Is The PS5 Pro Worth It?

Even though it seems like the original PS5 that launched back in 2020 still hasn’t seen any significant sales or promotions, and nor has its Slim edition which launched in 2023, the PlayStation 5 Pro console is already here and ready to seize your wallets once again. That’s why it’s time to ask whether the hardware is really worth it this time.

Related

Is The PlayStation 5 Slim Worth It?

The new model of the PS5 is among us. Does it bring anything interesting apart from an altered design?

The PS5 Pro comes with a new design and better technical specs to truly make those next-gen titles and exclusives feel like they’re utilizing all that they can to deliver the best PS5 experience. So, if you’re wondering whether you should upgrade to this version or have it be your first PS5 purchase, here’s what we have to say.

Review

Given that there’s no official review from TheGamer on the PS5 Pro console, we’ll be examining our very own Jade King’s feature titled ‘The PS5 Pro Is Great, But You Don’t Need One’ to gather her thoughts on the hardware.

King begins by saying that although it’s one of the most powerful consoles on the market you can purchase, the PS5 Pro is “the underwhelming mid-gen refresh we all expected it to be.”

While there are improvements to the overall user interface and a couple of new features present on the home screen, she says that you can hardly discern the difference between the upgraded Pro version and a regular PS5 when you’re playing a game.

King also states that the decision to gravitate towards the Pro console also depends on the kind of gamer you are. If you’re more about live-service titles like FIFA, Fortnite, or Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, then you should stick to the regular PS5.

The wonderful new offerings that come with the PS5 Pro are better 4K visuals and 60 FPS for single player adventures like Forbidden West, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

One particular example King highlights in her article is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. She notes that the game’s performance mode on the original PS5 is “infamously blurry” but that this is now something the PS5 Pro remedies.

Regarding the price tag, however, King also points out her frustrations with the lack of a disc drive and it being sold separately, refusing “to believe that Sony couldn’t have accounted for that in the Pro’s design somehow.”

In the end, she says it is indeed a very high asking price for the new PS5 hardware, but that the experience it provides is “how [the console] was always meant to be played, or how a theoretical PC version may present itself with everything cranked up to the max.”

Cost

The PS5 Pro comes at the very hefty cost of $699.99 USD, and it is a digital-only console. The disc drive can be purchased separately for $79.99 USD, plus there’s also the additional vertical stand for the console that you can purchase for $29.99 USD. Therefore, your total can be upwards of $800 with all the accessories and additional taxes.

Unlike the regular PS5 console or the Slim version, there are no bundles at the time of launch for the PS5 Pro, so you can’t even get a freebie game to test out the new performance enhancements. If you’re not upgrading and are purchasing a PS5 for the first time, having to buy new games for your console will immediately send the total soaring even higher.

PS5 Pro Vs Regular PlayStation 5 And PS5 Slim

If you’re still on the fence and would like to compare the exact specs of each PS5 console, this chart provides them in full detail:

As you can see from the overview, the PS5 Pro essentially gives you the best of both worlds of the PS5 Slim and the OG PS5 console, with the main differences being the storage space, memory bandwidth, the TFLOPs in the GPU processing power, and the PSSR AI upscaling.

What Players Are Saying

A Great System For Enthusiasts – Aidan Cannon

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a PS5 Pro, continuously telling myself it was “for work.” While I enjoy it a lot, I don’t think it is a necessary pickup for most consumers. The vast majority of games look and run excellent on the base model, making the Pro’s price point difficult to swallow. Additionally, not every Pro-enhanced game packs the same visual punch, sometimes leaving me wondering what exactly has been improved before consulting the good people at Digital Foundry.

With that being said, this is clearly a box aimed at the high-end consumer. Tech enthusiasts have a lot of features to play with (PSSR, higher frame rates, improved ray-tracing), and will be able to get the most out of it. If you’re a hardcore PlayStation fan, it could be an appealing upgrade as well, provided you have the funds and an adequate gaming setup.

As of right now, we don’t have many games showing the full potential of the Pro (FF7 Rebirth and GT7 spring to mind), but this is clearly a system designed with the future in mind. Unless you’re a huge tech nerd, you can probably hold off on purchasing one and wait for more titles that truly push the hardware.

Only For A Specific Subset Of Players – Jerel Levy

What the PS5 Pro can do is actually astounding. While it doesn’t show its full strength outside of titles such as Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, it does indeed make it feel like you’re playing an entirely new system. If you have an eye for detail, even games like Metaphor: ReFantazio, notoriously not known for its graphics, get improvements that are easy to spot.

It’s expensive, but if you have the capabilities to show off its full potential, it’s well worth its asking price.

PlayStation 5 Pro

Brand

Sony PlayStation

Storage

2TB SSD

VR Support

PlayStation VR2

Resolution

Up to 8K

App Store

PlayStation Store

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 7

Ports

Power In, Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, 2x USB Type-A, 2x USB Type-C

HDR Support

Yes

Original Release Date

November 7, 2024

Original MSRP (USD)

$699.99

Dimensions

10.3 x 35.8 cm

Processor

AMD Ryzen Zen 2 (8 cores, 16 threads, 3.5GHz)

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