They are only impressed because the alternative to Checkerboard is your traditional upscaling.
Native > Checkerboard > Traditional Upscaling.
In that order from best to worst. :)

Depends on the panel.
The quality is less severe than other points in history where we have upscaled content, because this time around it's a straight quadrupling of pixels and you don't need to use funky algorithms to upscale 720P to 1080P with post-process to clean up the image.

For instance, it's sometimes better for me to run some content at 720P rather than 768P or 900P on my 1440P panel due to that fact.

None of it is as good as native content at your panels native resolution though, but you take what you can get. :P

What do you mean by "depends on the panel"?

I don't think a panel can get rid of the blurry picture by upscalling.

Nevertheless, I just checked again by not using AA. The 4k is crisp as it possibly can be. The upscalled 1080 image is still blurry. And obviously less details are being shown.

1080 upscaled no AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31680389/20160912_124137.jpg.html

4k no AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31680399/20160912_124225.jpg.html

That's a pretty bad upscale, can't you set it to quadrupling 1080p content? It should not lose brightness or color, just give you blocky 2x2 pixels. My 1080p tv does a much better job with Wii 480p content, and that's not even a straight doubling. Much sharper than that picture you linked.
Monitors have always been bad at upscaling though, hence I always to prefer to play in native res at the cost of frame rate and effects.

1080p is kind of unplayable on a 4k monitor. It looks awfully blurry.

Halflife 2 in 4k maxxed out AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31674270/20160911_163611.jpg.html

close up:

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31674283/20160911_163626.jpg.html

Halflife 2 in 1080 maxxed out AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31674295/20160911_163659.jpg.html

close up:

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31674304/20160911_163720.jpg.html

What do you mean by "depends on the panel"?

I don't think a panel can get rid of the blurry picture by upscalling.

Nevertheless, I just checked again by not using AA. The 4k is crisp as it possibly can be. The upscalled 1080 image is still blurry. And obviously less details are being shown.

1080 upscaled no AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31680389/20160912_124137.jpg.html

4k no AA

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-31680399/20160912_124225.jpg.html

Futurproofing for what? A console should be relevant for 5/6 years. That's the norm. Thing is, if the Scorpio spends 2 years not selling because it's too expensive what's the point?

Especially when they will release a new system every 3 years or so... Then after the scorpio what happens? They have two choices, release a new model that will improve graphics as much but will again be way too expensive for the general public. Or make the smart decision of releasing a 400$ console that will basically be what the pro is to the PS4.

Anyway, besides the lack of 4K bluray, the PS4 pro is already " furturproofed" enough.

How can it look blurry? I understand it's blurry if the monitor upscales from 1080p to 4K (and uses an upscaling technique similar to those you linked to), but can't you prevent it from upscaling so that it remains the original sharp 1080p image?

Those pics don't work, except for one.

By what I mean in regards to "depends on panel" is that some TV's have such poor Brightness and Colour calibration that resolution is less of a factor in the overall presentation of an image. (Aka. Resolution isn't everything.)

Secondly some TV's have scalers of questionable quality that may add noise or artifacts into the displayed image, in some more moderate scenario's you might get additional input lag.

Thirdly, some TV's will also do some post-processing on the displayed image to bolster contrast, sharpness, blur, or perhaps create an additional frame between two frames to simulate a higher refresh rate.

Then lastly there is a massive factor of panel size and viewing distance you need to factor in, there is a reason why PC gamers like the "smaller" more expensive details in games... Because we are also some of the first to pick up and notice them due to how close we sit to our displays.

I'm not disputing the fact that native content is superior though, but there is more to this issue than people actually realise.