Do you need a PS4 Pro?

Sony is pretty good at lots of things: cameras, TVs, audio equipment and even medical technology,  but right now it might be best known for its games consoles and rightly so. If you look at Sony’s books, its PlayStation arm is the third most profitable after financial services and its image sensors – which can be found in many products you might not expect including Apple and Samsung mobiles and Nikon cameras (Sony makes 40% of all sensors sold). So yeah, Sony are pretty good at imaging. On that note, Sony has recently offered up the chance for us to get some sharper images directly onto our TVs, and into our super HD, high contrast, 4k, OLED, HDR gaming ready eyes…

But should we take them up on the offer?

Now in the last few years games consoles have become all round media machines. You can now tick off YouTube, Netflix and Spotify etc. off your wish list as these and plenty of others are now as easy to use on your console as almost any other device and one of thee easiest ways to get them on your TV.

So a few weeks ago Sony announced a couple of new versions of its super popular console for us to swoon over and hopefully we can help you sift through the facts, figures and acronyms and find out what’s best for you.

Firstly, if you’re new to video games in general, still rocking the PS3, or are just looking for an upgrade, Sony is giving us a really nice option to look at. The new standard PS4 has had a little design change but the appearance is basically the same PS4 that most people have been loving since it launched. The biggest difference is the sweet price drop that is coming and although there are always deals to be had, the updated PS4 will be available for about £250 / €290 / $325. If you hadn’t invested already and feel like it’s time then there isn’t really a better one. There is a great selection of games available both from this generation and the plethora of backwards compatible games to be found on the PSN. Even for the casual gamer this is probably a good time to upgrade if you haven’t already, as the price of the new console will probably only see small incremental drops now that the new version has been unveiled. All this and the fact that the PS4 is now really in its stride with lots of great looking games on the horizon, and plenty of software features already running smoothly, there isn’t really a reason to hold off any longer.

Not only did Sony give us a slimmed-down version of the PS4 to gawk at but they also gave us a super shiny, (not literally) super awesome, super new PS4 Pro. Now everybody kind of knew this was going to happen especially as Microsoft had already done something similar and, you know… major leaks.

Now the problem here is that as a piece of technology the PS4 is awesome. The problem for most people will be that if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford one, to take full advantage you’ll need a pretty good TV. This argument is kind of self-defeating as a good TV is always a good idea for games -well for watching anything really. For a some people a PS4 Pro may be overkill, but we aren’t most people, we are gamers (well we are at least). If you’ve got a 4K, HDR TV and you’re wondering, or you just like to have the best quality everything and you’re wondering, YES, Yes you will be able to see the difference, chances are you’ll see a big difference.

There is no doubt that if you’re future proofing and you want the best then you should go for a PS4 Pro. Pair one of these with a compatible TV, a compatible game (of which Sony says there will be many) or even some UHD streaming or Blurays and the result is something very impressive. You’ll see colours you’ve not seen on a screen before and more than likely more hairs on your character’s head and more pieces of grass in that landscape than you’ve ever seen from a console before. PC gamers may scoff but we are entering the UHD / HDR gaming era and of course Sony wants to keep up with both the early adopters and its competition. It looks to us like they are in prime position to keep up their console momentum and maintain the No1 console spot.

If you have a PS4 already then unless you have a great TV that can take advantage of the new hardware, I’d wait for a new TV to upgrade. Do bare in mind that a PS4 Pro would improve your graphics compared to an original PS4 though. If you aren’t lucky enough to be in the PS4 universe yet then it’s a great time to enter with both a future market leader and a great value console on offer (the Pro costing roughly what the original cost at launch). Basically if you don’t have one and you want one, buy one and you’ll have made a great choice whichever you buy because they are loaded with stuff to do and a massive catalogue of games to go at. Plus, you now have a choice whether to go all-out or just see if you like the experience with the standard console which is now even better value for money. You can get some quality bargains too. (See here)