With the arrival of the Xbox One S and the announcement of the PS4 Pro, the market has gotten fairly complicated and a lot users are confused. If you are thinking about buying one but have questions don’t worry, this article will answer a very direct and clear question, which console should I buy?
Before we begin, we must understand that there isn’t a universal answer, in other words, there isn’t a console that is completely superior to another one and that we can say is the best choice, instead, this will depend on different factors which we will explore in this article.
Without further a due we will dive into it, but as always I invite you to leave any questions or comments in the comment section, I will do my best to answer all of them.
Previous thoughts
In this section we will closely evaluate some points that need to be made clear right away. The first one is that Sony as well as Microsoft have clearly stated that these new consoles won’t affect the life cycle of the original ones, so you can forget life cycle as something to consider when choosing one or the other.
On the other hand, we should make clear that it doesn’t matter which console you choose, you will still be able to enjoy the same games, the same interface, the same online possibilities and the same applications and features, at least the basic stuff, so that’s another thing that should be clear from the start.
Finally, we still need to talk about the subject of controllers. On the new consoles, Xbox One S and PS4 Pro, as well as with on the previous ones, Xbox One and PS4, the same control system is used, also the same controllers and accessories (except for the the lack of Kinect support on the Xbox One S) so this also won’t be important when making your decision.
Hardware and features to consider
Now we will talk about the major differences between the Xbox One and PS4 and the Xbox One S and PS4 Pro, all of them regarding hardware and some concrete features that we will explore next.
First of all, we will go over each console’s characteristics and features:
PS4 Pro:
PS4:
- Price: 250 dollars for a refurbished model, 299 dollars for a new one.
Xbox One S:
Xbox One:
- Price: starting at 200 dollars for a refurbished model, 259 for a new console.
As you can see the PS4 Pro is the most powerful solution out of the four but also the most expensive, since it costs almost twice as much as an Xbox One. The Xbox One S, on the other hand, costs almost the same as the PS4.
If you are looking for the most powerful console on the market you should go for the PS4 Pro, but keep in mind that it doesn’t have a Blu-ray UHD drive and that it isn’t compatible with PS3 games.
The second most powerful system is the PS4, which offers better performance when playing games, but also lacks backwards compatibility, which the Xbox 360, Xbox One S and Xbox One have.
Next in line when it comes to performance are the Xbox One S and the Xbox One, even though it’s important to mention that the difference between them is negligible.
Which of the four should you choose?
In terms of quality/price ratio, Xbox One offers an incredible value, for 200 dollars you will be able to enjoy every game that comes out during the next few years and also you will be able to play your Xbox 360 games.
Only if you have a 4K screen, you have Blu-ray UHD discs or you have Xbox 360 games that you wish to keep playing, should you consider buying the Xbox One S.
I’m saying this about the Xbox One S because the PS4 Pro is a better option when it comes to the quality/price ratio for someone who just wants to play, since the latter performs much better and there is a 100 dollars difference, but you should keep in mind that the former comes with a 500 GB HDD and the latter has a 1 TB one.
Finally, we have the PS4, a console which is certainly not bad, since it offers very good performance for the price. You should choose this one if you don’t care about 4K but want to have a more balanced performance and don’t mind paying a bit more money.
Exclusive games can also matter when making a purchase decision, that’s obvious, but this is a very personal matter that depends on each person’s individual tastes, so I won’t delve into this.
Final Notes
As always it’s you who will ultimately make the decision, but I do wish that this article has helped you and that it has explained the pros and cons of each of these four consoles.
Here is a small overview of what I would do in four different situations: