Sony PlayStation 5 Pro, our impressions

After a few months of waiting, the new Sony console is here. The Sony Playstation 5 Pro will be officially available tomorrow in France at a price of 799.90 euros. For our part, we have already been playing on it for almost a week. It is time to talk about our feedback on the new Sony console.

This time, no double version, we necessarily buy it without a Blu-Ray disc player which becomes an option like the support to allow the console to stand vertically. And as luck would have it, the disc player, which is the same as the PS5 Slim, is out of stock almost everywhere, so if you're not looking for one, you're going to have to get moving.

We won't go over the technical details since we've already talked about them at length, in breadth and across, we'll instead focus on our feedback while Sony has announced no less than 50 optimized games for tomorrow.

Packaging and Design

As expected with the size of the console, the packaging is not discreet and looks quite similar to the packaging of previous PS5s. The biggest difference is the background color, which is black and not white. This allows the emphasis to be placed on the technical side and raw power of the Sony PS5 Pro. Afterwards, we are on familiar ground since we find a white box with a sort of light cardboard skin on top. This allows Sony to quietly create new packaging without having to review the production lines in the future.

In the box, and in our case, is of course the Sony PS5 Pro. Added to this is a Dual Sense controller, a power cable, an HDMI cable and a USB-C cable to charge the controller. As mentioned above, there is no longer a base to place the console on since it has been an option since the PS5 Slim. Compared to the very first PS5, the PS5 Pro is much less bulky, it looks like the PS5 Slim but in a taller version. We will also note the three stripes on each side of the console that allow you to differentiate between a PS5 Slim and the new PS5 Pro.

For the Sony PS5 Pro itself, it is a fairly large and thin tower, unlike the first PS5. But it is not a PC and therefore, it weighs as much as a console in itself. On the front, there are two USB-C ports as well as the power button. And unsurprisingly, on the back, there are two USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port and a power port. And as a reminder, compared to previous generations, there is no longer an optical output for sound, everything goes through HDMI now.

We will still note the possibility of connecting any external drive to expand the console's memory and install mainly PS4 games. And if you want to expand the console's memory itself, there is an M.2 NVMe slot inside the console. You will just have to "open" the console, which is not very complicated with the panel system.

Concerning the finish, nothing special, the finish is of good quality and the only thing that can scare you in the long term is seeing the white of the console turn yellow over time. But from what we saw with the first PS5 and the PS5 Slim, there is no need to worry.

So what? These games in a Pro version?

In the world of technology, when we talk about a pro version, we suspect additional power compared to a non-pro version. This is the case here with Sony's new console and who says additional power also says additional heat and the new PS5 Pro is no exception to the rule. The latter heats a little more than the PS5 Slim but in absolute terms, nothing really surprising either and above all, unlike the PS4 Pro, the PS5 Pro does not turn into a turbine at home and for that alone, we are reassured.

With the launch, as we saw above, Sony does not hesitate to communicate on the fact that around fifty games are already optimized and will be available to users tomorrow. We are happy to see that the developers have played the game so as not to crash Sony's launch. We can find the list of games HERE and in the pile, we tested several like Ratchet & Clank, Spiderman 2, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West and even older games like Demon’s Souls.

And that’s perhaps where the problem lies. Indeed, you’ll have to get out the magnifying glass and be patient to really notice changes between a game on the PS5 and the PS5 Pro. At least, for now. For us and for now, the main thing is mainly to be able to run games at 60fps instead of 30fps and this, by sacrificing a little less detail. To see differences, you have to stop playing to almost do "Pixel-Peeping" like in photos to note differences. Suffice to say that in "normal times", there is little chance that the general public will see a real difference.

So, we will also weigh it up because this is still only the beginning and we are talking about old games. If the developers have made efforts, maybe they have not gone all the way either. In our opinion, we will have to wait and see on the next games to see if the contribution of the PS5 Pro is real or not. And for that, we are rather confident despite the few new features for the moment.

While Microsoft is talking about an ecosystem, Sony is playing it much more classic. The Sony PS5 is a brand new console and with it, we will be entitled to dedicated games. If we will not necessarily talk about PS5 exclusives right away, we can already talk about Sony exclusives (for the PS4 and the PS5). If Sony's ecosystem remains important, Sony is there to sell consoles too and for that, there are not 36,000 ways of doing things, Sony will have to offer unique games that will make people want to buy the console.