and NO optical disc drive




Gaming perks: Bigger GPU, 4K and 60fps, lots of ray tracing

Everything the PS5 Pro offers is about graphics. The CPU is the same as the PS5, and so is the SSD speed. The GPU, meanwhile, is 67% more computing cores, according to Sony, with 28% faster RAM and 45% faster rendering.
There are three big initial upgrades Sony is specifically pushing on the Pro for what that new GPU is doing: more ray tracing, automatic AI-assisted game upscaling for 4K and a new Pro mode for games that will combine 60fps and 4K together.

An AI-assisted upscaling mode, called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, works across the whole game library without any needed patch, adding in details to upscale to 4K. I didn't see this demonstrated, but the feature should help enhance older games if you have a 4K TV. It'll also work on PSVR 2 games in the future, too, Cerny said.

Seems like a PS5 with DLSS/FSR and a more powerful GPU to bridge the gap between the FPS DLSS/FSR would give on the standard PS5 and actually hitting 60 FPS on the Pro. $700 seems like a lot to spend to get that boost.

Can you set that thing on its side?

Yes.

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and NO optical disc drive

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Apparently its compatible with the stand along drive being sold for the PS5 slim. So add another $80 if you want that.

That's a lot for a mid cycle upgrade.
Leaning towards a no for me.

I'm probably pulling trigger on this. My Xbox One is long in the tooth so this would be a good upgrade for me, personally.

I can't play some newer games at this point.

I guess it goes without saying that if the consoles coming out don't have optical drives then physical media for console versions of games will go away.

I see the Pro versions of all products (Sony, Apple,etc) as the "luxury" brand versions similar to Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura.

I'll stick with my loaded Camry! This round!

They just increased the price of the dualsense controller, and are releasing this at $700 with minimal upgrades, no disk drive and have to buy the stand separate. This is why Xbox needs to get its **** and provide some competition

Ideally these companies will go to a model where they release the standard model, 4-5 years later release a Pro model, 4-5 years after that release the updated standard model that is roughly the same as the pro model.

In conjunction with the release of the new standard model release a handheld that is equivalent to the former standard model.

2020: PS5
2024: PS5 Pro
2028: PS6 (rebranded pro with price drop)
2028: Handheld PS5
2032: PS6 Pro
2032: Handheld price cut

Standard: Target 4k60, no graphics mode
Pro: 4k60 with graphical bump or 4k120 with same graphics
Handheld: Target 1080p60, no graphics mode

Every 4 years you're giving each subset of consumer (Pro and budget conscious) a viable product to purchase and you're providing studios with a predictable schedule of what targets they're aiming for.

AvsB said:

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The PS5 pro is an enthusiast's machine, just like the PS4 pro was. This is for the same people that just have to have the latest iPhone pro every year.

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PS4 Pro was $400 which was only $100 more than the slim model. A ton more palatable plus you didn't lose disc drive functionality.

Honestly I have a hard time believing most games, outside of Sony first party games, will take advantage of this to make the cost difference worth it for most.

$700 for a digital console and $800 to get console + disc drive add-on is a hell of a cost considering most people are probably looking to squeeze money where they can.

It will sell but I'm not sure it will sell like the PS4 Pro, which is what they seem to publicly believe at the moment.

I sorely miss how affordable gaming was during PS2 gen and how big the available list of gaming titles felt compared to now.

PC = hobbyist
PS5 Pro (and other "pro" stuff") = enthusiasts

$700 for an incremental upgrade, oof

Here are inflation adjusted prices for mainline PlayStation consoles since launch:

PS1: $611 (1995)
PS2: $546 (2000)
PS3: $778 (2006)
PS4: $538 (2013)
PS4 Pro: $522 (2016)
PS5: $606 (2020)
PS5 Pro: $699 (2024)

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) September 10, 2024

Good context. Still nowhere near the sticker shock the PS3 was when that was announced.

For me the issue is we don't need "pro" consoles this generation. When the Series X/PS5 launched the games were awesome. They ran at 60 and looked great!

The problem is the devs are right back to targeting 30 so that they can pump up the game with graphical effects that most people don't even notice.

Raytraced games look great on top end PCs, but consoles just aren't there yet. The current consoles are more than capable of delivering really good looking games at 60.

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Can you set that thing on its side?

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I sure hope so. Otherwise, it's a paperweight without the "costs extra" vertical stand.

