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PLEASE STOP COMPARING $500 CONSOLES TO $500 PCs

Is it fair to compare a $500 PC and a $500 Console?  

192 members have voted

  1. 1. Is it fair to compare a $500 PC and a $500 Console?

    • Yes
      116
    • No
      76


15 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

CoD WWII is actually $20 cheaper for Xbox right now than PC

Are people really buying this? I thought it sucked. Maybe thats why its cheap.

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Just now, LapX said:

Seriously though, are people really choosing a console over a PC and vice versa based solely on price ? I like gaming on PC period. I don't care about the price.

This is exactly what I was saying :P It's like choosing your smart phone out of every available option (Pixel 2, iphone, S8, etc.) based on something like where the fingerprint sensor is xD There's so much more to it than that.

Just now, SteveGrabowski0 said:

There is a pretty competitive marketplace for console games. Best Buy, Target, Amazon, newegg, Walmart, Gamestop are always one-upping each other. Console games can be very cheap when you shop around, even near launch.

Sure, all I'm saying is that comparing price has a few inherent issues.  Different people will measure it differently (overtime vs upfront only, etc.), and beyond that, I'm not sure it even matters.  I'm pretty sure consoles cost more or at least the same as a similar PC in the long run, even if the hardware itself isn't on par right out of the store, but for me, that's besides the point.  Personally, the experience is different enough I would still use PC if it cost twice as much - the other aspects of the experience are worth that much to me.  Now, if in addition to being better (at least for me) it's also cheaper, then that's just icing on the cake, but I don't really care either way.  Just pointing out that if you aregonna compare price, there's more than one way to do it.

Just now, black0utm1rage said:

Are people really buying this? I thought it sucked. Maybe thats why its cheap.

No idea, I haven't followed that series ever

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6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

That's another good point.  And not just available to purchase forever, but will actually work forever :P With PC games I have confidence that I'll still be able to run whatever I once did 10 or 20 years later on whatever PC I have, but with console (I know this because I've struggled with this experience personally) if a game you like only runs on console Z, you have to keep a working version around which is often easier (and cheaper) said than done.

You know what the real weakness is?  The optical drives.  Even for cartridge based systems, unless chips die or get fried, you can just repair them.  However the optical drive is often the weakest link.  So the PS2 as an example has so many beloved titles and you could have people with 'working' PS2's but their optical drives are dead, so the machine is incapable of actually PLAYING games.  On the PC you can burn new discs from ISOs or use NoCD cracks or emulate an optical drive even.  This is a lot harder for a console.

 

That said sometimes people invent new solutions.  There is a 'GDEMU' a hacker build for the Sega Dreamcast, it is a hardware replacement for the Dreamcast's GD-ROM optical drive and it emulates the drive but reads off an SD Card.  So I no longer have to fair my DC's optical drive dying and rendering the console useless.  ...As an added bonus, the entire collection of every single NTSC-U Dreamcast game can fit on a single 128GB SD card with a few gigs to spare.

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Just now, AshleyAshes said:

You know what the real weakness is?  The optical drives.  Even for cartridge based systems, unless chips die or get fried, you can just repair them.  However the optical drive is often the weakest link.  So the PS2 as an example has so many beloved titles and you could people with 'working' PS2's but their optical drives are dead so the machine is incapable of actually PLAYING games.  On the PC you can burn new discs from ISOs or use NoCD cracks or emulate an optical drive even.  This is a lot harder for a console.

 

That said sometimes people invent new solutions.  There is a 'GDEMU' a hacker build for the Sega Dreamcast, it is a hardware replacement for the Dreamcast's GD-ROM optical drive and it emulates the drive but reads off an SD Card.  So I no longer have to fair my DC's optical drive dying and rendering the console useless.  ...As an added bonus, the entire collection of every single NTSC-U Dreamcast game can fit on a single 128GB SD card with a few gigs to spare.

Yeah, even Linus mentioned his Wii's drive failed and there was a whole hassle about that :P

I'd take it one step further though and say that optical drives are a major weakness not because they fail but because they're used in the first place.  It's so 2002.  They're loud, slow, and you have to either physically drive to a store and pick up a game, or order it online and wait at least a day.  If you buy online and just download it you can be playing within an hour, or even minutes depending on the game and your access speed.  Yeah sure some people have unusably slow internet and so physically picking it up is the only option, but that doesn't mean these downsides don't exist.

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2 hours ago, black0utm1rage said:

Was thinking the exact same thing while watching the video. You need a PC anyway these days, and its not unlikely that you spend about 300 - 500$ on it even if you don't want to use it for gaming.

No you don't.

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1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah, even Linus mentioned his Wii's drive failed and there was a whole hassle about that :P

I'd take it one step further though and say that optical drives are a major weakness not because they fail but because they're used in the first place.  It's so 2002.  They're loud, slow, and you have to either physically drive to a store and pick up a game, or order it online and wait at least a day.  If you buy online and just download it you can be playing within an hour, or even minutes depending on the game and your access speed.  Yeah sure some people have unusably slow internet and so physically picking it up is the only option, but that doesn't mean these downsides don't exist.

