On paper, the PlayStation 4 Pro is less powerful than the Xbox One X (2.1 GHz processor, 8GB of RAM and a meagre 4.2 teraflops of processing power – what a wimp). However, it does have titles running at native 4K, albeit at 30fps, and also makes smart use of a technique known as checkerboard rendering to mimic 4K resolutions, which can be pretty indistinguishable from the real thing.
For casual users then, big titles like Destiny 2, Fifa 18 and Assassin’s Creed Origins look very similar whichever console you go for. At the same time, key PlayStation exclusives such as Uncharted 4 and Horizon Zero Dawn are as graphically exquisite as anything running on Xbox One X. If you love your PlayStation and want to play games like Uncharted, Last of Us, God of War and Death Stranding, rather than, say, Sea of Thieves, Halo, Gears of War or Forza, the impetus really isn’t there for most people to make the switch.
Those at all interested in virtual reality should be aware that, unlike PlayStation, Xbox One still lacks its own headset, and there is nothing on the horizon (though a derivative of Microsoft’s Hololens mixed-reality tech has been rumoured). What the PS4 Pro doesn’t have, however, is a 4K Blu-ray drive, which comes standard with the Xbox One S and Xbox One X, allowing you to play movie discs in glorious 4K UHD resolution.
