Balanced, lol. That's was Goosen, Penello and co's favourite phrase at the start of the last gen. "How is it that a 400 HP Porsche can be faster than a 700 HP Corvette?" said good old 30% Penello.
Comparing what can be done with an APU vs. discrete PC components is utter fucking nonsense. Wanting more CPU and more GPU than the leaks suggest doubly so. The real "balance" is how much die space you burn producing a device that does the most to meet the demands of a mid-gen unit playing the exact same games as the base machine.
ps5 Pro will do the job it was designed for - to better present ps5 games with more quality than the 4 year old original. The very same job the ps4 Pro did when it released at the generation's mid-point offering slightly bumped specs and bespoke hardware to help offer more bang for buck.
This tiring shit is self-inflicted. You are demanding next-gen specs from a mid-gen refresh which isn't practical, sensible or realistic, and ignoring the amazing and exciting introduction or PSSR and what it might offer because... well, why?
Where's the value in being grumpy or down about paper specs not meeting imaginary, unrealistic goals? Ask Phil Spencer about just how valuable paper spec are in the real world. You clearly want a new gen not a refresh... only by then it still won't be enough for all the same reasons because you're comparing APU-based hardware with far more expensive discrete components elsewhere for reasons. Only solution is bite the bullet and go all-in on the glorious pc gaming master-race(to give it its full title), then you can upgrade yearly and it's all on you and your wallet to provide the happiness true balance offers. Although, you'll discover a completely different brand of tiring when you're left constantly fiddling with settings, updating drivers and wondering why your game is stuttering instead of just switching on and playing games.
Personally I don't see how an example of taking a base ps5 quality mode game running at 30fps and having the new machine offer the same levels of IQ but at 60fps can be seen as being anything other than fantastic from a mid-gen box. What's a better CPU to the detriment of less GPU/AI/ML die space going to offer there? 100% improvement is tiring? Meh.
You do you though. Alex from DF can't see past paper specs and viewing things purely in terms of PC and discrete components, so I don't expect mere gamers to be able to. A PC tech enthusiast who spends his life facing off the very best cutting edge technologies against each other while trying to make sense of them is only going to know how to view anything through that one lens, but there's no reason why Joe Shmoe should inflict the same fate on themselves.
xbox twitter is revelling in a similar kind of self-inflicted doom, being unable to enjoy what they have without worrying about what's going on elsewhere and getting all limp-dick about it. Personally I'm looking forward to see how the improvements pan out in actual gameplay, but more than that, to seeing and discussing how PSSR evolves, introduces frame gen and who knows what else as we get ready for ps6.
I can see why people want "more" and bigger numbers, but it's unreasonable to expect that from mid-gen. If people can't get excited by what that suggests for such a machine then sucks to be them I guess.