Yeah, with my new PS4 and me buying PSN games, I'm def worried about 'what if the PSN disappears?'  Or at least PS4 support in the PSN ends.  At least on PC, if Steam ever shuts down, it'll be WAY easier to 'pirate' the games I bought on Steam.  Hell I wouldn't be suprised if some Valve dev 'accidently' leaked a SteamDRM removal tool in the least days of Valve.

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11 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm pretty sure consoles cost more or at least the same as a similar PC in the long run

I disagree. Consoles can be extremely cheap (my PS4 was $220 a year ago) and the cost of games is a wash. Even if you pay $50 a year for online gaming on console (I don't) it's going to take three years for it to equal the $100 for the Windows tax on PC plus another $50 if you want a decent controller (don't tell me you're going to play NBA 2k or FIFA on mouse & keyboard). If you pirate then PC is cheaper but if not console should probably be for anyone who shops around on both platforms.

 

I prefer PC gaming to console and will always choose PC over PS4 when a game is available on both, but I recognize I'm paying more for the premium experience on PC. My gpu alone (GTX 970) cost me roughly 50% more than my PS4. My cpu alone (Xeon E3-1231v3) cost roughly 15% more than my PS4. But I think it's worth it for 60 fps gaming without having to dip below high presets in games.

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Just now, NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle said:

No you don't.

You misunderstood. I meant you need any device with similar capability (as stated earlier in this thread...)

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Just now, AshleyAshes said:

Yeah, with my new PS4 and me buying PSN games, I'm def worried about 'what if the PSN disappears?'  Or at least PS4 support in the PSN ends.  At least on PC, if Steam ever shuts down, it'll be WAY easier to 'pirate' the games I bought on Steam.  Hell I wouldn't be suprised if some Valve dev 'accidently' leaked a SteamDRM removal tool in the least days of Valve.

Yeah having so much through Steam is definitely a concern in the back of my mind but I think it helps that it's an independent third party that has every interest in continuing to exist, as opposed to services run by companies that are inherently motivated to shut things down to push you to their next creation.

 

1 minute ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

I disagree. Consoles can be extremely cheap (my PS4 was $220 a year ago) and the cost of games is a wash. Even if you pay $50 a year for online gaming on console (I don't) it's going to take three years for it to equal the $100 for the Windows tax on PC plus another $50 if you want a decent controller (don't tell me you're going to play NBA 2k or FIFA on mouse & keyboard). If you pirate then PC is cheaper but if not console should probably be for anyone who shops around on both platforms.

 

I prefer PC gaming to console and will always choose PC over PS4 when a game is available on both, but I recognize I'm paying more for the premium experience on PC. My gpu alone (GTX 970) cost me roughly 50% more than my PS4. My cpu alone cost roughly 15% more than my PS4. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it depends on a lot of things, some of which can be highly individual (which peripherals, software, etc you already have or don't, etc.) and that's all I'm saying.  I threw in my opinion as a side statement but mainly I'm just saying comparing a $500 PC with a $500 console is a bit too "high level" and undefined for my tastes.

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I'll stop comparing consoles to PC at the same price....if the cost of online access for games across the expected lifespan is included.

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18 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Yeah, with my new PS4 and me buying PSN games, I'm def worried about 'what if the PSN disappears?'  Or at least PS4 support in the PSN ends.  At least on PC, if Steam ever shuts down, it'll be WAY easier to 'pirate' the games I bought on Steam.  Hell I wouldn't be suprised if some Valve dev 'accidently' leaked a SteamDRM removal tool in the least days of Valve.

That's why I always pirate a copy of any PC game I buy and like (unless it hasn't been cracked yet). I'm not worried about Steam going under. I'm worried about Denuvo dying off or discontinuing service. Besides, Steam's DRM is a joke.

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16 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it depends on a lot of things, some of which can be highly individual (which peripherals, software, etc you already have or don't, etc.) and that's all I'm saying.  I threw in my opinion as a side statement but mainly I'm just saying comparing a $500 PC with a $500 console is a bit too "high level" and undefined for my tastes.

For sure, to a degree Console vs PC is an Apples to Oranges comparison.  A console is a dedicated gaming device with some secondary multimedia functions.  A PC is a general purpose computing machine.  So the PC can do more 'things' for sure but on the other hand the console is much more price competitive because literally tens of millions of identical units can be mass produced where economies of scale work to it's advantage.

 

However a console is unquestionably superior in terms of size, value, cost, and ease of use when compared purely on the basis of gaming.  Which is what a video like this is all about, gaming, JUST gaming, nothing else.

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1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

For sure, to a degree Console vs PC is an Apples to Oranges comparison.  A console is a dedicated gaming device with some secondary multimedia functions.  A PC is a general purpose computing machine.  So the PC can do more 'things' for sure but on the other hand the console is much more price competitive because literally tens of millions of identical units can be mass produced where economies of scale work to it's advantage.

