PS4 Pro's Boost Mode arrives on March 9th
Standard PlayStation 4 consoles will also support external hard drives.
After more than a little teasing, Sony's PS4 version 4.50 update is almost here. The sweeping upgrade is now slated to arrive on March 9th, and is now confirmed to include that rumored Boost Mode for PS4 Pro owners. Enable it on the higher-end PlayStation and "select legacy titles" should run faster (or more consistently fast) without needing a Pro-specific patch. They may even load sooner, Sony says. The boost isn't certain to work with every unoptimized game, but it should do more to justify the Pro if you have an extensive game collection.
Of course, there are still plenty of updates for all PS4 systems. For most, the big practical improvement is long-awaited external hard drive support for games. You can now install titles to USB hard drives as large as 8TB, sparing you from having to perform surgery on your system (or buy a new console) when the included storage no longer passes muster. Given the frequently massive size of PS4 games, this could mean the difference between having to cherry pick the titles you keep loaded versus installing them all.
Other upgrades? You can now use in-game screenshots for custom wallpaper, much like your Xbox One-owning friends. There's voice chat in Remote Play to let friends know when you're late for a gaming session. And if you have a PlayStation VR headset, you're in for a treat: you can watch 3D Blu-ray movies, and 2D imagery (including in Cinematic Mode) should display at higher resolutions and frame rates. All told, version 4.50 is addressing a laundry list of wishes that could have a tangible impact on your day-to-day use.
