How to Connect Your PS4/PS5 to a Laptop or Mac – Make Tech Easier

when you have your playstation next to a monitor or television, it is convenient to connect your console to your setup to play quickly and easily. however, if you own something like a mac or laptop, you may need to do a little more legwork to get the game on your screen. let’s take a look at how you can connect ps4 or ps5 to your laptop or mac.

Also read:How to Check for Controller Deadzones in Windows

the problem of using the hdmi cable from a playstation on a laptop or mac

if you use a traditional computer and monitor setup that uses hdmi connections, connecting a ps system is easy. If your monitor has two HDMI ports, plug your Playstation into the second port and switch between inputs. On the other hand, if your monitor only has one hdmi port, you can use an hdmi splitter to switch between your computer and the console.

your laptop and/or mac has an hdmi port, so that fixes that, right? Unfortunately, the HDMI ports on your computer are different from those on a monitor. The monitor’s hdmi ports listen for data because a monitor’s main job is to display information. however, the hdmi ports on your laptop or mac are designed to send data instead.

As a result, if you plugged your playstation’s hdmi cable into the hdmi port, nothing will happen. That’s because your laptop wants to send data out the hdmi port, but your console wants to send data over the cable as well.

Also read:How to Connect a PS5 Controller to Your PC

how to play ps4/ps5 games on laptop or mac

Since a direct hdmi connection between a playstation and your laptop is not possible in most cases, you will have to resort to leveraging your own wireless network to “stream” content. if you want to play your console games on laptop or mac, you can use remote play.

remote play is an application for windows, macos, android and ios. It allows you to connect to your PS4 or PS5 remotely, as long as you have a fast internet connection. when you first use it, it’s unsettling to see your console turn on “by itself”. however, once it’s running, you can view and interact with its screen from any device.

Also read:How to Play PS4 & PS5 Games on your Phone or Tablet

how to use remote play

To use remote play on a laptop or mac, download it from the website. on mac, it’s a pkg installer and on windows it’s an exe file.

while waiting for the download to finish, find a usb cable and a playstation controller, then connect them to your system. while you can use your keyboard to navigate your console, you’re limited to just the arrow keys to move around, enter to confirm things, and esc to go back.

Once the app is downloaded, launch it and log in with your credentials. then click start to search for your device.

if the app finds it, it will turn on your console and show you a feed. if you’re next to your console when this happens, it should beep and boot “by itself”.

You can now use your playstation controller to play games or use the keyboard to do basic menu navigation.

Also read:PS4/PS5 Controller Alternatives for Those Who Prefer the Xbox One Controller

how to turn off ps4/ps5 controller

Once you’re done playing, you may be tempted to hit the cross in the top right corner of the window. however, if you do this, all you do is close the remote connection to the console; the console itself will continue to run.

To properly power off the ps4/ps5, press the playstation button and select power options from the menu. with a controller, this is easy; it’s the shiny button in the middle with the playstation logo on it. without a controller, you need to move the mouse over the window to bring up the bottom bar, then click the middle button with the logo.

Also read:MegaModz Modded PS5 Controller Review

frequently asked questions

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