PlayStation 5 Pro hardware review

Product information

PlayStation 5 Pro

November 7, 2024

type

Games console

Price

$699.99

Mid-gen console updates are nothing new in the gaming industry. From the Atari 2600 before the market crash to almost every Nintendo console that has come to market, console manufacturers have found ways to introduce additional purchases throughout a console's lifespan, usually involving a change in form factor or the addition of new features to the box . The concept of introducing a console capable of running the same games with additional power was common in the Sony ecosystem, with the PlayStation 4 Pro or the Xbox One introducing games exclusive to the updated hardware (Xenoblade Chronicles is one of these rare title). Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro is said to be the console that can achieve a higher benchmark for all of its titles. But is this improved flagship console worth investing in if you're already a next-gen gamer?

Included in the package is the same usual selection of parts that Sony includes with all consoles. For a deeper look at what's in the box and my impressions when it's turned off, read our unboxing article here. One of the first purchases I'll be making this weekend will be getting the external drive so I can finally listen to the latest Prince of Persia and several other titles in my backlog that I have the CDs for and don't have duplicates of could justify. I resort to a digital version just to play on this particular hardware. I know I'll continue to beat the same drum here, but I'm really disappointed with Sony's response to the PlayStation 5 Pro's horizontal stand. It lacks stability, and nothing less than a hardware update could improve that stability, be it a third-party stand or purchasing this drive. The vertical stand provided by Sony would work for most people, but since my consoles are placed directly under my wall-mounted TV, there is no space to keep the PlayStation 5 Pro standing upright and not blocking the screen.

PlayStation 5 Pro owners won't find a secret menu that gives players superuser access to overhaul the appearance and performance of a particular game. Instead, Sony's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) runs behind the scenes at all times. If players didn't have a list of PS5 Pro Enhanced titles or a base PS5 model side by side, there's a good chance the secret wouldn't even be visible to the player. For some titles, such as Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, which features a 30 FPS quality mode, the same mode on the PlayStation 5 Pro provides a significant gameplay boost.

Personally, I found Quality Mode on the PS5 to be sluggish and not as responsive when it mattered most. The same game and graphics mode instead ran much closer to 60 FPS, the same performance I got out of the aptly named Performance Mode. For players launching an enhanced PlayStation 5 Pro title, It Just Works™ is ready to use right out of the box. One option available to players in the Screen and Video menu is the toggle for 8K output (to be honest, I don't have a suitable display in my office and most likely won't unless , Sony is making a major upgrade to its InZone). monitor line).

Another graphical switch on the PlayStation 5 Pro is to improve the image quality for PS4 games. Interestingly, the switch is disabled when the console is connected to a FullHD display, and the PS5 Pro notes that this option only applies to a display that supports 1440p or 2160p output. This doesn't seem to be the only way to improve a last-gen title, as I fired up Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven to take a look at the image quality and was quite surprised at how much the console cleaned up and applied anti-aliasing to the character models and the environment.

It wasn't a 100% perfect improvement, as some strange artifacts and image distortion occurred while I was focusing on the idle animation of a particular character and the way the image deformed and partially distorted when hair collided with their helmet, which I hadn't seen yet on the same version that runs on the base PS5. The fact that I had to stop and focus so intently on a specific character to notice a bug meant that I didn't see any major problems with native upscaling in practice. I plan to take another look at some of the other titles in my collection, such as Persona 5 Strikers, to see to what extent the aliasing and jagged edges I observed when reviewing that title are resolved with native PSSR support became.

I touched on this when unboxing it, but the design of the PlayStation 5 Pro seems to at least accommodate the optional disc drive attachment or vertical stand. The two white stands offer a quick and dirty way to prop your PlayStation 5 Pro horizontally, but since it would wobble so much, there's stability at play here that hurts the presentation and overall aesthetic of Sony's flagship console. Consider investing in something like Sony's vertical stand or disc drive that will allow you to play the rest of your disc-based library. Both add so much to the total bill that you would almost just have to buy two PlayStation 5 Slim units.

It will take some time to get to grips with what Sony brings to the table with the mid-generation PlayStation 5 Pro refresh. With nearly 100 PS5 Pro Enhanced titles, Sony has already shown great commitment to proving that the $699 console refresh represents initial value. However, it will take until next year to see what the barriers to entry are for any developer to take advantage of the PlayStation 5 Pro's unique feature set or the automated PSSR that runs behind the scenes. Many gamers may balk at the PlayStation 5 Pro's premium price or use it as fuel for the ongoing console wars, but it's important to view its role in the console ecosystem as more of an upgrade from the base GeForce RTX series a SUPER. If you've upgraded your graphics card for $600 or more to get ten or fifteen more FPS in Cyberpunk 2077, you already know the value Sony is offering with the PlayStation 5 Pro.

(Editor's note: Sony provided Wccftech with a PlayStation 5 Pro review unit for editorial purposes.)

Mark Cerny has created something amazing with the PlayStation 5 Pro, introducing new AI upscaling and PSSR rendering techniques that make existing games look their best. Rather than being an entirely new console, Sony is positioning itself as the graphics card upgrade that gamers have been asking for for years.

Advantages

Officially the most powerful gaming console on the market
2.5 times as much storage as the base PlayStation 5
Smoother gameplay on a growing number of PlayStation 5 titles
Mark Cerny's Secret Sauce has potential
Much smaller footprint and form factor than the standard model.
Whisper-quiet even with demanding next-gen gaming
Ray tracing without sacrificing performance
Select games will see native image quality upscaled to 4K120, with many offering a near-fixed 60FPS experience where available

Disadvantages

There is no way to disable PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution if unintended performance occurs
The price can be difficult to stomach, especially in areas where the dollar is not used
By installing the disc drive, the console price doubles compared to the base model
Poor stability in the real world without purchasing an additional stand to support the console
Limited selection of official PS5 Pro Enhanced titles and no new first-party titles at launch to demonstrate the potential of the improved GPU

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PlayStation 5 Pro

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