PS5 Pro hands-on review: 72 hours with Sony's new PlayStation console
PS5 Pro hands-on review: 72 hours with Sony's new PlayStation console
The new PlayStation 5 Pro is for hardcore gamers and big-screen TV owners who want an edge on graphics for $700
Sunday’s special PS5 review ends with PlayStation discount codes below ⤵️
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Pros
✅ 🏆 Best PS5 graphics for PS5 Pro enhanced, 8K and ray-tracing games
✅ 🤝 Combines Fidelity and Performance graphics mode choices
✅ 📈 Game Boost and PSSR upscaling make older games look better
✅ 🗄️ 2TB of storage more than doubles the original PS5
✅ 📐 Smaller design than the original PS5
✅ 🤫 Runs more quietly than the PS4 Pro did (sounds like PS5)
✅ 🐏 More RAM means developers can create better future games
Cons
❌ 📺 Only worth it if you have a big-screen TV
❌ 💿 This $700 ‘Pro’ console doesn’t include the $80 optional disc drive
❌ 🗼 This $700 ‘Pro’ console doesn’t add the $30 vertical stand
❌ 🫥 This $700 ‘Pro’ console isn’t compatible with Slim console covers
❌ 💸 Digital PS5 games are ONLY sold by Sony and remain expensive
❌ 👀 Not all games are PS5 Pro enhanced with noticeable differences
*Review score, gameplay video and video review are coming later this week in our final PS5 Pro review – first to The Shortcut subscribers.
I’ve spent more than three days with the PS5 Pro, and as someone who helped more than half a million of you buy the original PS5 when it was impossible to find in stock, I’ll be honest with you in my upcoming full PS5 Pro review: you don’t need to buy this console for $700 unless you have a large enough TV where every pixel matters.
Don’t get me wrong. Sony’s new PS5 Pro is the best way to play PlayStation games, and they look fantastic on the 98-inch TCL QM8 that I’m reviewing at the same time. I re-played Spider-Man 2 and Horizon Forbidden West on day one and got back into The Last of Us Part II on day two. I can confirm that there are extra details, more ray-tracing, and smoother frame rates when using the PS5 Pro.
My launch day video hit 300,000+ views on X, Instagram, YouTube & TikTok
I also finally got a chance to dive into Call of Duty Black Ops 6, and aside from playing it on a PC, this is going to be the best way to experience Activision’s latest FPS game. Even if it’s “free” with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Black Ops 6 is one of the many Xbox games that run best on PS5 Pro. The pending PS5 Pro-enhanced patch for this game isn’t out yet, but even now, I can run it at a stable 120Hz, which makes PS5 Pro worth it for reaction-time-dominate games like Call of Duty.
PS5 Pro: Fidelity & Performance modes in one
I love that PS5 Pro means I don’t have to decide between Fidelity (best graphics) and Performance (best frame rate) modes among PS5 Pro-enhanced games. There are new Fidelity Pro and Performance Pro modes to choose from, but gone are the days of having to sacrifice detail to achieve anything higher than 30fps in many games.
Gone are the days of having to sacrifice detail to achieve anything higher than 30fps
PSSR upscaling and Game Boost also make unpatched and older games look better, albeit marginally in many cases. Right now, because of PSSR upscaling, I can get Black Ops 6 to 1440p at 120Hz without performance dips before the official patch.
In the future, thanks to this new console, 8K PS5 Pro games and ray-tracing games will become the norm. Sony no longer advertises that the PS5 is an 8K console on the box (it used to). That remains true of the PS5 Pro box. But there’s an 8K output mode among the PS5 Pro settings, so it is present on the new console.
PS5 Pro specs and design
The PS5 Pro includes an internal 2TB SSD, which more than doubles the storage of the original PS5 (825GB) and PS5 Slim (1TB). Yet, the actual console is smaller in size – though not as small as the PS5 Slim. It’s somewhere in between, but, importantly, the new PlayStation finally fits in my media cabinet because it’s significantly shorter than the original. For what it’s worth, the PS5 Pro feels a lot lighter in weight, too.
See our in-depth PS5 vs PS5 Pro comparison
PS5 Pro contains an extra 2GB of RAM dedicated to system resources compared to the original PS5. That won’t mean too much to you right now, but down the line, that additional memory will mean developers can make even better PS5 Pro games. They don’t have to reserve a slice of the overall 16GB of RAM for system overhead. For this reason, I can’t wait to see GTA 6 on PS5 Pro next year.
Where I’m skeptical of the PS5 Pro
*Record scratch* …But the PS5 Pro is overpriced. Sony is technically charging $300 more for its mid-cycle console refresh than the PS5 Digital at launch, and it’s $100 too much for most PlayStation gamers. I predict a $100 PS5 Pro price drop will happen next year, and sales will pick up (much like PSVR 2, which dropped in price this year, and sales suddenly surged by 2,000%).
It’s hard to get over the fact that even at $700, there’s no disc drive included with the PS5 Pro. It’s an optional $80 purchase and is currently hard to find in stock. And Sony couldn’t be bothered to throw in a $30 vertical stand (also difficult to find in stock).
A disc-less PS5 Pro only benefits Sony, which controls the PlayStation Store prices. It not only cuts out Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Target and GameStop, but the lack of competition means PS5 games often cost $20 more at the PlayStation Store vs some retailers in the US. It’s not a great sign for the future of gaming.
For some unexplained reason, Sony charged the latching mechanism on the PS5 Pro console covers, meaning you’ll need to buy a whole new set of plates to customize this new console. These covers are roughly the same size as the PS5 Slim plates, but I tried attaching them and they just don’t fit. Luckily, you can hot-swap your old PS5 SSD for additional storage besides the 2TB SSD that’s built-in.
Is PS5 Pro worth the upgrade?
The larger PS5 Pro GPU offers 45% faster rendering than the original PS5, which is how many (but not all) PS5 Pro-enhanced games can achieve that 4K 60fps with “fidelity” graphics. That said, not everyone with a PS5 will appreciate the PS5 Pro’s performance upgrade simply because their TV or monitor isn’t large enough. I’m also waiting to see how PSVR 2 on PS5 Pro changes Sony’s VR commitment, if at all.
Trying out the PS5 Pro on multiple TV sizes – 55 inches, 65 inches, and 98 inches – I was able to appreciate the extra detail of the PS5 Pro on the larger TVs. The same rule of thumb applies to monitors. Anything beyond the popular 27-inch monitor size will display the extra pixels and ray tracing more clearly. Otherwise, you can get by with performance mode and wait for the Sony PS6 release date in a few years.
Full PS5 Pro review to come this week
I need to spend more time play-testing other games to complete my PS5 Pro review and attach a review score.
Here’s what The Shortcut subscribers get access to first starting this week:
Playtest every enhanced game I have on PS5 Pro
Comparison photos & videos of games (PS5 Pro vs PS5)
Video review of the PS5 Pro
Review score
Best TV for PS5 Pro buying guide
Right now, I can already tell you that Sony’s system is easily the best way to navigate the debate on fidelity vs. performance graphics modes and get the best of both worlds. On a big TV, it has enough wow factor to be my preferred way to game on a console, but $700 is a steep price for a slight edge in graphics.
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