Earlier this year I decided to buy a PlayStation 4 Pro as I sold my PS4 (1st gen) late last year. For the past two months or so I have spent some time playing my old favorite games such as the Witcher 3 and Battlefield 1, and I have a few thoughts to share with you guys.
The Specs
The first and most obvious thing that I noticed was a slight increase in performance compared to my older PS4 console. So, let’s quickly have a look what the hardware differences are between the normal PlayStation 4 and the Pro version.
As shown above, the increase in hardware and graphics performance does translate to a slightly better gaming experience.
However, you do pay extra for the increase in performance. The newer PS4 Slim version generally floats around the €250 ($289) price range for the 1TB version, and the PS4 Pro comes in at €350 ($369). Now you do get a big bump in theoretical GPU performance from 1.84 teraflop to 4.2 teraflop, but teraflops don’t always translate into scalable performance. The increase on a Full-HD TV seems minimal and this is due to the fact that developers have not really optimized their games.
Does The PS4 Pro Really Offer 4K?
What frustrates me the most is the fact that for your extra €100 of hard earned cash, you don’t even get some of the great features that its competitor offers. For that extra cash, you also don’t always get native 4K gaming with the Pro. This is always up to the game developers to decide and how they code the game. Sometimes you get 4K and sometimes you just get upscaling (from 1080p or 1440p). This means that the only time that you are guaranteed to get 4K is when you are streaming 4K content.
This leads me into my next point, the PS4 Pro does not feature a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. While this might not be an issue for some, it kind of sucks if you have slower or capped internet or if you have a fine collection of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray DVDs. Even the Xbox One S has a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive and it costs as much as the standard PS4 Slim.
Another uncertainty for the PS4 Pro at the moment is the claim that it performs better with VR games over the standard PS4 Slim, possibly to do with the graphics boost or higher refresh rates? But this is a bit inconclusive at this point in time, as the selection of VR games are still very limited and they are not really optimized for the PS4 Pro. Maybe in the coming years there will be a slight improvement over the older PS4 model, but only time will tell.
Are there any positives?
Enough about the negatives and let’s look at the positives of this console for a moment. If you have a fancy 4K HDR TV or monitor that supports both 4K and HDR then you will be pleased to know that the Pro, just like the Slim supports HDR. Games such as Resident Evil 7, an overall excellent title really benefits from HDR and just looks great with it turned on. The Witcher 3 – Wild Hunt has also received an update to fully support HDR and 4K upscaling, and as we all know by now, this is a stunning game to play. Although not all games are natively 4K, many games are upscaled to 4K and still give you an experience that is worthwhile over the standard PS4 Slim.
Conclusion should you buy a PS4 Pro in 2019?
The short and easy answer is, yes and no. If you are a PlayStation lover but don’t own your own one yet, then go right ahead. But make sure that you own a 4K TV, as playing on a Full-HD 1080p TV is a bit of a waste for the PS4 Pro. If you have the PS4 or PS4 Slim at this point in time I would recommend waiting for the PlayStation 5 as it is going to be far more powerful than the current PS4 and PS4 Pro.
