As a piece of hardware designed for the core gamer and die-hard fan, it’s been a little surprising how little Sony has leveraged PlayStation 4 Pro in terms of ultra-desirable, collector-centric special release consoles – a situation it aims to put right with the imminent release of the 500 Million Limited Edition, a £450 offering that combines a super-deluxe translucent machine with a range of upgrades and bespoke peripherals, including a 2TB hard drive, matching Dual Shock 4 and PlayStation Camera, plus vertical stand. Having received a unit on loan for a short time last week, it’s a seriously desirable piece of hardware.
Its arrival was also a great excuse for us to revisit the PlayStation 4 Pro in a little more detail, two years on from launch. Sony has a habit of releasing new hardware revisions and with this revised CUH-7100 series release, the 500 Million Limited Edition Pro contains a number of modifications compared to the launch unit – changes that should be reflected across all examples of the hardware on the shelves right now. A detailed breakdown has been researched here, which suggests that the CUH-7100 runs hotter, but with less noise than the original. It sounds rather like the base PS4’s C-Chassis revision back in the day, something I was keen to check out.
But returning to the 500 Million Limited Edition console itself, it’s something of a treat. It’s not just the console itself that’s translucent, but the packaging too, with a matte plastic finish that hints at the internal content, teased with an indistinct bronze PlayStation logo. The plastics peel back to give you access to a nicely presented interior: on one side sits the console, wrapped in blue cloth with that front-facing logo. To the side is a box with the matching translucent controller, blue camera, cables, manuals and the two-piece vertical stand.
Source: Eurogamer Hands-on with the deluxe PS4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition