The battle of PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition has been going on since their release last year, but which console should you buy?
Well, the decision isn't as clear cut as you'd imagine, especially with a few recent developments...
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Price
Now let's be open here...the PS5 Disc Edition is a fair chunk of change, boasting a whopping $499.99 / £449.99 price tag.
On the other hand, the PS5 Digital Edition comes in at an arguably more palatable $399.99 / £359.99, which is not far off the MRRP of the PS4 Pro...
Of course, it depends on your budget, but on our side, saving $100 to invest in a great headset for PS5 or even go towards one of the best PS5 gaming monitors is seriously tempting.
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Storage
click to enlargeLately, you would have seen a number of best M.2 internal SSD articles fly up around the web, and that's due to a recent update to the PS5 which allows for people to expand their internal storage.
Why is that a big deal? Well, expanding your internal storage means you can both store and play games from the SSD itself, including PS5 titles.
And what that means, is that you won't need to transfer games to and from an external hard drive to free up space.
It's basically a quality of life improvement, but one that does make a difference if you're playing a TON of games at once.
In our humble opinion, we don't think they're an absolute must for most people and any one of our top external SSD picks for console would give you the breathing room you'd need (and quickly too).
Do note though that any external storage for your PS5 will be what's known as 'cold storage', meaning you can't load games from them to play; instead, you'd have to transfer them to the internal SSD in order to play them. Fear not though, as it's the same story with the Xbox Series X.
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Games
We know this sound a little weird, but hear us out.
Of course, PS5 Digital and PS5 games will be the same, but there's one thing that you'll miss if you go fully digital.
Buying a physical game gives you the opportunity to sell it when you're finished. Many of us out there will sell games when we're done, and there are a number of stores that are great for this too.
Buying physical games also opens up price options based on a more diverse range of sellers.
With Digital games, you'll purchase them through the PlayStation Store or via download codes, but it's not all doom and gloom, as there are loads of deals going on for you to take advantage of.
If you like to collect and sell physical game copies, go for the standard PS5, but if you want to 'travel light' and aren't too nostalgic about opening up a brand new game, save the extra $100, download one new triple AAA title, bag yourself a great deal on a classic and get cracking!
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Availability
Now when it comes to availability, both PS5 and PS5 Digital are pretty hard to come by.
There are some excellent sites you can use, like our friends at Stock Informer, who can give you the edge, and at Gfinity Deals we've helped loads of people secure a PS5 too.
But at the time of writing, the PS5 is just not as available as we thought, and this may well continue for some time to come, despite larger shipments reportedly heading our way.
Head on over to our PS5 stock tracker for updates, plus advice that could help you finally get one.
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Specs
Good news...they're both the same.
Both consoles feature the same AMD Zen 2 architecture with 16GB of GDDR6 SDRAM and a handy 825GB of storage. What this results in is smooth 4K gameplay at 60Hz and at 120Hz in the supported titles.
The only difference here is that the Digital Edition doesn't have a disc drive, so no physical games or Blu-ray, and this could be a deal-breaker if you do want to play such physical media.
You can check out more detailed specs from Sony themselves right here.
PS5 vs PS5 Digital Size
As the PS5 Digital doesn't feature a Blu-ray drive, it's understandable that it's a little slimmer than the standard PS5.
The PS5 Digital is 12mm narrower than the standard offering as well as being 500 or so grams lighter, which can make some difference when deciding where is best to put your new console.
Other than that difference, there looks to be nothing to pick between the two consoles cosmetically.
PS5 vs PS5 Digital, Which Should You Buy?
So we come to the all-important question...which should you buy.
In our opinion, we'd say that it's very even here and it really comes down to price. Think about your budget and include what you think you'll spend on peripherals and games when you make your purchase too.
We'd expect to see another $150 fly out of the door shortly after, so you may end up paying around the price of the PS5 Disc Version anyway.
The good news is that under the hood, they're the same machine, so either way, it's a win-win.