It has been 6 years and there is still no other console that can beat Sony’s PlayStation 4 is the most widely-used home console for all good reasons. It has a lot of excellent exclusive titles like God of War and Spider-Man, VR support and lots of entertainment options. Even better, you can even buy it under $300.
However, with the red-hot Nintendo Switch and the always-growing Xbox One in competition, is it still worth buying PS4 in 2019? Have a look at what PS4 has to offer and reasons why you should consider buying it now.
2013 vs. 2019 – What’s new in PlayStation 4 Review here?
Especially in design, Sony’s PS4 has seen subtle changes in different ways over the years. The 2016 refresh is casually known as the PS4 Slim and has got a trimmed-down design with sharp angles for curved corners.
The PS4 Slim ditches the optical port of the original. Therefore, it will cost you an adapter for a high-end headset, which does not need an optical connection.
The PS4 Pro is a powerful successor to the PS4. This $399 powerhouse comes with HDR support and plays the game in 4K resolution, even though it lacks the utmost power of Xbox One X, which comes at $499.
It is still a great option for people with 4K TV. Both consoles have the same main features and games collection. Therefore, you will not regret going for the base model.
Functionality-wise, the PS4 has seen a great change. You can now stream your gameplay, rock the party on Spotify, and watch your favorite content on Hulu and Netflix.
The snappy UI of the system has always been here over the years. You can also keep your games on folders and stream your games to your Mac or PC thanks to Remote Play.
Hardware
PS4 is still the most compact, stylish and unbeatable console which looks futuristic and sleek over the chunky Xbox One. A new model has seen some more changes with cosmetic design, such as physical power and disk eject buttons, matte-black finish, and the less power-intensive system board and quieter hard drive.
The new model still has the light-up bar along with the down and top of the machine. It serves as a great status bar, which tells you whether PS4 is idle, or on. It features 2 USB 3.0 ports on the front and the rear Ethernet, HDMI and optical audio ports.
Sony took typical x86 architecture, while the Xbox One took 8 CPU cores with custom AMD APU as well as 12 GCN units. Nevertheless, the PS4 delivered the 5500MHz GDDR5 RAM, which is even more powerful than Microsoft’s 2133MHz of GDDR3 RAM.
While Sony has 1.6GHz chip, Xbox One has got 150MHz faster APU with ESRAM cache of 32MB to buffer data. However, Sony has a clear speed advantage. You can enjoy Black Ops III and AC Syndicate running at higher resolutions on its hardware, as compared to Xbox One.
In simple words, PS4 has three main processors. At first, it contains the custom 1-chip processor. The second one is X86 64-AMD “Jaguar” processor with 8 cores.
In addition, the last one is 1.84 TFLOPS GPU and AMD Radeon graphics engine with 8GB GDDR5 RAM. There are two storage variants available – 500GB and 1TB. The base variant also features HDR output support.
Games Collection
The PlayStation 4 is still the leader by offering what is important – the huge library of games. It goes without saying that the PS4 continues the legacy by offering the best titles and exclusives like Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Spider-Man and God of War.
You can also enjoy some third-party legendary games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Assassin’s Creed. It also hosts a lot of VR experiences and Indies.
Even though PS4 has been out for five years, there is still no sign of slow down when it comes to new exclusives.
PS4 fans can still rejoice with much-awaited titles like Days Gone, Death Stranding, and The Last of Us II, along with the multiplatform games like The Division 2, Anthem, and Cyberpunk 2077, which are coming soon.
VR Experience
The PS4 is still the one and only console with VR support, thanks to the PlayStation VR headset by Sony. You can buy the same for around $200 to $300 according to the bundle you are choosing. The PlayStation VR has been found to provide a great escape to the world of virtual reality.
Even though it still lacks the visual fidelity of HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and other PC-based headsets, the PlayStation VR is still cozy, intuitive, and has great game library, including Tetris Effect, Batman: Arkham VR, Superhot, and Resident Evil 7.
PS4 vs. Others
The PS4 is a strong competitor of Nintendo’s Switch and Microsoft Xbox One. However, both can do things that Sony’s PS4 cannot. The Xbox One ($299) still lacks a great library of exclusive games (unless you are the fan of Halo and Gears of War).
However, it is still compatible with the Xbox and Xbox 360 titles. It also offers services like Xbox Game Pass and Plays Anywhere to provide more value for your money.
The Nintendo Switch, which also costs the same, stands out as both the portable games device and a living-room machine, cool hybrid design, and a vast library, which includes Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and several third-party titles.
Bottom Line
We hope you will like the PlayStation 4 Review. But the question is – whether you should buy a PS4 in 2019 or wait for PS5, which is being developed. Well, you also have a third option, i.e. PS4 Pro. It supports 4K and has good hardware, even though PS5 will be better. Nevertheless, the PS5 is scheduled t launch by 2020.
If you do not have a PS4, you should obviously go with the base variant as PS4 Pro is quite expensive. Even better, PS4 comes with different variants as well as offers. You can use the same for all exclusive titles. You do not have to worry because PS4 is still not being beaten anytime soon.
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