PS5 vs. PS4 Pro: Should you buy now or wait?

Hey avid gamer, I take it you’re on this post because you’ve decided to board Sony’s PlayStation ship. Thumbs up to you on that, PlayStations are among the best gaming consoles on the market for lots of reasons.

However, if you’re like most PS lovers, then you’re certainly at a crossroad right now, faced with the impossible decision of choosing between Sony’s last release—the PS4 Pro—which is already available on the market, and the upcoming PS5, which is yet to be released.

Should you splash your cash on the PS4 Pro console, which is likely going to become stale in the next two years or so or keep your money and wait for the release of the PS5 console?

In all honesty, this can be a tough call for anyone because, on the one hand is a pressing desire to bring home a PlayStation console, and on the other hand is the likelihood of an upgrade becoming available sooner rather than later.

Why buy the PlayStation 4 Pro now

One of the best on the market

Although the PS4 Pro was released in 2016, it still prides itself as one of the best consoles in the market even in 2020, with only Microsoft’s Xbox One X boasting a better raw CPU and graphics performance. So if you’re getting the Pro, you’re certainly still getting yourself an incredible gaming machine, with lots of features to die for, including smoother frame rates, high dynamic range or HDR, and 4K support.

More exclusives

If there’s anything history has taught us, it is that we shouldn’t expect too many exclusives from the PS5 when it finally drops.

Surprised? Just go back in time to when the PS4 dropped back then, and you’d remember that only a few games were available exclusively for the PlayStation 5 at the time of its release.

However, with the PS4 Pro comes a lot of exclusives, many of which will be what will be available on the PS5 in its early days. Not to mention that most games released with the PS5 will likely be available to be played using the PS4 as well, and with the added grunt of the PS4 Pro, you’d be able to run the more demanding games without your console getting a hiccup.

Cheaper

To think that the PS4 Pro still comes for around $349 is pretty much a surprise, even for someone as frugal as me, lol! But alas, that’s how cheap a Pro console box costs, which is way below the $499 of Xbox One X.

Want to talk about the price of PS5? Oh, let’s not even go there! Because according to Sony’s CEO, Jim Ryan, the PlayStation 5 “won’t be cheap,” although its price will match its value. According to various expert opinions, it is believed that the PS5 might be more expensive than the PS4 was at launch, with various postulated figures falling in the range of $450 and $500.

Furthermore, it will take at least two to three years into the life of PS5 before buying a PS4 Pro becomes a waste of money, and by then, you’d most likely have saved up enough money to buy a PS5 or even its mid-cycle upgrade.

By and large, the PS4 Pro, as compared with its ninth-generation counterpart, is a great option for someone who’s either low on budget or has other pressing needs, say they want to buy Instagram video views.

The PS5 might take longer to reach our screens

Even though everyone expects the PS5 to hit our screens in the coming months – the holidays specifically – we still don’t have an actual date on hand, which means that gamers might have to wait longer for their next-gen console.

If you don’t have a PlayStation yet, waiting around for the PS5 might be a great ask, considering it might take up to six months, or even more, before it drops. So if you fall into this category, you might want to consider buying the biggest, baddest, and meanest PlayStation on the market – PS4 Pro.

Less expensive entertainment set

Gamers buying the new PlayStation 5 will likely have to fork out for an expensive new telly to get the most out of the high-end consoles. The machine’s landmark features will require a 4K or 8K screen, HDR support, and a new type of HDMI connection only built into a handful of pricey TVs.

The PS5 will support 4K gameplay at 120fps, according to Sony.

To take full advantage of its landmark features, players will have to shell out for a TV with HDMI 2.1 connectivity. HDMI 2.1 is the next generation of HDMI connections (up from 2.0) and is only available on select tellies. They’re mostly newer TVs (2019 onward), and you’d be lucky to find one priced at under $1000.

Although Sony claims it can downscale to 4K and even 1080P as current consoles can, you’d be missing out on its best features if you do so.

PS4 Pro, however, will not drill this kind of hole in your wallet. If anything, you’ll most likely have the perfect 4K or 1080p TV at home for it.

So if you don’t have the right TV set and you don’t intend forking out extra money on a TV, you may want to stick with the best option that fits your situation, and that would be the PS4 Pro.

Even if you don’t end up playing in 4K, the additional performance and enhancements on a “normal” 1080p TV are still going to be worth the while.