 

However a console is unquestionably superior in terms of size, value, cost, and ease of use when compared purely on the basis of gaming.  Which is what a video like this is all about, gaming, JUST gaming, nothing else.

I'm not sure I can grant you "value" in that list, if for no other reason than that value is "something you want" over cost, and "something" varies person to person.  For me, it is unquestionably a worse value...

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1 hour ago, ahmedhara said:

Who?

Well primarily the OP (opened the tab shortly after they posted the topic and forgot it was open), but I wouldn't doubt if there's other trigg'd people in the thread.

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3 hours ago, ahmedhara said:

 Yea, but realistically, no one will buy ALL of them

Um, you may need to restate that.

I may not have own all, but I almost played across a large portion of them.

Out of the recent ones though, I have those.  (And I don't consider myself a big gamer - I just like electronics a lot)

 

Major reason I say that both sides have their strong points and weak points from my experience with gaming on consoles and PC.

 

2 hours ago, JCMPTech said:

I think everyone here gets a little numb to how the rest of the non tech savvy people out there.  I have been working directly with end users for 15 years and I can tell you people are ignorant.  I am not going to say dumb, because its not of lack of intelligence, they just don't know.    I once had a dentist, who hung on the the belief  that the 5Ghz band and 2.5Ghz on his router were separate "Internets" and traffic on one should never effect performance on the other and he was getting "screwed". I had a lawyer bring in an all in one PC  complaining it would not turn on, when I asked where the power cord was, she looked shocked stood there in silence for minute before replying "Oh, I guess thats why It would no turn on, I didn't know it needed one"  They do not understand and/or refuse to learn. Go stand by your local computer repair shop, or sit by a Geek Squad counter and just listen to the average day to day conversations they have with clients and you will understand how the rest of non tech savvy humanity live.  A large portion of consumers just want a console that is straight forward, easy to use, and want to know when they buy a game for it, it will play regardless.  Also  a large percentage of Best Buy and wall mart customers only have cheap sub $100 prepaid smart phone, a $50 Amazon Fire (or cheap generic android), and a game console at home.  Allot of school systems in the area are issuing Chromebooks to the kids, (even installing chromium OS existing PCs), so even many familes with kids in school doing homework are without a full fledged PC (which is why MS is getting into ARM based systems).  My wife is non-tech person, and with a media center PC and PS4 in the bedroom and living room, she will always be more comfortable opening Netflix or Plex on the PS4 than the PC.  regardless if its ignorance, cost, convenience, or simplicity, consoles will always have large market share of the gaming industry. 

Ah, the loveliness of help desk /s.  Yeah, doing help desk will quickly knock that whole deal that people are down for using a PC all the time.  I done help desk and some of the stuff I dealt with or heard from people basically just reinforces that the majority are not computer savvy one bit.

 

There a reason computer IT field jobs are pretty good jobs to have.  The job security sure does not look to be going away.

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If I'm deciding on investing in a platform, in this case an Xbox One X or a PC. Let's assume that I have everything required to use either, excluding the OS for the PC...If the Xbox One X gives me increased value over the PC of equivalent cost, and straight up better performance...The Xbox One X might just be the better buy. 

 

The comparisons are legitimate whether you agree or not. Think about it as someone who wants to invest in a gaming platform, and only use the system for gaming. The extra functionality of the PC may be irrelevant to the user.

 

And this is coming from someone who prefers PC. You can't argue facts...you must be objective when it comes to comparisons.

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4 hours ago, hconverse02 said:

Well on a pc $500 is just the tower, no peripherals included.  With a console there's a tv, with a pc there's a monitor, mouse and keyboard.  Performance may be different, but the comparison is kinda justified for the "barebones" tower

You can use your TV with the PC.

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Building a pc is a nice experience that you will never get out of a console

 

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Just now, Shreyas1 said:

Building a pc is a nice experience that you will never get out of a console

Not everyone wants to build a PC, and not everyone agrees it's a nice experience. Some just want something to pull out of a box and use.

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1 hour ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Not everyone wants to build a PC, and not everyone agrees it's a nice experience. Some just want something to pull out of a box and use.

^That's where they get a pre-built.

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I think it depends on the comparison being made. This needs to be clearly defined to make a comparison fair. 

If you are comparing the value of a PC vs Console that is a hard argument to make due to the utility a PC offers over a Console.

If you are comparing gaming performance only than you should only be taking into account the performance benchmarks and the cost of the system (whether it be a PC or a Console).

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Barebones Tower vs. Console is fair game IMO. Console has the controller but you might want XBL which is additional cost. So is keyboard, mouse or Controller for PC.

 

Xbox One X is pooping on PCs in the same price class currently, which is a combination of great value on the Xbox and bad DDR and NAND pricing.

 

Consoles have been bad value for a long time, please don't be butt-hurt that it's great value now just because it's not the best time to build or buy a gaming PC.

 

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I got both a PlayStation and a pc and i can tell the graphics is a lot better on my pc. But then again, my pc was more expensive. And is a lot newer. But one thing my computer can not do, is play Grand Tursimo. Well at least not legaly, unless there are  emulators that support real copies of the game.

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