The PlayStation 5 Pro

Sony

PlayStation 5 Pro: News, Price, Release Date, and Specs

The PS5 Pro makes select games look better and run more smoothly

By
Tim Fisher
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Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University
Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.
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Updated on November 8, 2024

Sony officially announced the PlayStation 5 Pro in September 2024. Here's what you should know about the latest premium console.

PS5 Pro Release Date

We first saw the PlayStation 5 Pro in a special Sony video on September 10, 2024. Sony released it on November 7.

PS5 Pro Price

The PlayStation 5 Pro costs $699.99.

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Where to Buy

The PlayStation 5 Pro is available from PlayStation Direct and other retailers.

PlayStation 5 Pro Features & Specs

The first thing we notice about the PlayStation 5 Pro is pretty significant: It doesn't come with a disc drive. Every version of the PS5 has come either with or without, but disc-free is the only option. You can pick up a drive as a separate, $79.99 purchase.

Sony calls out three major improvements over earlier models: a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI-driven upscaling.

The PS5 Pro's GPU reportedly has 28% faster RAM and 67% more compute units, which Sony claims will boost rendering speed up to 45%.

Another new element is machine-learning hardware that powers "PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution." According to PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny, "PSSR analyzes the game images pixel by pixel and can add an extraordinary amount of detail, which boosts the effective resolution of the games."

All of this is to say that the PS5 Pro aims to cut the difference between a game's graphic fidelity and frame rate. Currently, gamers may have a choice between a "Fidelity" mode that has high-level graphics and ray tracing but a lower frame rate (usually 30fps) and a "Performance" option that looks worse but runs more smoothly (usually 60fps).

According to Sony, the PS5 Pro uses its larger GPU, more efficient ray tracing, and PSSR to make games look better and run faster. Not every game will use these features, however, but you can expect first-party series like Ratchet & Clank and The Last of Us to include them.

As for size, the PS5 Pro is as tall as the launch PS5, but only as wide as the Slim models. As expected, it works with all peripherals, including the PlayStation VR 2, DualSense Edge, and PlayStation Portal. It comes with a 2TB hard drive, which is double what the PS5 Slim includes.

The Latest News About the PS5 Pro

You can get more gaming news from Lifewire. Here are other stories about PlayStation in general and the latest regarding the PlayStation 5 Pro: