PSP comes in a black colour, with a 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD centered in a sleek ergonomic design with a high quality finish that fits comfortably in the hands. The dimensions are 170mm x 74mm x 23mm with a weight of 260g. PSP features a high quality TFT LCD that displays full-color (16.77 million colors) on a 480 x 272 pixel high-resolution screen. It also comes complete with the basic functions of a portable player such as built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector, brightness control and sound mode selection. Keys and controls inherit the same operability of PlayStation® and PlayStation 2, familiar to fans all over the world.

PSP also comes equipped with diverse input/output connectors such as USB 2.0, and 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN, providing connectivity to various devices in the home and to the wireless network outside. The world of gaming is further enhanced by enabling users to enjoy on-line gaming, or by connecting multiple PSPs to each other, directly via the wireless network. In addition, software and data can be downloaded through a USB or wireless network onto Memory Stick PRO Duo. All of these features can be enjoyed on one single system.

PSP adopts a small but high capacity optical medium UMD (Universal Media Disc), enabling game software, rich with full motion video and other forms of digital entertainment content, to be stored. The newly developed UMD, the next generation compact storage media, is only 60mm in diameter but can store up to 1.8GB of digital data. A broad range of digital entertainment content such as music video clips, movies and sports programs can be provided on UMD. To protect this entertainment content, a robust copyright protection system has been developed which utilizes a combination of a unique disc ID, a 128 bit AES encryption keys for the media, and individual ID for each PSP hardware unit.