• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

In retrospect should Sony have given the PS4 Pro better specs for a higher price?

In retrospect should Sony have given the PS4 Pro better specs for a higher price?

  • Yes they should have gone for better specs for a higher price

    Votes: 551 40.5%

  • No, the Pro was a good mix of specs and price

    Votes: 810 59.5%
  • Total voters
    1,361
vivftp

vivftp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,784
I remember before the Pro was unveiled there were rumors that Sony was considering going with higher specs than the 4.2TF that was rumored at the time and that we got in the box. IIRC the rumored specs of the more powerful box would have been in the area of 5.7TF, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Of course we will never know how true the rumor was or what the likely price would have been, but do you think they should have aimed for those specs?

Let's say they were able to deliver 5.7TF and a UHD Blu-ray drive in the Pro for an extra $100 for a MSRP of $499, how do you think that would have changed things, if at all?
 

Bundy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
20,931
No. It was the right specs for a $399 console in 2016. Don't go over $399 for a mid-gen refresh.
 
chadskin

chadskin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,013
They hit the sweet spot of price and power at the time of the console's release.
 
Brix

Brix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,681
No. Is pro is great in my eyes. Checkboard 4k is awesome. And the 30% boost in cpu performance makes a great improvement on the framerate side of things.
 
Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
The only thing I felt it was missing, and the reason I didn't get it, was the lack of a 4k BD drive. What gives?
 
Dylan

Dylan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,260
I'm not sure the cost of an UHD Blu-ray drive would have been worth it. It was smart of them to keep it cheaper without it.

Gundam said:
The only thing I felt it was missing, and the reason I didn't get it, was the lack of a 4k BD drive. What gives?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Lol or maybe not. I'm not sure how many people care, but I would have expected not many.
 
monmagman

monmagman

Member
Dec 6, 2018
4,126
England,UK
PS4 is approaching 100m sales and the vast majority are base PS4 because it offers the best price power ratio.I don't think a different PS4 Pro would have altered that at all.
 
misterBee

misterBee

Member
Aug 16, 2018
223
I would have preferred something like the Xbox One X.

I bought the Xbox refresh as soon as I was able. Still haven't bothered to upgrade to a Pro. Power bump isn't enough and it's hard to get hype over glorified scaling. Thermals don't seem great either.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,019
If the intent was to extend the generation an additional 5-6 years then yes but I don't think that was ever the case.
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,812
I think RAM bandwidth was more of the issue with the system and it also released about a year earlier than it needed to. People were still very satisfied with the PS4 in 2016. I'm very interested to see what a $399 2017 PS4 Pro would look like. Obviously it wouldn't be Xbox One X level but it would probably be more what people were hoping for. I like mine but I think there are some lessons to be learned from its design and release.
 
low-G

low-G

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,144
I'm still thinking the Pro & 1X shouldn't have even been made. Soon we'll see the full negative brunt of their existence.
 

Deleted member 1003

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,638
The UHD would have been a waste IMO. Streaming is huge and the convenience beats having the best most ultimate picture quality.
 
Symphony

Symphony

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
They should have made it feel more premium for the money, 4K Blu Ray support, a decent cooling system and maybe a case not made of low quality creaky plastic.
 
Secretofmateria

Secretofmateria

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,424
I would prefer if it were beefier or as beefy as the one x ( i own both half step consoles and use both of them regularly ) but for what it does its fine. Games on my pro might not look quite as shiny as they do on my x, but im certainly not gonna sit here and say that god of war, horizon, or spiderman look bad on that thing, they are gorgeous games in their own right even if they use checkerboard rendering to reach higher resolutions. Still absolute lookers
 
Nephilim

Nephilim

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,299
A quieter fan is all i want at this point.
Next year we get next gen consoles, so it doesn't matter really anymore.
 
ps3ud0

ps3ud0

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,906
Mid-gen refreshes work and I doubt the PS4 Pro would have sold far better with higher specs at a higher price.

Perhaps you could argue it should have been delayed for longer but I think that's more of a preference thing.

