PlayStation

The PS5 Slim and Pro, with or without a disc drive:

the Slim is sold either way, and the Pro, which renders sharper and steadier on a good 4K set, ships without one. Both take Sony’s add-on drive, which clips onto the side and pairs with the console over the internet the first time it is attached. The launch PS5, the larger model with the drive built in, plays exactly the same games and is the one most often sold on. Headsets sit under virtual reality, and the Xbox consoles are next door for anyone still weighing Sony against Microsoft.

The PS4 family and the PlayStation Portal:

a PS4 still earns its place as a second console for a bedroom, doing the job a Nintendo Switch does in other homes. The Pro is the one to be careful with: its first two revisions are known for a fan that howls like a hair dryer once a game gets demanding. The later CUH-7200 fixed most of that, and a photo of the back gives it away: a slim figure-eight power cable where older ones take a bulky PC-style socket. The PlayStation Portal looks like a handheld but is a remote screen that streams games from a PS5 in the same house over Wi-Fi, and does nothing without one.

The PS5 Pro, the launch PS5 and the 4K television between them:

a PS5 Pro costs around $750 new in Panama, before you add a disc drive, while a launch PS5 a few years old, with its built-in drive, changes hands for around $400 to $450. Both run the same library, and the Pro’s advantage only shows on a 4K television good enough to reveal it, so on an older set the used console gives up very little and reads second-hand discs from day one.

Reading a used PlayStation by its vents and its controllers:

ask where the console lived. Years in a closed TV cabinet in a room without air conditioning mean dust pulled through the fan the whole time: you can see it caked in the rear vents and hear it once a demanding game warms up. On a launch PS5, play a disc: that drive is paired to the console’s own board, and a dead one cannot simply be swapped for one from another machine. A fake DualSense often shows up on the console as a DualShock 4, and its triggers stay soft in a game that should make them stiffen. A fake DualShock 4 feels light and hollow in the hand. Be wary of a sealed Pro advertised far below its shelf price by someone who will not meet to show it.

A PS4 or PS5 ready for its next owner:

on a PS4, go into account management and switch off the option that activates it as your primary PS4, then run a full initialisation; on a PS5, deactivate the console from your account and reset it. Digital games and PlayStation Plus leave with your account, so the discs, drive and controllers are what you are really selling. Photograph the back, which gives away the revision, the system information screen with the model and free storage, and every controller. With a Slim or a Pro, say whether the disc drive goes with it. A buyer driving in from Chitré or Penonomé is listening for the fan, so have a demanding game running before they arrive and let them hear it once it has warmed up.

FAQ:

• Will my PS4 games run on a PS5?

  Almost all of them do. PS4 discs need a PS5 with a drive, and a PS4 disc that offers a free PS5 upgrade can only claim it on a console that reads the disc. It does not work the other way round: a PS4 cannot play PS5 games.

• Can I use a DualShock 4 on a PS5?

  Yes, but only for PS4 games played on the PS5. PS5 games expect a DualSense, so a pile of old controllers is worth less to someone moving up a generation than it looks.