Becoming PSP - Hardware

by Brad Larson  |  June 10, 2008

The PlayStation Portable has the common figure of a candybar or a "slab", measuring approximately 17 x 7.3 x 2.2 cm (6.7 x 2.9 x 0.9 in) and weighing 280 grams or 9.88 ounces. The front of the console displays a 11 cm (4.3 in) LCD screen with a brilliant capacity of 480 x 272 pixel video playback at a rate of 16.77 million colors. The front cover also has embedded in itself the four PlayStation face buttons (the triangle, the X, the circle and the square), the analog 'nub' and several other buttons. Furthermore, the system includes two shoulder buttons and a USB 2.0 mini-B port on the top of the console and a WLAN switch and power cable input on the bottom.

The opposite part of the PSP consists of a read-only UMD drive for movies and games and a reader compatible with Sony's Memory Stick Duo Flash that is located on the left of the system. The PSP also has an IrDA compatible infrared port, built in stereo speakers and headphone port, and IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi for access to the Internet, ad-hoc multiplayer gaming and data transfer.

The PSP uses a 333 MHz MIPS R4000 (32-bit) CPU, a GPU with 2 MB onboard VRAM running at 166 MHz, and includes 32 MB main RAM and 4 MB embedded DRAM. The CPU was originally locked to run slower than the hardware was capable of and most games ran at 222 MHz. However, with firmware update 3.50 on the 31st of May 2007, Sony removed this limit and allowed new games to run at a full 333 Mhz.

As for power conditions, the PSP includes an 1800 mAH battery that can provide about 4 to 6 hours of gameplay, 4 to 5 hours of video playback or 8 to 11 hours of audio playback. Official accessories that come with the box of PSP include the AC adapter, car adapter, headset, headphones with remote control, extended-life 2200 mAh battery, battery charger, carrying case, accessories pouch and cleaning cloth and system pouch and wrist strap.

Next articles in this series:

1. Becoming PSP - Introduction
2. Becoming PSP - History
3. Becoming PSP - Hardware
4. Becoming PSP - Software
5. Becoming PSP - Slim & Lite
6. Becoming PSP - PlayStation Portable Vs. The Nintendo DS
7. Becoming PSP - PlayStation Portable Vs. Creative Zen Portable Media Center

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