This whole reveal was such a laughable disappointment. I haven't had a PlayStation since PS3 and was excited to get a PS5 Pro so I could finally play the exclusives I wanted as well as getting a 4K BluRay player. Consoles going the way of microtransactions feels like a big slap in the face. Joke's on us, I guess.

jr15aggie said:

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For me the issue is we don't need "pro" consoles this generation. When the Series X/PS5 launched the games were awesome. They ran at 60 and looked great!

The problem is the devs are right back to targeting 30 so that they can pump up the game with graphical effects that most people don't even notice.

Raytraced games look great on top end PCs, but consoles just aren't there yet. The current consoles are more than capable of delivering really good looking games at 60.

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Yep, devs continue to get lazier with optimization and we end up with basically the same graphics and performance at higher resolution than we had on previous gen consoles.

Aside from a small handful of exclusives, there isn't any reason not to game on PC.

HossAg said:

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hph6203 said:

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-More expensive
-More maintenance
-More bad ports/poor performance relative to expense of the hardware
-Generally done at a desk rather than on an 85" TV, most people aren't going to invest the amount of money on a separate dedicated gaming PC to put in a living room.

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More expensive, sure, but the others are weird points. I've done zero maintenance on my gaming PC, the performance of games on my PC is always significantly better than what the best console can provide, and there's no reason why someone choosing between the two has to be like "well if I get a PC, I have to use it at a desk instead of the TV I was going to use it at".

Not to mention the option to use KB&M on any game with better support, the ability to overclock controllers, etc.

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I'll add another reason to hph's list that may be an outlier but it's important to me. I keep both a high end PC and a console and I'm due for upgrades to both so I'm about to have to dish out major bucks for both upgrades.

I love my top down isometric CRPG's and those are practically unplayable for me on a big screen tv because of the granularity of the UI on those kinds of games. There are too many little things that I simply can't see on my TV that works much better on a PC. Related is that I prefer these types of games with KB&M and pretty much only these types of games.

All other games I prefer on my console/TV using a controller. Playing FPS with a KB&M is a deal killer for me. Can't and won't do it.

jr15aggie said:

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For me the issue is we don't need "pro" consoles this generation. When the Series X/PS5 launched the games were awesome. They ran at 60 and looked great!

The problem is the devs are right back to targeting 30 so that they can pump up the game with graphical effects that most people don't even notice.

Raytraced games look great on top end PCs, but consoles just aren't there yet. The current consoles are more than capable of delivering really good looking games at 60.

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Only a very rare number of games offer only a 30 fps mode.

The overwhelming majority offer 60 fps. The Pro will offer Fidelity+ visuals @ 60 fps. And also the Ray Tracing is up to 300% faster, so it will be a significant upgrade there.

Whether we "need" a Pro is up to the eye of the beholder. We also don't "need" high end PC parts, but they are available for those that do.

The difference on a 4K TV is tangible, so I will be getting the PS5 Pro day 1 to upgrade from my base PS5. Yes you can get "better" on PC, but you're going to be paying substantially more, and for me I prefer the console experience. The PS5 Pro should be pretty competitive with high end PC hardware right now.

How many people do you know that would build a PC and stick it in a media cabinet? Even if they did the experience is not comparable to a console, because you have to source parts, build it in a case that is aesthetically pleasing enough to stick in your living room, then cobble together a set of software that vaguely matches the gaming experience of a console, and it will absolutely not match the content consumption experience. Keyboard and mouse on a couch is an ergonomic nightmare and it's definitely not much of an ad for a TV based experience and the vast, vast majority of people on PC are using a PlayStation or Xbox controller or a PlayStation or Xbox clone.

I have a dedicated PC hooked up to my TV running Bazzite. It's getting closer to a console. It is not the same. I don't know anyone else that would do that and everyone I know plays more games than I do, I just like to tinker with things. I don't know anyone that would have any interest in overclocking.


The vast majority of people that are buying games are buying COD, playing Fortnite, messing around on Minecraft. They're not buying consoles because they have exclusives, they're buying them because they're cheap and simple and more functional in comparison to a PC when the environment is the living room.

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Only a very rare number of games offer only a 30 fps mode.

The overwhelming majority offer 60 fps.

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Yeah, but we are seeing a lot of really iffy "performance" modes lately. Jedi Survivor, although it was a great game" had a ton of slow down and hiccups in performance mode.

I guess for me, 30 fps and 720p resolutions are things that should have died with the XB1/PS4 generation. 1080p/60 FPS should be the new floor when developing games.

I'd be much more accepting and possibly willing to buy a Pro machine (I bought the One X last gen) if all games were built for that 1080/60 minimum and the Pro machines now pushed these games to higher resolutions with added graphical flare.