Topic: I Kinda Hope Sony Makes a PS4 Pro Slim Revision.

Stated above. it's more of a subjective thing really and i know it's just a stationary box but I do hope it happens. I'm not a fan of the look, it's bulky and a little ugly. Plus wouldn't hurt to have a cooler, especially quieter, and more power efficient system. I reckon if this ever happens it probably won't happen until next year for 7nm. Thoughts?

@WebHead everyone loves a fat wedge! Im quite taken by mine. But no I wouldnt want one, preferring the PS5 if it happens. I cant see a slim pro being a hit, this depends massively on the price obviously but I cant see many pro users upgrading again so soon.

Yep, I'm with you. For a premium product, the PS4 Pro doesn't feel very premium at all. I'm cool with them making the standard PS4 Slim as cheap and cheerful as possible because it's a mass audience product that they'll want to sell as cheaply as possible, but the Pro should be a bit more luxurious IMO.

I think we'll see a revision either this year or next.

Pro looks fine to me, wish it was quieter is all. But I wouldn't buy an upgrade just for that.

I honestly don't think they can slim down the PS4 Pro just on account of what it actually is.

An overclocked (Not new, overclocked) CPU from a standard PS4 (Which as anyone should know generates excess heat): Inevitably, the more voltage you add to your components, the more heat that component is going to produce.
Second, the higher the clock speed you're trying to achieve, the more voltage you will need to power that attempt. Makes enough sense.

So instead of using a new chip, they just...juice up the existing one. That's fine, but from a hardware standpoint, far less efficient on power or thermals.

Second is the beefier GPU, that'll naturally run warmer because it's doing more, that's just nature, but it won't be as increased as an overclocked CPU, just like a newly designed CPU wont run as hot as an overclocked one. It's designed to run at those voltages and speeds, so the heat is expected and accounted for.

Why do I bring this up? It's all part of WHY the PS4 Pro is so big and quite frankly ugly.

The PS4 Pro is the ONLY current system that surpasses it's predecessor, while also being larger. The Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch both manage to surpass their predecessors, in one case considerably, while being smaller, due to using bespoke parts.

All the PS4 Pro is really, is an overclocked CPU generating excess heat, a bigger GPU, and as such, a much larger heatsink.

Due to how the Pro is designed, unless a Slim Pro (Pro Slim? This is confusing) was to use a newly designed CPU, and thus require developers to most likely re-patch their games for optimal performance (Again), it would have to use an OC'd CPU again. This means, yes, somehow getting it to run cooler, and quieter, the whole point of a Slim it seems, while...slimming it down.

I believe it can be done, but it won't be the best quality machine if it is. We're talking PS3 Super Slim here people. I maintain the design philosophy behind the Pro was half good, like the GPU tech, and half WTF, in this case the CPU, because they've almost locked themselves into a rut. They had to make it bigger to accommodate the excess heat from simply overclocking the CPU and thus a bigger heatsink.

It's also noted a lot of the extra power draw through the power supply, at least according to an iFixit teardown, is going to the fan to make it spin faster, thus improving cooling further in addition to the much larger heatsink.

So basically, a PS4 Pro Slim....is it something you really want when you realise how on one hand its a perfectly fine system, but on the other...not....designed at all....to be smaller?

Not to be negative or anything, not at all, but there are realistic roadblocks to this and it stops and starts with heat. Its the whole reason the thing is bigger.

They can slim it down, sure. But that heatsink will need to shrink. Which means that fan gets louder.

@YummyHappyPills xbox one X also has overclocked cpu and its overclocked much more than ps4 pro but it has better cooling solution so its form factor is much smaller.

What I'd like to have in my ps4 pro is a much better built quality. The case is so squeaky when you press it like some cheap chinese gadgets, not like some premium console.

@NecuVise Its actually not an overclocked Xbox One CPU in the X. It's a newly designed CPU that while based on the original CPU, is not just the same thing but overclocked. It's actually got new silicon involved.

With the X, yes it SHOULDNT be smaller, but it is. The CPU was at least in part redesigned, certainly more so than what the Pro offers, but Microsoft also made a cooling system that accommodated that change.

Sony did that too, to be fair, but the exact circumstances of the upgrade and their solution do not lend themselves to a slimmer model, quite the opposite: that heatsink is huge for a reason after all.

The PS5 will probably be smaller than the Pro though, I hope at least, as fan cooling won't be enough I feel for what they want.

