So maybe I've spent way too long around PCs and making those sort of internal justifications that product ranges are built to force you down ("well I can't get the worst version because I need X and if I'm buying the model with X then I'd be crazy not to spend a few dollars more and get the premium version which also has Y and at least I'm not getting the super pro edition that's $200 more expensive than that so I'm not being extravagant.")

Anyway, when discussing recommendation for someone who doesn't have a PS4 on the BEastCast, I don't really get why anyone would get a slim. I mean, I can kinda justify it: grab a 500GB version and put down that $300 plus tax on a model that'll play games on your 1080p TV and just not think about anything else you could have gotten. Only 500GB really isn't much space (at 50GB+ per install plus patches for each game, that's not a lot of games) so you're not really planning on using that console much if you're going for that model. And the 1TB model of the Slim is $350.

Well if you're spending $350 on a new PS4, who wouldn't buy the one that's literally got double the GPU inside and a 1TB drive and costs $400. $50 for 100% more GPU and a healthy push in other areas (~25-30% overclock on the CPU and RAM bandwidth) is something of an obvious upgrade when buying a platform to last you. Why grab something that'll just barely hit 30fps when you could be enjoying a console that plays the same games at a solid 1080p60? Why accept aliasing flicker in a scene when a $50 upspend gives you the console with enough perf to implement good anti-aliasing on the same complex scene?

This seems like such a marginal price increase to get the good looking games that cost exactly the same (they are in fact the same disc/game you're buying).

As someone who already has a PS4, I don't plan to upgrade soon. But that's because it's not a $50 difference to me - it's buying a whole second console and then seeing if I can recoup much (with the hassle of second hand sales and avoiding scammers) by selling off the old one. If I didn't have a console, I just can't see where the Slim comes in for someone who wants to really enjoy many hours with their device. It's $50 - that's less than you spend on buying a single new release. Maybe if you're really into demanding a quiet environment (I live in a city so it's never truly silent) or looking for every penny (but, TBH, isn't that sweet spot more like $200 when the Slim drops a bit cheaper and more games are available for $10 used?)

Yeah, if you're in the market for a new PS4, you'd be insane not to get a Pro.

That's a really good point, when you consider the harddrive space the money difference becomes really a small one. But as you said, it's partially a value perception thing - I think a huge number of people won't consider all the options as well as you just did and therefore it's a good thing for Sony to have as cheap model on market as possible. Also from what I understand the new model is cheaper to build. All this means you can really be "smart" about your purchase, if you think about it at least a little bit - it's a win win for everyone involved except for the people who do not take a second and just grab the cheapest one and frankly, if you do that you kind of almost deserve it.

I myself had PS4 but got inspired by Mr. Ryckert and sold it when the new one was announced, but before it got more widely known (meaning among people who don't listen to tech/gaming news). I managed to sell my almost 3 year old console for an equivalent of 250 dollars, chipped in the rest and preordered the new one. Since then I have been watching the prices out of curiosity (again: local equivalent of e-bay) and sure enough, they are going down streadily since then so it was a good thing to act quickly. I upgraded for 150 dollars and "renewed" my warranty period while keeping all the games. All these prices are including taxes by the way.

So yeah, defenitely think a bit about what you are paying for and when. Some people love their powerful PCs, some are good on a console and all of that is fine, as long as each of us picks what's the best option for them - seems obvious but my friend -for example- waited to buy a new XBO and decided to go for it just before when Scorpio was rumored but not confirmed, despite me telling him to wait just a bit and either get the better one or the same one cheaper. He ended up overpaying because he acted without a proper consideration of all the options.

The slim exists for two reasons.

1) It's a cheaper to manufacture version of the original PS4. People who just want the cheaper option and don't care about specs will buy it. People whose kids are bugging them for a PS4 and they know their kids don't give a shit or know about 4k HDR etc, etc.

2) It makes the Pro look better for people that do that the best, for people that can be persuaded into getting the better model. The model that costs the same as the original launch price of the PS4.

Speaking of stuff like this, I also took inspiration from Ryckert (scary thought) and decided to sell my 1Tb Xbox One towards the new S. So I sold my old Xbox One for $200, ordered a One S bundle through Walmart (Halo 500gb bundle + Movie + Controller) for $300, returned the controller and movie back to Walmart for like $93.. And then decided to go one shady step further (which is first time I've ever done stuff like this) and returned the bundled Halo 5 copy (which is just a normal off-the-shelf copy, I also already have my own copy.. which is still unopened in the backlog) for $40 store credit. So in the end I actually made around $30 back on the whole deal.

Already have a PS4 Pro on order. Not sure what I'll do with my original system. I may try and sell it locally or to a friend for cheap.

More on topic though, most people will stop crying about the Pro once they are out and more people tell them how good games look on the new hardware and they see it for themselves at a friends house or something. It's the same issue with VR: they can't fully convey what is going on over a stream. I've got a nice 4K OLED TV. It looks amazing. Doesn't seem crazy to to me to upgrade your TV every 5-10 years. And yes it does suck if you just bought one recently, but that is just how the cookie crumbles. And the Giant Bomb guys love to talk about these 4K OLED TVs being insanely expensive but they aren't. The 2014-2015 models are sub-$2000 at this point which is great compared to the $4000+ models out there. I sold my like-new 2015 LG 55" 1080p OLED, in the box and everything, for $1000 locally. You also don't even need OLED if you don't want it (although I'd say its more significant than 4K) and just get a regular 4K LCD/LED for under a $1000.

I also just picked up the 4K UHD blu-ray of Mad Max yesterday to try on the Xbox One S, because people said discs are significantly better than streaming, and it looks the same, if not worse than the regular 1080p blu-ray. Although at this point I suspect that is the Xbox One S doing something bad. Netflix 4K looks great. My point is, at least at this point until I can find an issue with the Xbox One S playback, the lack of a physical UHD disc drive in the Pro probably isn't that important.

You... make a good argument. Given how much I play games these days though, 500GB would probably be fine for me, and I'd keep the 100 extra bucks.

There's a decent segment of the population that will flock to whatever the cheapest option available is, even if the value proposition isn't there. It may not make sense to someone who is used to weighing the pros and cons of tech versus the price, but trust me there are people out there that will buy it because it says PS4 on the box and its the cheapest option.

There is a straightforward logic path for me. I have a mid-high end PC.

All of the Xbox (Non-PS4) games I'm excited for will be coming to PC (GoW3, Dead Rising 4, Cuphead). And if Forza Horizon 3 is any indication of the first party support for PC, they'll probably run fine.

Persona 5, FF XIV, and (hopefully) Kingdom Hearts 3 will very likely look or run better on the PS4 pro even with a 1080p TV (or monitor in my case).

Having to delete games to make room for newer ones isn't such a big deal to some people.

The slim is not for anyone here unless you have a specfic need for it. It's for the kids or families who don't want to/can't spend the extra money for a toy, here in the US or a ton of other countries.

@belowstupid said:

QFT!