While the idea of taking a screwdriver to your PlayStation or Xbox might be a terrifying one, it’s what Ben Heck lives for. When he’s not building homebrew console laptops or raising old electronics from the dead, he’s tearing apart consumer electronics to see what makes them tick.
Just before Christmas, he dug into Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro and unlocked some interesting secrets. If you’re interested in what makes these consoles tick, the whole video is worth watching, but a few interesting details came out of his teardown.
It’s the exact same Blu-ray drive
One of the biggest surprises at the unveiling of the PlayStation 4 Pro wasn’t about what it could do, but what it couldn’t. Namely, the PlayStation 4 Pro can’t play Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, while the much cheaper Xbox One can. A look inside the PlayStation 4 Pro reveals that the drive inside is, with the exception of a slightly different date code, the exact same drive as can be found in the slim PlayStation 4.
Additionally, the board inside the plastic is largely the same as that of the slim PlayStation 4, while the power supply powering it is substantially larger. Compared to the Xbox One S, the PlayStation 4 Pro draws more than twice as much amperage.
I’ve pried open consoles a few times in the past to do minor repairs, but only after they were long out of warranty. I’m glad there’s someone out there willing to investigate the innards of modern game consoles so we can see just how similar they are and what sets each one apart.
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