Now a revised unit that just feels better, akin to how they revised the standard PS4 from its weird glossy iteration to matte black? Yeah, I'm down for that. Honestly a three dimensional rhombus with numerous stacks as an almost "leaning tower" isn't exactly secure, so I expect wobble and creaks.

@YummyHappyPills I think you are wrong as all the current consoles bar switch have eight core jaguar cpu as their heart, with the frequency and maybe some instructions being specifically tailored for them.

@NecuVise Yes that is entirely true.

However compare the actual PS4 CPU to that of the Pro. In the silicon, the physical make up of the chip, not a lot changes but an extra 0.5Ghz appear out of thin air? Thats overclocking.

Yes, "technically" both x86 systems use Jaguar 8 core CPUs in all models with speeds dependant. But the X, One and PS4 all have CPUs unique to them in some way while sharing a common base. The Pro however...is the same CPU as the PS4.

Like its not even just sharing the base. Physically it hasnt changed to my knowledge. Just accomodating more power.

I mean they didnt have to upgrade it much. Would have been nice if they did, the CPU even on the PS4 when it was new was a laughable bottleneck so to widen the gap so greatly just beggars belief.

Either way my initial point, regardless of the exact reasoning behind it and what the hardware team determined necessary when designing the Pro, is that unless they change the way the system is cooled, its not getting smaller AND quieter at the same time.

And honestly at this point do we want a PS4, PS4 Pro, and PS4 Pro Slim on the market (That name is dumb...)

A smaller more powerful than base PS4 system will need to wait for PS5.

If it's reducing size (and some heat) you want to do, get the PSU outside the box for starters.

And they can also use different size and material heat sinks, better quality thermal pastes and different fan and vent configurations to get it running cooler/quieter. If they REALLY wanted to, that is.

I don't think they'd bill it as an "upgrade" if they did it. I think it'd just be a revision to the product line. I personally do think we'll see a PS4 Superslim and a PS4 Pro Slim at some point. Unfortunately, I think both will be designed to bring the manufacturing cost down, which means they're likely to have "cheap as chips" build quality again.

Part of the problem is those ugly sloping sides. That gives the PS4 a much larger footprint than it needs. Dropping down to 7nm tech won't save a great deal of space - it will make the main chip - which is already small - a bit smaller. You can't really make the disc drive smaller, or the HDD - not without really adding to the cost and why would Sony make a more expensive revision? That's the crux of it all - Sony won't make a revised PS4 unless they can either make it cheaper or give your 'more' for money - like a much bigger HDD.

They may well make a revised Pro as they could add a 4k HDR bluray player but only if they can add it at the same or less cost than they are currently pricing the Pro at. They can't release a revised console that's essentially the same as the previous for money so they either have to make it cheaper or add something extra to ask for the same price.

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a PS4 Superslim and Sony opting to just make the PS4 Pro - maybe revised - but as it now does super sampling, its not 'just' for 4k TV owners and is a better buy for those looking to get into the PS4 now - especially if they can get it down to the £200-£250 price (RRP)

Microsoft disagrees with you

I'm not exactly sure why people care so much about the size of any console? I've had an Xbox One, not S, and I really liked it because it was whisper quite and thermals were still great. It did look like a VHS player but it's not like I look at it when I play games, so why should I care. All I want to say is that I prefer better thermals and acoustics and longevity of the console that if it looks good, because that's what matters in the end.

They probably are focusing on PS5 so I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up. Still hope it happens though.

@NecuVise lol yeah I never understood how MS managed to make the XB1 bigger than the PS4 while also having the power supply brick on the chord?

@kyleforrester87 after the fiasco with the rrod on x360 which cost them more than 1 billion dollars just to repair it and to repair most of the broken consoles, without taking into account how much that tarnished their image, they had to overkill the cooling solution on Xbox one to avoid repeating that scenario.

@WebHead That doesn't mean anything. Sony released a the revision on the PS when they were developing the PS2, the slim PS2 when they were developing the PS3 and all the revisions to the PS3 when they were developing the PS4 so that really doesn't make a difference. Honestly once a console is released companies are usually already developing the next one sometimes even sooner.

I thought the PS4 Pro looked quite nice when compared to the OG PS4 I had, then I got an Xbox One S and that does look a lot nicer next to it. Also, my daughter keeps trying to jam her fingers in the PS4 Pro's USB's. What have Sony got to say about that EH?

@Rudy_Manchego Get a new daughter?

@Rudy_Manchego I don't know as looks go In prefer the look of the original PS4 over the slim or the Pro. I know that they were going for a a look similar to the PS2 but to me it just looks cheap compared to the original.