On October 6, Sony began offering its PlayStation 5 (disc and digital) at a reduced price. Never one to miss out on undercutting its competition where possible, Amazon has since lowered its own prices. While it hasn’t bested the console manufacturer on the digital front, it has managed to beat the cost of the better-value disc edition. Now, the storefront is officially the cheapest place to bag this particular model in the UK, by our reckoning.
Over on Amazon, you’ll find a PlayStation 5 Slim, complete with a disc drive, for just £419.98. That’s a welcome saving of £60.01 (13%), which is conveniently enough for a 12-month PlayStation Plus subscription. It’s also £10.01 cheaper than the cost of the same console over on PlayStation Direct. Better still, this isn’t a Prime Big Deal Days offer, so you don’t need an Amazon Prime subscription to nab it.
PlayStation 5 (Slim)
“Experience lightning-fast loading with an ultra-high speed SSD, deeper immersion with support for haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and 3D Audio, and an incredible collection of PlayStation games.”
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
I’ve owned a PlayStation 5 since launch, primarily driven by the desire to play the excellent Demon’s Souls remake and other Sony first-party titles upon release, such as Astro Bot, God of War: Ragnarök, and Returnal. More specifically, I opted for the disc edition and it’s the version I continue to recommend despite its higher price relative to the digital edition.
While the disc drive does cost more, you’ll save plenty of cash in the long term by buying physical games as opposed to digital. Taking Demon’s Souls as an example, Sony charges £69.99 for it on the PlayStation Store. Alternatively, you can grab a brand-new copy from Argos for £64.99 or second-hand from CeX for £25, not forgetting Facebook Marketplace or eBay. This same logic applies to trading in for cash or credit, letting you repeat the cycle indefinitely. The console also makes for a solid UHD Blu-Ray player too.
For those unfamiliar with PlayStation 5’s performance profile, it features an octa-core Zen 2 processor and RDNA 2 graphics. The closest approximations you could make on the PC side would be a Ryzen 7 5800X and Radeon RX 6700. Both of these components still pack plenty of punch in 2024, with the likes of Horizon: Forbidden West and other dazzling displays serving as prime examples. It’s best to pair the console with a 4K/120Hz display that supports HDR, if possible, but it’ll downscale just fine connected to FHD and QHD displays.
While it’s possible to get approximate PS5 performance from a PC at a similar price, you’ll primarily rely on the used market and forgo any guarantees. There’s value in the warranty here, not to mention the fuss-free plug-and-play experience. I haven’t even mentioned the included DualSense controller, which is great for Steam games, too. Every gamer should experience its adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, as it’s difficult to go back to a stock pad once you do.
Even with a powerful PC at my disposal, I still regularly switch on my PlayStation 5. It’s both a fun and useful device that I’d rather not be without, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon. I’m confident most others will feel the same. So, if the console seems like a good fit for your setup, don’t miss out on this deal.
