PS4 models explained: original, Slim and Pro

The PS4 came in three versions: the original (November 2013), the Slim (September 2016, model CUH-2000) and the Pro (November 2016, model CUH-7000). All three play the same games. The Pro is the one built for 4K.

When did the original PS4 come out, and what did it cost?

It launched on November 15, 2013 in North America, November 29 in Europe, South America and Australia, and February 22, 2014 in Japan. The recommended price was US$399, €399 and £349. For comparison, the Xbox One launched at US$499 in North America.

What’s different about the Slim?

Sony announced it on September 7, 2016 and released it on September 15, at the same price as the original, in a 500 GB model. It replaced the original. It’s 40 percent smaller, has a rounded body with a matte top instead of a two-tone finish, and the two front USB ports moved to USB 3.1 with a bigger gap between them. The optical audio port was removed. It also gained Bluetooth 4.0 and 5.0 GHz Wi-Fi. In April 2017 the base model went to 1 TB at the same price.

What does the Pro add?

It was announced on the same day as the Slim and launched worldwide on November 10, 2016, at US$399, €399 and £349. It has a faster GPU (4.2 teraflops), a higher CPU clock, and support for checkerboard rendering to get to 4K. It also has 1 GB of extra DDR3 memory, used so that background apps don’t take memory away from games. It doesn’t play Ultra HD Blu-ray, though it can stream 4K video.

Games marked “PS4 Pro Enhanced” have specific optimizations for it. For the rest, a “Boost Mode” was added in system software 4.5, which pushes the CPU and GPU clocks up and may improve performance.

Is the PS4 still made?

After the PS5 launched in November 2020, Sony stopped production in Japan of everything except the 500 GB Slim on January 5, 2021, and kept making the standard PS4 and Pro for western markets for a while longer. Wikipedia doesn’t give a date for when it stopped everywhere.

Which PS4 should I buy?

The Pro is the one for a 4K TV, and it’s the only one with the faster GPU. The Slim is the smallest and has the newer USB and wireless standards. That’s from the specs, not from owning each one. Which do you have?

The PS4 library is on our games index, and you can filter it by platform.

Source: Wikipedia, PlayStation 4, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Header image: PS4 consoles montage.jpg by JoeJohnson2 (complied cropped adjusted) (CC BY 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.