PS5 Pro Revealed With $700 Price Tag, No Disc Drive
The PS5 Pro launches November 7 for $699.99, with pre-orders opening on September 26.
Posted 2 months ago
The long-rumored PS5 Pro finally made its debut Tuesday, ready to play by this holiday season with a launch on November 7, 2024 at a price tag of $699.99. Pre-orders will open on September 26 for the console, which will not include a disc drive. The currently available disc-drive for the PS5 Slim can be attached, if bought separately. (Editor's note 10/18/24: PS5 Pro pre-orders are now live, with a Walmart pre-order link below. Walmart is Restart's sponsor.)
In the Pro's reveal showcase, presented by Sony's hardware guru Mark Cerny, we were given a run-through of all the extra tech you get in your mid-generational upgrade. The PlayStation Blog released at the same time as the presentation sums it up pretty neatly, though:
- Upgraded GPU: With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother.
- Advanced Ray Tracing: We’ve added even more powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
- AI-Driven Upscaling: We’re also introducing PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.
No games were announced alongside the new hardware iteration, though several of Sony's first-party titles were shown with enhancements running. Those enhancements can apply to more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games as well, so there's hope for Bloodborne to get an internal resolution bump and a stable 30fps yet.
In terms of other hardware upgrades, PS5 Pro also contains Wi-Fi 7 standard compliance out of the box, if any of your home network equipment is even using that yet.
Also in the box is a 2TB SSD hard drive, a DualSense controller, and a copy of Astro's Playroom pre-installed on the console. A shame they didn't up that to the recently released Astro Bot, which is a perfect showcase of many of the standard PS5's graphical chops.
What Chris thought about Astro Bot...
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"It is an absolute joy just to interact with things in its many, varied worlds. A wonderful little adventure for a wonderful little bot."
As well as the PS5 Disc Drive attachment, the PS5 Pro will be compatible with all other PS5 accessories, including VR2, the Portal handheld, and Pulse headsets.
We'll have information on pre-orders as soon as they are revealed, ahead of going live on September 26.
