New PS4 Finally Hits Stores In The West

In June, Sony announced a slight redesign of the PS4, promising a slightly different finish, a more energy efficient design, mechanical buttons, and a 1TB SKU. The company started rolling out the new models in Japan, promising that they would hit the West at an unspecified point after. They’re still not in America yet, but they’re making the westward migration via the Netherlands and the UK: NeoGaf users MicDrive and OCD Guy have some of the first western reviews, via dualshockers. Both spend a lot of time talking about the relative noise levels of each console, agreeing that the new model runs slightly quieter. OCD guy writes:

The replacement is similar to the Xbox One, infact at idle it’s actually quieter. Xbox one reads 49dB at idle, and the ps4 reads 45dB at idle. Bear in mind that the decibel reading is not scientific and I don’t actually care about the end figure as the actual sound reading is not from a calibrated device, I’m using a smart phone app, but all I’m concerned about is using it as a yardstick to measure the difference, so the ps4 I have now is 4dB quieter at idle. The advantage of the Xbox one is the fan noise seems to remain constant regardless of what you do, the psu fan is noisy though.

To put some perspective on my earlier unit, at idle it measured 56dB. Anyway back to the replacement ps4, I downloaded rocket league quickly as that ramped the earlier one up, and the ps4 remains quiet. I’m happy with this one.

OCD Guy, alas, thinks that the mechanical buttons are a bit of a step backwards, calling them cheap and “loose” feeling. I’ll reserve judgment until I can actually press one of the things, but I’ve written here before about my hatred for touch-sensitive buttons and I generally applaud anyone who returns to the more sensible mechanical design. The original PS4 is a beautifully designed piece of hardware through and through, but I could never stand the non-buttons that felt like some unnecessary and ineffective way to make the thing seem sleeker while sacrificing functionality.

We’ll get more info when more people get their hands on the machine, important because even a standardized product like the PS4 can have variation from unit to unit. Like many, I’m much more curious to see what the company will come up when the inevitable “PS4 Slim” hits the market. The name of the game is to maintain: Sony has been able to continue selling the PS4 at $400 even as chief rival Microsoft has continuously slashed and bundled the Xbox One, and it’s probably going to need to come up with a new model in time for holiday 2016 if it wants to once again solidify its status as the undisputed champion.