The PlayStation 5 Pro looks great but I can’t justify buying one at launch
Sony is targeting a hardcore audience with the PS5 Pro but its high price is off-putting even for a long-standing PlayStation lover
After months of speculation and several leaks, Sony has finally unveiled the PlayStation 5 Pro. It did so via a technical showcase on 9 September and, one week on, I’m still processing my feelings about the Japanese manufacturer’s mid-generation console update.
Central to those feelings is its price tag. The console will cost an eye-watering £700 when it’s available to preorder on Thursday, 26 September. That’s only for the digital version mind you; if you want a disc drive and vertical stand, you’ll have to fork out an extra £99 and £25, respectively.
It would cost you considerably more to buy a high-end gaming laptop or build a gaming PC, but one of the main attractions of consoles is that they’re more accessible than those setups, both in terms of affordability and ease of use.
By slapping a £700 price tag on the PS5 Pro, Sony is positioning it very differently. It’s not designed for your casual gamer but instead intended for a hardcore audience with disposable income who can’t be without the latest and greatest PS tech.
That’s not too far from how I’d describe myself. Although I’ve dabbled in the world of PC gaming and handhelds, I’ve always primarily been a PlayStation gamer. I’ve owned an iteration of each console dating back to the original PlayStation in 1995 and secured a PS5 at launch.
While there’s no getting away from the dearth of true “next-gen” games for the console, I’ve clocked up thousands of enjoyable hours on the PS5. For the most part, games run smoothly and look great on my 4K TV, loading times are much faster than they were on its predecessor, and the console’s fan doesn’t sound like an aeroplane is taking off.
I don’t regret my purchase one bit and am very much Sony’s target demographic for the PS5 Pro; I want the best gaming experience available within my ecosystem of choice and am typically willing to fork out to get it.
But I’m not sure I can justify splashing out on the PS5 Pro. Yes, it’s a step up on the base model, and will undoubtedly be the best console on which to play upcoming AAA titles like Grand Theft Auto 6 and Marvel’s Wolverine. However, as someone with an extensive catalogue of physical games, I’d be looking at a total spend of over £800, which is a hefty sum to pay when I’m not completely convinced that the upgrades will be truly game-changing.
To help you decide whether that’s a price you’re willing to pay, let’s take a look at the PS5 Pro’s key specs and the upgrades it’s promising:
- GPU: The Pro has 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory than the base model, which Sony says results in up to 45% faster rendering of gameplay.
- PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR): Sony’s new AI-powered, machine-learning-based tech is said to “analyse game images pixel-by-pixel” and add additional detail to lower-resolution images to bring them up to something resembling 4K.
- Advanced Ray Tracing: The PS5 Pro’s additional power enables it to cast rays at up to three times the speed of the PS5. So expect reflections to be more dynamic and light interactions with objects to look more realistic than ever before.
- SSD: Sony’s new console comes with a 2TB SSD, so offers significantly more storage than both the base model (825GB) and the PS5 Slim (1TB).
- PS5 Pro Game Boost: This promises improved performance and stability for over 8,500 backwards-compatible PS4 games as well as supported PS5 titles.
- Enhanced Image Quality: Sony has stated that the PS5 Pro will be able to “improve the resolution” of select PS4 games. It’s not expanded any further than this, so we don’t know how many games will benefit or how exactly this resolution improvement will be handled.
- 8K resolution: While the base PS5 has the capability to output 8K resolution, it didn’t technically support 8K gaming and Sony recently removed 8K branding from its box. The PS5 Pro, however, does support 8K gaming and Variable Refresh Rate too.
- Wi-Fi 7: The PS5 Pro will support the latest generation wireless standard, Wi-Fi 7. That’s an upgrade on the PS5 (which only supports Wi-Fi 6) and should mean faster speeds, increased network capacity and less latency for those with compatible routers.
On the face of it, that’s a pretty compelling list of upgrades. However, only around half of the list are things I’d benefit from. I don’t own an 8K TV, nor do I have a Wi-Fi 7 router, and it’s not that often I find myself digging into my back catalogue of PS4 games.
Having analysed the various side-by-side comparisons of the PS5 and PS5 Pro in action, it’s clear the latter will deliver a superior visual experience. The difference in detail and stability is noticeable but I wouldn’t describe it as night and day. That’s not surprising given this is a mid-generation refresh rather than a next-gen model but does beg the question of whether it’s worth the upgrade.
For the time being at least, my answer is no. Were I to trade in my current PS5, I’d get somewhere in the region of £230, meaning I would effectively be paying £570 for a comparable setup with improved performance, features and more storage. It’s certainly tempting but my feeling is that I can live with my OG PlayStation 5 for a little while longer.
Whether my position remains the same when I start to see footage of upcoming next-gen-only blockbuster games running on the PS5 Pro remains to be seen, however…
