With all the fantastic Black Friday deals available, it’s easy to overlook Sony’s ongoing PlayStation 5 sale, which is why we’re flagging it again. In case you missed it, all three PS5 models are steeply discounted until December 18th. The PS5 Digital Edition (slim) is still available from GameStop and Sony for around $399 ($100 off) — its lowest price of the year — while the standard PS5 (slim) is going for around $449 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. And if you want a more powerful console, the PS5 Pro is now available at Amazon, Target, and Walmart for around $649 ($100 off), matching its best price to date.
If you’re wondering what the main differences are, the standard PS5 features a built-in disc drive, which the cheaper PS5 Digital Edition lacks. That means you can play physical games or Blu-rays without needing to spend an extra $79.99 on Sony’s external disc drive. Other than that, though, they’re pretty similar, with each offering 1TB of internal storage, which you can expand with a heatsink-equipped drive.
The PS5 Pro, meanwhile, is for those who want the best console experience available. It steps things up with twice the storage (2TB), though, like the PS5 Digital Edition, it lacks an internal disc drive. Its most significant features are under the hood: a 62 percent faster GPU, improved ray tracing, Wi-Fi 7 support, and AI-powered upscaling. These all allow some games to run at higher frame rates so visuals look even better, particularly on “PS5 Pro Enhanced” titles. That said, the difference isn’t always dramatic in real-world play. Our reviewer only noticed real improvements when sitting within 10 feet of his TV, and only some games — Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in particular — ended up looking exceptionally crisp and defined.