decide if you want to upgrade. If you don't yet have a PS4 console, then the PS4 Pro gives you those 4K capabilities on some titles and extra power over the PS4 Slim, in return for paying a bit more money. As we've said though, the same games work on both consoles. You should also note that Sony's system has a few deficiencies in the home entertainment department: