There may be two new PS5 consoles on the way, but you only have so much money in your bank account. If you're looking to jump into the next generation of gaming with Sony, should you go with the standard PlayStation 5 or save some notes with the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition? It's a tough, almost philosophical choice, factoring in the arguments about ownership of your entertainment media, not to mention what you can actually afford to spend as we head into an unprecedented global financial downturn. Don't worry! We've been keeping an eye on all the announcements about new Sony machines, and we've got all the details you need to make the right choice for you and your wallet. Below we compare the PS5 to the PS5 Digital Edition in all areas, from price to specs.
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(Image credit: Sony)
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition - Price and release dates
Let's start by removing the unconditional numbers. How much will it hurt your wallet? If you go for the standard PS5, the one that still eats shiny Blu-ray discs for breakfast, it'll set you back $499.99 / £449.99 / AU$749.95. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition (with its identical specs aside from the removal of the disc drive) costs $399.99 / £359.99 / AU$599.95. Both versions of the console will launch on November 12 in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. If you live elsewhere (including the UK and Ireland), you have one more week to wait, and November 19th will be when the rest of the world has access to the PS5. Some retailers will accept pre-orders starting September 17. So there's a significant saving of €100/€90 if you go the all-digital route. But there are a few things to consider here. First of all, you will lose the console that turns into a 4K Blu-ray disc player. Considering that standalone 4K Blu-ray players cost several hundred dollars and/or pounds, that's a huge savings for fans of high-resolution movies. Second, those who own a drive will be able to take advantage of the ability to trade, lend, borrow, and trade sets of physical drives with their friends and swap shops. Over the life of a console, this could translate into significant second-hand savings. So what you can save now with the digital console may cost you a few years, since you'll be paying whatever prices Sony and the game publishers decide to set. This is before we consider the true joy of owning something physical.
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(Image credit: Kayane)
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition: specifications
Here are the full official PS5 specs straight from Sony, including the differences for the two editions where noted. The two PS5 models will be identical in terms of performance, a big difference from the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, which are much further apart in price. The only difference is that the more expensive PS5 console will have an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive; otherwise it uses the same custom processor and has the same SSD.
CPU: x86-64-AMD Ryzen Zen 2, 8 cores/16 threads, variable frequency, up to 3,5 GHz GPU: AMD Radeon™ RDNA 2-based graphics engine, ray tracing acceleration, variable frequency, up to 2,23 GHz (10,3 TFLOPS) System Memory: 6GB/16GB/s GDDR448 Bandwidth Optical Drive (Base Unit Only): Ultra HD Blu-ray (66G/100G) ~ 10xCAVBD-ROM (25G/50G) ~8xCAVBD-R/RE (25G/50G) ~8xCAVDVD ~3.2xCLV SSD: 825GB, 5,5GB/s read bandwidth (raw) PS5 Game Disc: Ultra HD Blu-ray, up to 100 GB / disk Video output: HDMI OUT port, compatible with TV 4K 120Hz, TV 8K, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1) Audio: Tempest 3D AudioTech Dimensions: PS5: approx. 390mm x 104mm x 260mm (W x H x D) (excludes largest projection, excludes base) PS5 Digital Edition: Approx. 390mm x 92mm x 260mm (W x H x D) (excludes largest projection, excludes base) Weight: PS5: 4,5kg Digital Edition PS5: 3,9kg Power: PS5: 350W Digital Edition PS5: 340W Input/output: USB Type-A port (Hi-Speed USB) USB Type-A port (Hi-Speed USB 10Gbps) x2, USB Type-C port (Hi-Speed USB 10Gbps) Network: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/axBluetooth 5.1 As mentioned, the SSD included with both consoles will be the same, giving users 825GB of storage with a raw throughput of 5.5 GB/s (and up to 9 GB/s of compressed data). However, there is a slight difference in weight and dimensions between the PS5 and its digital edition.
In terms of PlayStation 5 specs minus the disc player, it's all the same in the areas that matter. The PS5 is powered by the third-generation AMD Ryzen chipset, with 8 cores and the manufacturer's new Zen 2 architecture and Navi graphics. Visually, the GPU has 36 compute units running at 2.23GHz and offering 10.28 TFLOPs, while the PS5 packs 16GB of GDDR6 RAM with 448GB/s of bandwidth. This console can do ray tracing, that is, advanced lighting that was once the only area of expensive PC graphics cards. Expect some whimsical highlights in the games you love after this addition.
3D audio is a big part of the PS5 offering, no matter what console edition you own - the immersive 3D audio will be powered by the Tempest Engine, which can translate sound sources by the hundreds to create a realistic sound.
The PS5 can support up to 8K resolution, which many gamers won't need on their 1080p TVs. Whether games will run natively in 8K is more of a question mark, but that means the console is future-proofed if you decide to buy a better-looking TV in the future. Also, the PS5 will support 120Hz refresh rates, allowing you to enjoy smoother games if they offer a higher frame rate.
Most games are unlikely to maximize these possibilities in the short term; in fact, Spider-Man: Miles Morales will offer a 4K performance mode at 60fps, which will likely reduce the visual effects to achieve a frame rate higher than the usual 30fps of the PS4.
Both consoles will feature a single PS5 DualSense wireless controller, with adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, which are supposed to increase the feeling of realism in your games.
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(Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment)
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition games: they'll be the same
Fortunately, this is the easy part. Aside from the fact that one will play games from discs and the other exclusively from the console's storage system, the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition will play the exact same PS5 games, exactly the same. With identical internal specs, you'll be able to enjoy 4K gaming at fast refresh rates on both the PS5 and its digital-only counterpart, and you won't expect to see any gameplay differences between the two. Sony already has some great exclusive titles to play on both machines, including Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War: Ragnarok, Final Fantasy 16, the Demon's Souls remake, and Miles Morales Enhanced Spider-Man for PS5. This is before you consider third-party titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, and Resident Evil 8: Village. Where things get a bit murkier is on the backward compatibility front. Yes, the digital console edition will play PS4 titles, but it obviously won't be able to play your existing collection on disc. Instead, you'll likely have to buy them again, digitally. However, Sony takes the sting out a bit with the introduction of its PlayStation Plus Collection perk for PS Plus subscribers. Going forward, the cost of PS5 owners' subscription will also include access to free downloads of the 18 best PS4 games, including God of War, Uncharted 4, and Bloodborne, among others. That's a nice bonus and an instant PS5 game library for newcomers to the console family. But that doesn't do much to cover the hundreds of PS4 titles available on disc for PS5 Digital Edition owners.
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(Image credit: Sony)
Instinctively, visceral
It's hard to make a call on financial matters - if you're an avid gamer without the cash to make the jump to the top-tier PS5, then go for this digital console. Next-gen gaming will be fun on this entry-level model too, and it's great that performance is consistent across both. But our instinct remains that if you can afford it, go with the standard disc-style PS5 console. This will get you access to the joys of 4K Blu-ray viewing (they look better than Netflix's 4K streams, honestly!), not to mention the potential money you'll save over the years by trading disc games with your friends and in exchange stores. One more thing to consider is the gray area of digital property as well, be it music, movies, or even games. While we haven't seen the fine print on the PS5 in this regard yet, it's common that when it comes to digital media, you don't actually own title in perpetuity. If, in 2035 or some other date, Sony decided to turn off digital storefront distribution for the PS5... where are you going to re-download your games then? Yes, the online elements of modern games mean that fixes are frequent and sometimes may be necessary before a game will work. But if Sony's servers are phased out due to unforeseeable circumstances, it's not as reassuring to have a digital-only game collection compared to a physical collection. And in the rare event that your drives stop working: at least you have a nice case with box artwork to remember...