I don't think it's a good idea to price mid-gen refreshes at the same/higher price point as launch consoles myself.

ps3ud0 8)
 
Ocean

Ocean

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,694
They absolutely should have done better. The 1X puts the Pro to shame, and not just in terms of sheer horsepower.

Designing a thermal solution that doesn't sound like a blender, While being legit compact, including an UHD blu ray drive, supporting stuff like 1440p, ALLM, Atmos etc.
 
Izzard

Izzard

Banned
Sep 21, 2018
4,606
No. I think they did what they could for the price at the time, and it's been fine for a mid gen upgrade. I'm looking forward to the next step though.
 
Izzard

Izzard

Banned
Sep 21, 2018
4,606
Secretofmateria said:
I would prefer if it were beefier or as beefy as the one x ( i own both half step consoles and use both of them regularly ) but for what it does its fine. Games on my pro might not look quite as shiny as they do on my x, but im certainly not gonna sit here and say that god of war, horizon, or spiderman look bad on that thing, they are gorgeous games in their own right even if they use checkerboard rendering to reach higher resolutions. Still absolute lookers
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, I agree. For the games I own on both I can see a difference, but it's not THAT much different that I'd be gutted to just have a pro.
 
TetraGenesis

TetraGenesis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,139
Would I have wanted that? Yes, of course, I spend my time on a video game forum after all. Should they have done it? No. They did the wisest thing given the circumstances. They provided an affordable, accessible refresh that enabled 4K experiences, enhanced their new VR platform, and helped cheaply extend the relevance of this generation of consoles.

In the same sense, it's good that Microsoft made the X1X as powerful as they did. They needed something to draw in the people who otherwise wouldn't have been interested in XB1 and to combat the perception of the Xbox platform as significantly weaker before that did any more lasting damage to the brand. (Even if weaker consoles have won in the past, if you're not the market leader and your, I guess, "inadequacy" was practically a meme... it's damaging.)

I would say both companies played their hands pretty well. Of course, we can never know if there was a better solution out there, but as for the ones we have, I imagine Sony and Microsoft are both fairly satisfied.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,222
i had a hard time parsing why i needed to shell out $400 for "refresh" as is (though i don't regret the decision). i'll take some gimped specs to keep below that price point

though i did get the newer model that's (relatively) quiet and allows HDR passthru on PSVR or whatever. otherwise i'd have been pretty miffed
 
Last edited:
Socivol

Socivol

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,691
I am fine with the specs, but I wish they would've required new games to have some Pro features. It's really annoying to buy brand new games that have no upgrade on the Pro at all 3 years later.
 
WhtR88t

WhtR88t

Member
May 14, 2018
4,603
It released over a year before the One X at $100 cheaper and can still hold its own against the One X, so I'd say they pretty much nailed it.

I really hope Sony sticks with the $399 price next gen. Seems like the sweet spot imo.
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,770
No. It's a stop gap to extend the gen, just like slim, but appealing to a different demo.

If only 20% of PS4 buyers get Pro, I don't really think it matters if it's 6TFs or $500, etc. the purpose is to tap into a small but valuable hyper-enthusiast market. It accomplished that, any thing else would be overkill imo.
 

Imitatio

Member
Feb 19, 2018
14,560
Better specs are always welcome. But more than 449 bucks probably would've killed many people's interest from the start. Don't know how much they could've done with a mere 50 bucks price increase.
 
Hieroph

Hieroph

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,995
cakely

cakely

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,149
Chicago
It was fine for a mid-gen refresh.

It came out a year earlier and at $100 less than the other mid-gen refresh.

I think it turns out the biggest issue that the PS4 and the X1X had is that they were both tied to that 2013 Jaguar CPU.
 
MysticGon

MysticGon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 31, 2017
7,285
If the goal was to give you better frame rate, resolution, and lightning I would say job done. With the X the specs on paper are impressive but it has to tug along it's kid sibling. With the gap in base console so big I feel like all those specs are wasted without exclusive content.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.