A series of rumors have speculated that Sony will be releasing a new console, the PlayStation 4.5, 4K, or Neo, which was recently confirmed by the company.
Sony, however, has yet to release any legit documents that support claims about the upcoming console's specifications as previous reports have only estimated what the PlayStation Neo's general specs will be. These aren't baseless claims, though, and as such, will be used to compare the new console with the current-generation PlayStation 4.
Important to note too are the varying code names reports have been using to refer to the upcoming console. For the purpose of consistency, we'll be using "PS Neo" throughout the article.
Hardware
The PS Neo will reportedly have overall greater performance capacities than its predecessor, the PS4. The newer console will be powered by an AMD GCN GPU that fully supports richly detailed resolutions of 4K.
Don't get your hopes up for 4K games though, as reports conclude that the PS Neo might only use this function for videos and optimizations for 4K monitors. Its upgraded performance does lead to the fact that the Neo should be able to run current 1080p games on a constant 60 fps frame rate at max settings, as well as provide the necessary power for enhanced graphics in terms of the virtual reality (VR) scene.
To achieve this, the PS Neo will have a better clock speed of 2.1 GHz, faster memory bandwidth of 218 Gbps and graphic processing with 36 CUs at 911 MHz. The current PS4 is also powered by an AMD GCN but only provides 1.6 Ghz processing speed, 176 Gbps for bandwidth and 18 CUs at 800 MHz for graphics.
Software
While previous releases from game companies would usually only work on the currently available console, making older gens obsolete, Sony has required all game releases to work on both the PS4 and PS Neo. This is a welcome relief for current console gamers who already have the PS4 at hand as they would not have to buy another console just to play the latest games.
Not the same can be said for developers, however, as games that should provide support for both consoles means extra effort from their side. An added workload might make some game developers a bit wary to release titles on the PS Neo despite its improved tech to support more demanding games.
Price
Reports are speculating that the PS Neo will carry a price tag of $399 based on a number of facts: one, the company needs existing PS4 console holders to consider upgrading to the new platform; two, people who do buy the PS Neo console will still need to purchase a separate $350 PSVR headset to make use of the console's VR-ready capabilities, excluding the other needed accessories and three, there's an upcoming Xbox release from Microsoft, so Sony might lose its market base if the company places a large sum on PS Neo.
It is expected, though, that the PS4's current price will be lowered once the PS Neo launches.
Conclusion
Should people jump aboard?
It all boils down to whether or not gamers actually do need the performance upgrade to really enjoy their games since newer game titles should still work on both consoles.
While there may be greater cause for users of the older-gen PS3 or Xbox One to upgrade to the upcoming PS Neo, an expected cheaper PS4 in the coming months might suffice for other gamers.
Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Scorpio is another console to take in consideration too, regarding any plans to upgrade from one gen to the next.
Photo: Josh Hallett | Flickr
