After Sony’s E3 unveiling of the full and final PlayStation 4 product we know many of you are already sold on the idea of owning this impressive next gen gaming gadget. We’re sure you’ll want to know what your £349 will get you and Sony has now released all the technical details as well as an inventory of what we’ll be expecting to find in the box when the PS4 console arrives towards the end of the year.
Following suit with the previous generation, the PlayStation 4 (official product code CUH-1000A) comes in the familiar Jet Black finish with external dimensions measuring 275mm x 53mm x 305mm – so overall more slender than the PS3 Slim but a fraction longer and with a weight of 2.8kg, which is also a little lighter than the current model. It’s also got that stylishly designed, slanted side profile which was a surprise when the hardware was fully revealed on Monday.
Like Microsoft’s Xbox One, the PS4 comes with a 500GB hard drive (replaceable, should you wish) and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM as standard. The new PlayStation’s main processing unit is a single-chip custom processor with an x86/64 AM Jaguar quad-core CPU and those remarkable graphics which have been showcased at the E3 are the benefit of an AMD Radeon GPU capable of a sharp and slick 1.84 TFLOPS. In the graphics race it’s all about those FLOPS and Sony boasts 18 compute units over Xbox One’s 12 units, each running at 800MHz.
Sony has once again included a Blu-Ray/DVD drive with read-only capability which runs at a constant speed of 6 CAV. This basically means that data on game discs will be delivered at a consistent rate and content load time should be quicker and seamless, which is an important development as we head into a new generation of gaming.
For input, the PS4 is kitted out with two ports for superspeed USB 3.0 and one AUX port, with a HDMI port for video and audio output along with Toslink SPDIF for optical audio output to an external speaker system. For networking and wireless connection there is an entry point for Ethernet and the console is Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi b/g/n compliant.
Sony outlines that the initial PlayStation 4 package will include the console itself with AC power cord, one DualShock 4 wireless controller and sensor, a mono headset and one HDMI and one USB cable generously thrown in for good measure.
After seeing the quality and reading the specs we’d love to know if our Gadget Helpline readers think they’ll be getting their money’s worth from the PlayStation 4. Will you be opening your wallet for Sony this holiday season, or has Microsoft tempted you with its Xbox One already?