Ps5... What do I need to know?!

Ps5... What do I need to know?!

Author
Discussion

Dan_1981

Original Poster:

17,610 posts

208 months

Saturday 5th October 2024
quotequote all
Oldest lad is now at the age where the Switch isn't enough, and his mates all have PS5's.

I've not had a console since my aging xbox 1s and have never been a playstation owner, only ever having had Nintendo or Xbox


So what's changed? Anything?

A quick look at Smyth's reveals digital or disc version, options on storage, a pro version and that's about it.

Also a price of between 4&5 hundred quid.

So which do i really need?

Do you pay to play online or is it free for some games? (Minecraft and Fortnite)

Oh and will prices drop significantly for black Friday or anything!?

Defcon5

6,334 posts

200 months

Saturday 5th October 2024
quotequote all
Get the standard disk version. Second had discs are much cheaper than the PS store.

Some games are free to play online (inc Fortnite and Minecraft I think) but for others you would need the basic PS plus or whatever it’s called now. It’s about 7 quid a month

Dan_1981

Original Poster:

17,610 posts

208 months

Sunday 6th October 2024
quotequote all
Good call on 2nd hand discs actually!

balham123

62 posts

8 months

Sunday 6th October 2024
quotequote all
You will most likely need a subscription to playstation plus.

If you have a subscription, it comes with access to thousands of games.

I don't fully understand how or why ( I just pay the bills ) but without the subscription it's hard (or impossible) to play online against your friends. Hopefully someone can explain this as I never quite understood what I am paying for and why

thetapeworm

12,083 posts

248 months

Sunday 6th October 2024
quotequote all
The 'Slim' variant with the drive seems to be the optimal combo to me, you get the extra 175GB of storage over the original versions and, as above, can access a mass of used games rather than having to download new titles.

PS Plus "essential" will be needed to play online (boo!) but also gives you access to free monthly games and a few other benefits. There's then other levels above that give more features like access to stream games from a big catalogue of them and more.

You used to be able to get some great deals on the subscriptions from Amazon black Friday deals or CDKeys and similar but the only way to save now seems to be to stock up on discounted PlayStation gift cards and use those to pay.

To get the best picture you ideally need to connect it up to a 4K TV with a 120Hz refresh rate but the difference over PS4 and other older consoles is still noticeable on HD screens with lower refresh.

The "Pro" sounds like it has heaps of potential but for the money it's not worth it right now as there isn't really any content to take advantage of the uplift in specs.

Jasandjules

70,620 posts

238 months

Sunday 6th October 2024
quotequote all
balham123 said:
I don't fully understand how or why ( I just pay the bills ) but without the subscription it's hard (or impossible) to play online against your friends. Hopefully someone can explain this as I never quite understood what I am paying for and why
Because if you don't have PS plus it will not allow you to play online games. Quite a con really but there we go.

Steven_RW

1,755 posts

211 months

Sunday 6th October 2024
quotequote all
Agreed to the comments above. A PS5 that has a disc drive if you want to game ona sensible budget. You can pick up games on facebook market place second hand at sensible prices, play them and sell them on for similar money. If you buy digital games, you tend to pay a horrible price, even for some of the slightly older games and you own it forever even if you have played it through and are bored of it.

I usually buy the best of everything for gaming but even with that mindset I am struggling to justify going for PS5 Pro, so persoanlly I'd not recommend that at all. Someone said a PS5 slim (which is the newer model) with the additional disc drive. I'd be happy with that, or if its not that important, I'd pick up a mint condition second hand original PS5 with disc drive built in for around £300 from facebook market place. Just buy based on your gut feel. Nice house, takes care of stuff, nice and clean unit and your relatively safe buying second hand.

Plus with the disc drive you can sell your games on when finished to fund the next game. It's like long term video rental. Much cheaper.

thetapeworm

12,083 posts

248 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all
There might be better deals elsewhere but I've just noticed Amazon have knocked £60 off the price of their "Slim" with the drive, it's now £419 rather than £479.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playstation-711719577157-...



Edited by thetapeworm on Tuesday 8th October 19:47

The Gauge

3,752 posts

22 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all
Subscriptions for their online lane play are usually reduced on Black Friday, that's when I usually purchase 12 months worth. Alternatively cdkeys website usually sell the sub at a reduced price, they give you a code that you redeem in the playstation Store.

Zlat502

127 posts

45 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all

BlueMR2

8,751 posts

211 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all
Zlat502 said:
No disc drive on that one though, always check what you are getting if you want the drive too.

phil-sti

2,831 posts

188 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all
Just bought the lad the digital version for £339 direct from PlayStation. He has a Series s and all the games will be digital. He only wants to play helldivers, Spider-Man and god of war.

I’m gonna sort a PlayStation plus subscription for him so he can play other stuff.

thetapeworm

12,083 posts

248 months

Tuesday 8th October 2024
quotequote all
The Gauge said:
Subscriptions for their online lane play are usually reduced on Black Friday, that's when I usually purchase 12 months worth. Alternatively cdkeys website usually sell the sub at a reduced price, they give you a code that you redeem in the playstation Store.
CDKeys have been "out of stock" of subscriptions for a while now and, like Amazon, seem to favour the discounted gift cards you can then redeem for a subscription via the official Sony portal.

I'm kicking myself for not stocking up on the black Friday ones years ago when they were thirty something quid for 12 or 15 months.

siovey

1,722 posts

147 months

Wednesday 9th October 2024
quotequote all
Several things worth considering

1) get the disc version. You can buy cheap used ps4 games and then get a free/cheap upgrade for many ps5 versions on the store
2) get an additional controller and charger as the battery doesn't last very long
3) get a subscription, PS Extra (the middle tier) is great value and provides hundreds of great games to play - edited to say, if you go for premium tier you can stream games so don't need extra storage
4) upgrade the storage as it fills up pretty quickly. I bought a 2tb ssd for £200 but they've come down a lot in price since then

I love my ps5thumbup

Edited by siovey on Wednesday 9th October 12:00