In the past, we have reported many cases of people successfully converting consoles into handheld consoles, such as Mac mini、PS2、PlayStation Classic Recently, on a well-known foreign forum, a player shared that he spent a year transforming PS4 Slim into a handheld console, and also fully disclosed the internal structure. It was not just as simple as removing the shell and installing a screen, but also cutting the PS4 Slim motherboard, rearranging the heat dissipation and battery configuration, and even making a special card for system updates. It was really quite thoughtful.
Image Source: Reddit via VideoCardz
The interior of the PS4 Slim handheld system made by foreign players is exposed: the main board is cut directly, and a special update card is also made
Recently, a foreign player wewillmakeitnow shared his homemade PS4 Slim handheld console on Reddit. This console uses the PS4 Slim motherboard internally, so it is not an emulator or a cloud streaming device, but can natively execute PS4 games. When he was halfway through the production at the beginning of the year, he actually shared some of the specifications on Reddit, including a 7-inch 1080p OLED screen, HDMI output, and the ability to operate independently through the built-in battery. If necessary, it can also be connected to an external screen and used as a normal PS4:
Image source: Reddit
This time, the internal structure is fully disclosed. The best part is that in order to reduce the size, he cut the motherboard, which is very difficult. He has to study which areas of the PS4 Slim motherboard can be removed, and which lines and components must not be touched. This is no longer something ordinary players can do. There are traces everywhere on the motherboard. As long as the wrong position is cut, the entire board is likely to be scrapped:
Image source: Reddit
In addition, he also redesigned the power supply and cooling system, and used an ESP32 microcontroller to monitor temperature and power status. In other words, wewillmakeitnow’s approach is more like a complete hardware modification project, rather than simply stuffing PS4 parts into the handheld casing.
How does the PS4 portable look inside ? 😅
byu/wewillmakeitnow inHandhelds
What’s more interesting is that this handheld console also encounters limitations of the PS4 hardware itself.
The PS4’s Blu-ray control chip cannot be removed directly, otherwise it may affect system updates. For ordinary consoles, this is not a problem, because the optical disc drive is already in the host, but for handheld console modifications, the optical disc drive related parts take up a lot of space, and it is impossible to keep them all without moving.
wewillmakeitnow’s solution is to make a detachable module called “PS4 Portable Update Card”, which is used when the console needs to be updated, so that the system will not have problems due to the lack of Blu-ray control related hardware. However, he has not disclosed the complete technical steps for this part, but it can be seen from this alone that this handheld console is not only able to be turned on and played, but also takes into account subsequent maintenance and updates. It is really powerful:
Image source: Reddit
The battery part adopts 3S2P configuration and consists of 6 21700 batteries with a total capacity of about 130Wh. The capacity is not small. It has exceeded the 100Wh threshold common to most airlines. If you want to take it on the plane, you usually need approval from the airline.
In terms of battery life, “Uncharted 4” can be played for about 1 hour and 30 minutes at 1080p, and “Rayman Legends” can be played at 1080p for about 3 hours. Approximately 2.7 to 3 hours on low to medium load, 1.3 to 1.5 hours on high load gaming:
Image source: Reddit
Source: KOCPC Chinese