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Well friends, the PS5 Pro will finally launch tomorrow. Four years since we chose the PS5 Salem Islandthe new console is sparking a lot of talk about the importance of better graphics for the average gamer.

Thanks to the good people at Sony, I was able to get my hands on a review device a week early and gather my thoughts on it. I’ve been playing PlayStation consoles my whole life since The PS1 era (underrated), and I haven’t strayed since. In saying that, I wasn’t going to go crazy over a PS5 Pro just because it can slightly improve the graphics. It would have to do a little more to convince me, especially at its exorbitant price.

So, without further ado, here are my pros and cons for the new PS5 Pro. I’m sure we’ll all agree that my opinions are one hundred percent correct, and no one will argue with me (please don’t argue with me, I’m fragile).

Advantages: design

I have to give credit to Sony’s design team. They directly slapped lines on the PS5 like a four year old drawing flames on a moving car, and I can’t deny it – I think it looks sick.

The new PS5 Pro is a slimmer, sleeker design for the PS5. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel and it doesn’t really change much from the original design, but it wasn’t necessary.

Honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised that the PS5 Pro is thinner than the original PS5. With all the best tech and preview photos being announced, I assumed the new console would be an absolute unit and would struggle to fit my setup. Fortunately, this isn’t a problem at all; it’s hardly an inconvenience.

I’ll tell you that for free too. Before you pick up the console, be aware that the PS5 Pro’s vertical stand is different from the original PS5’s vertical stand, so you won’t be able to reuse your old one here. I’ve tried it (for science), and a simple swipe of a vacuum cleaner or the zoomies of a house cat would easily tip this over like Jenga.

Disadvantages: this price

There’s no need to beat around the bush, this thing is expensive. Its Australian retail price is steep at $1,199.95, without a vertical stand or disc drive.

It’s difficult for many to fork out what could be an entire month’s rent for a better version of a console that already exists. You can play the same games on the original PS5, and they will still work just fine.

However, I could see an argument that the PS5 Pro could set you up for the next five to eight years of gaming. If you’re planning to buy a console for the long term, the PS5 Pro should have a lot of value here. Even today, the games are still out on the PS4. That’s eight years after the release of the PS4 Pro and only four years after the release of the PS5. So while I can understand why someone wouldn’t immediately rush out and grab it, I think this console has a long life ahead of it.

Pros: Exciting new specs

The PS5 Pro has received three major improvements: a larger graphics processing unit (GPU), which promises to make games 45% faster, advanced ray tracing, and the new upscaling method driven by PlayStation AI, Super spectral resolution. If this sounds like a sleeper agent activation code, ask someone near you to read it out loud a few times to be safe.

Sony promised that these upgrades would eliminate the choice between graphical fidelity and performance. In my experience, this is true. On the original PS5, I generally played at fidelity settings so as not to experience huge frame rate drops or stuttering. With the PS5 Pro, I switched to the highest possible settings and, to my surprise, the games ran perfectly.

Ultimately, one of the biggest quality of life features of the new PS5 Pro is that it comes with a 2TB SSD. Before, if you wanted more storage, you had to install a second SSD manually on the console. Video games are hugeso much so that if you have less than one TB, you’ll be fighting for your life to have more than four or five games ready to play when you want to play.

Cons: No disk drive

One of the most disappointing features here is that the PS5 Pro is a digital-only console. This upset me because I recently picked up a copy of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on disk and I’ve already put a ton of hours into it. Now with the new PS5 Pro, I will have to repurchase the game or a separate disc drive for the console. What broke my heart even more was that reviewers who got to experience the console at an event in Japan said: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on the standard PS5 compared to the Pro model was night and day. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm because I’m a dinosaur who still buys records.

All joking aside, I’m not a big fan of a digital-only model. Australia has some of the worst internet in the world and video games are growing. If you want to play a new game, you can wait for hours to download it. You might also end up irritating your whole family by hogging the internet trying to download all 120+ GB of the new Call of Duty.

Pros: Good graphics!

Graphical fidelity is the main selling point that Sony wants to make with the PS5 Pro. With its AI scaling technology, Sony promises to reach the highest level a video game console can offer.

It’s hard to tell through screenshots, but the games receiving the PS5 Pro visual updates look stunning on the console. It’s such a small detail in the scale of things, but the fact that you can see every blade of grass while walking through the towns of The Last of Us II with no painful loading screens or tanking of framerates, it’s a marvel of technical work.

Another game getting a significant boost from the Pro is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Even though the game was amazing when it came out, I remembered a lot of stuttering during cutscenes. In my ten hours of play on PS5 Pro, I only experienced a slight 0.5 second stutter in the opening cutscene, which is huge. It might not seem like it, but playing the game without any glitches or framerate drops improved my experience significantly. Playing a game without a framerate drop is like receiving a compliment. You don’t notice how nice it is until you have one.

Cons: You’ll need a better TV to get the most out of it

I feel like I’m still only scratching the surface here. I played the console on an old Hisense HD smart TV, which means it wasn’t. OLED4K or ultra-wide resolution.

To really get the most out of your PS5 Pro, you’ll need a great TV, capable of reaching higher resolutions and displaying all those subtle details in terms of color, saturation, shadows, megapixels , etc.

I think this makes the PS5 Pro harder to sell, in my opinion. Not only will you have to spend a lot of money on the PS5 Pro – one of the most expensive console releases to date, but you’ll also have to consider spending more money on a bigger, better TV if you don’t. haven’t done in the past. a few years. While this is great for enthusiasts who want their games to push the boundaries, it might not be as relevant for the average gamer looking to play. Fortnite, NBA Or Call of Duty.

Advantages: Performance

I’ve mentioned performance several times in this review, but it really needs its own pillar. For the record, I’m a PC gamer and have invested enough money into my setup to make my accountant cry. All this so I can comfortably run games at High to Ultra settings. When I say the PS5 Pro was the smoothest gaming experience I’ve had, I’m saying it’s more seamless than a $2.5k gaming PC could buy.

I spent most of the week working Dragon Age: The Veilkeeperwhich was released last week. Granted, it’s an extremely well-optimized game, but regardless, I had no performance issues and, for the first time in a while, I’d rather play an RPG on console than on PC. If you said that to a PC gamer ten years ago, you’d be exiled from the Steam forums and your ISP leaked online. Now I think this might become a more popular version.

Overall, I think the PS5 Pro is an amazing console that lives up to its potential. However, given our cost of living crisis, this price is a significant ask (thanks, Australian dollar value). If you’re passionate about your gaming setup and want the best gaming experience you can get on any console on the market, the PS5 Pro is the best out there, by far. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more Dragon Age to get through.

If you’re interested in picking up your own PS5 Pro, you can pre-order it below from your retailer of choice.

• Amazon Australia, $1,199
• Large W, $1,199
• EB Games, $1,199.95
• JB Hi-Fi System, $1,199
• Gamers, $1,199.95
• Harvey Norman, $1,198

Image credit: PEDESTRIAN.TV, Last of Us II / Sony Interactive