The PlayStation 4 is out, on store shelves and in muggy mid-western basements. And while most people are, you know, playing games and sharing videos with friends, the team over at iFixit decided to do with the PS4 what they do best: tear it down. Sony had seven years to design new hardware, and it looks absolutely beautiful. But how does it hold up in iFixit’s tough repairability score? Actually quite good, though you will need to practice some patience since the PS4 is obviously much larger than tablets and smartphones.
iFixit says the PS4 uses no adhesive, which makes disassembly and reassembly very easy, just so long as you keep track of screws. Once you’re passed the console’s jet black shell, you’ll find specs like the 8-core AMD “Jaguar” CPU and AMD Radeon GPU, 8GB GDDR5 RAM and 500 GB of internal storage, which can be replaced with something larger—good news, it’s not that hard, either; iFixit says they’ll have a detailed guide of just how to replace it soon.
There are a lot of steps to the teardown, which isn’t unexpected given the PS4’s size and the amount of components on the inside. And while the console is mostly easy to repair, iFixit says it’s difficult getting all the way to the fan for cleaning, and actually replacing it is even more frustrating. Overall, though, the $399 console is relatively straightforward as long as you know what you’re doing, and the option to change out the 500GB hard drive is especially nice. Did you pick one up on Friday?
