Gaming PC vs new Console

[some_tech_kid]

I am a college student planning to work in the software tech field post college (SWE, datascience, etc). I have an M1 Pro Macbook Pro with 32gb of ram that works great for all my coding and day-to-day work. I have a (very casual) hobby of gaming and am currently using my Xbox One X, but the sheer slow speed of it is killing me. While I game casually, I still want to be able to enjoy the experience and be somewhat competitive. I primarily play sports games (fifa) with my friends or call of duty (yes I know basic gaming, but again, just a very casual gamer). I am looking to upgrade my gaming experience but was wondering on the thoughts people had over building a gaming PC vs buying a Xbox Series X? I will primarily use this machine for gaming as my macbook serves as my daily driver. I would like to build a gaming PC but the cost tradeoff is a lot and I am unsure if it is worth it considering this PC will primarily just be a fancy console. Tell me your thoughts. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.  

PS I am not looking to switch over to Windows as my daily driver. Developing on Windows instead of Mac OS is a huge headache and from my experience not worth it. 

[bmx6454]

i would just go with a series x, you already have a computer for your other needs. series x is pretty easy to obtain at msrp, and minus what you can get for selling your xbox one x, pretty affordable.

[SupaKomputa]

Building a game pc comparable to xbox sx will be more expensive. Especially today.

[StuntmanMike86]

I myself have a high end Gaming PC and aX Xbox Series X and PS5. I love all three! But if u was to take the $599 it takes to get a Xbox Series X and try and spend that $599 on building a gaming PC, you would have one hell of a hard time to getting the PC to compete with the specs of the Xbox One X. You would have to find some great sales on components to pull it off. So I’m my IMO I would go with the Xbox Series X unless you can drop a some extra money to build a PC. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I enjoy Xbox over my gaming PC or vice a versa. Just stating the price to performance issue. 

[Kazooduck]

11 minutes ago, some_tech_kid said:

PS I am not looking to switch over to Windows as my daily driver. Developing on Windows instead of Mac OS is a huge headache and from my experience not worth it. 

If you don’t want to switch to windows just get a series x much more price to perf

[ratchetxops]

If you are just a casual gamer, I would definitely suggest just sticking to console. It doesn't require you to waste time with updates or upgrading hardware. And if you wanted to upgrade storage, you still have access to do that. 

[ratchetxops]

13 minutes ago, rhettgore said:

If you are just a casual gamer, I would definitely suggest just sticking to console. It doesn't require you to waste time with updates or upgrading hardware. And if you wanted to upgrade storage, you still have access to do that. 

An actual good quote for this "On console the games optimize to you, on pc you optimize to the games".

[jaslion]

I mean since your friends are on xbox you wouldn't want a pc anyway just because of that. A lot of games still don't do crossplay.

[some_tech_kid]

52 minutes ago, StuntmanMike86 said:

I myself have a high end Gaming PC and aX Xbox Series X and PS5. I love all three! But if u was to take the $599 it takes to get a Xbox Series X and try and spend that $599 on building a gaming PC, you would have one hell of a hard time to getting the PC to compete with the specs of the Xbox One X. You would have to find some great sales on components to pull it off. So I’m my IMO I would go with the Xbox Series X unless you can drop a some extra money to build a PC. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I enjoy Xbox over my gaming PC or vice a versa. Just stating the price to performance issue. 

Thanks so much for your response! How big of a performance difference do you personally feel between both? Thanks!

[DEADPOOLSMOM]

1 hour ago, some_tech_kid said:

I am a college student planning to work in the software tech field post college (SWE, datascience, etc). I have an M1 Pro Macbook Pro with 32gb of ram that works great for all my coding and day-to-day work. I have a (very casual) hobby of gaming and am currently using my Xbox One X, but the sheer slow speed of it is killing me. While I game casually, I still want to be able to enjoy the experience and be somewhat competitive. I primarily play sports games (fifa) with my friends or call of duty (yes I know basic gaming, but again, just a very casual gamer). I am looking to upgrade my gaming experience but was wondering on the thoughts people had over building a gaming PC vs buying a Xbox Series X? I will primarily use this machine for gaming as my macbook serves as my daily driver. I would like to build a gaming PC but the cost tradeoff is a lot and I am unsure if it is worth it considering this PC will primarily just be a fancy console. Tell me your thoughts. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.  

PS I am not looking to switch over to Windows as my daily driver. Developing on Windows instead of Mac OS is a huge headache and from my experience not worth it. 

To get a really good pc gaming performance, you are looking at at least 1k. Likely a 12100f/12400+3060ti build. 

[Mark Kaine]

16 hours ago, rhettgore said:

It doesn't require you to waste time with updates

funny this is precisely the reason i sold my ps4… 

[rikitikitavi]

XBox Series X would be my suggestion, since as you said you mainly play just a couple of games. Also, as I understand you don't even need to 'upgrade'/repurchase any game, and if ever feel like trying more there is Game Pass.

 

Unless you specifically need the 'pc gaming experience' or willing to spend ~$1.5k+ (Steam Deck doesn't seem like an option in your case).

You also have your MacBook to play titles that might not be available on XBox, and even God of War is (somewhat) playable on M1s.

 

I'm also a Mac-main who had XBox360 for a long time as a main gaming platform except for strategies, indies, CS, LOL and emulators which ran mostly fine on my macs. Got a gaming pc during pandemic just for the kb/m gaming, pc multiplayer (fomo) and Steam sales lol