If you're getting your first PlayStation, wait for a PS4 Pro
Anyone considering a PlayStation 4 Pro purchase is facing one of two questions:
1. Should I upgrade to a PlayStation 4 Pro from my existing PS4?
No, probably not. Unless your home gaming setup includes a 4K television of some kind, there's really no reason to consider a Pro purchase if your base PS4 is still running fine.
This is doubly true if you've already purchased one of the newly slimmed-down PS4s. That means your console isn't even two months old yet. Yes, the slim PS4's only difference from the launch console is a now-removed optical audio port, but if you bought the refreshed base console then you probably knew that was the case and didn't need the port anyway.
2. I'm buying a PS4 for the first time. Which one should I get?
Ah, now this is a trickier question. Unless you have a 4K screen, in which case the answer is definitely yes.
If you don't have 4K and you're looking at a PS4 purchase, ask yourself when or if you plan to upgrade to 4K. Figure out if you'll need that optical audio port (an important feature for higher-end gaming headsets). Decide whether you care about the marginal-yet-still noticeable boosts the Pro offers even on sub-4K displays (discussed below).
To be clear: PS4 Pro-optimized games don't actually run at 4K. They're all upscaled to that resolution, since the Pro -- and, really, all but the most expensive gaming PCs -- lacks the processing power to run games natively at a 4K resolution.
In spite of that, I think the $100 premium you pay for a Pro is more than worth it if you're already buying a new PlayStation now, for whatever reason. Gaming consoles rarely offer the ability to future-proof your setup, but this one does just that.
Want to better understand how the technical differences between the base PS4 and the Pro play out in practice before you make your decision? Then read on.
I've been down on the PlayStation 4 Pro for months.
When Sony announced its "4K gaming" console for a November 2016 release with just two months to go before that release, I predicted disaster. Why announce such a significant hardware launch so late? And why release it less than a month after PlayStation VR's launch?
I read that as Sony's lack of certainty over the PS4 Pro's prospects. The less-than-perfect PSVR only seemed to confirm those suspicions. I felt that the Pro's seemingly rushed launch was an effort to give the PSVR a more reliable hardware foundation than the O.G. PS4 could.
I was 100 percent wrong.
PS4 Pro is an upgrade over the PS4 we've known since 2014. Yes, the benefits are most evident if you have a 4K television. But it's also not necessary; even plugged into 1080p screen, there's a difference.
It's important to make a distinction between graphics and resolution. The former is the sum total of a game's textures, animations, physics, particle effects and other elements making up what you see. The latter is, simply, how many pixels can cram onto your screen. The Pro boosts both, but the difference remains important.
Everyone should see a graphics difference, regardless of the screen a Pro is plugged into. Even using a 1080p display, I saw obvious improvements in anti-aliasing, which smooths out the jagged edges of textures with have curved or diagonal lines. This is evident in Pro-optimized games like Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Infamous: Second Son.
Particle and lighting effects in general also seem to enjoy a boost in the Pro-optimized games I tested. It's subtle, but columns of fire, billowing smoke and inky shadows behave more naturally on the newer PS4. The difference is probably unnoticeable to the average user unless there's a side-by-side comparison to reference, but it's there.
Here are two nearly identical clips from early in the Battlefield 1 campaign. The top example is footage captured from a launch PS4 and the bottom example comes from the Pro. Both consoles were plugged into the same input on the same TV when the footage was captured.
If you're having trouble spotting a difference, that's OK. It's noticeable when you're staring at a TV, but the process of capturing video then crunching it down for internet consumption renders these two clips nearly identical.
Try a pair of screengrabs instead. Getting the full effect really depends on moving video, but there are differences to spot in these two images.
Pay particular attention to the paint on the tank's name, "Black Bess," and the lines of the treads. There's less definition and more of a jagged edge to the lines on the launch PS4 versus the PS4 Pro.
The Pro screenshot also features more definition in the shadows at the base of the foreground tree on the right side of each image. Finally, take note of the embers on the left; there's significantly more detail in the Pro screenshot.
Still, these are difficult things to spot unless you're looking for them.
This speaks to the problem Sony faces in marketing the Pro: while it does provide a performance upgrade even for people that don't own a 4K display, how do you demonstrate the difference to people?
Look at the lengths I've gone to here just to explain this thing you can't really see in captured footage. Even if you figure out a good way to demo that, how many people will really care?
It doesn't help that there's also no system-level indicator to tell you which games are optimized and which ones aren't. Call of Duty and Battlefield apparently adapt to the hardware they're running on whereas Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor lets players choose -- from the main menu, not in-game -- between "resolution" and "quality."
Mordor claims to "superscale" the resolution on 1080p screens, and this is where the 4K difference matters.
Regardless of the setting you go with in Mordor, a better screen makes the image sharper, the colors more vivid and vastly improves the black levels. The difference is most evident in optimized games, but the Pro upscales everything on a 4K screen.
I play a lot of Destiny, which isn't pegged for a patch, and immediately spotted a difference the first time I fired it up on the Pro. I never realized how muted the color palette is on my base PS4 until I saw the same game running on a Pro.
Unfortunately, the added power doesn't do anything to boost performance. Battlefield looks great running on a Pro with a 4K screen, but you still get occasional texture pop-in as a map loads and slowdown when the action gets intense.
The same holds true for any game, optimized or not. The PS4 Pro is purpose-built to make things look prettier, but the performance improvements it delivers -- if any -- are negligible.
PSVR doesn't seem to benefit much either. Many of the games available for Sony's VR headset are due for Pro patches that haven't been released yet, but the new console doesn't change the way those games perform, pre-patch. Not that it should; the blame for PSVR's issues with motion tracking falls squarely on its required peripherals.
Unfortunately, you're going to have to take my word on all of this. To see what the Pro does, you have to be standing in front of one, preferably with a 4K TV attached. I'd strongly recommend getting out to a store once the Pro is released on Nov. 11.
Sony's beefed up console is impressive in action, but communicating its benefits to consumers that may not be able to take full advantage is going to be a challenge.
Topics Gaming PlayStation Gadgets
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
