Here at Game Enthusiast, most of us are unironic members of the PC master race. Yet, the most recent generation of consoles has made us wonder if consoles are just as awesome or not.
So in this article, we dive into a few reasons why it’s so much more convenient to game on console compared to a gaming PC.
Why choose a console over a gaming PC
As Shakespeare wrote in 1580: “To game on console or PC, that’s the question.” In the centuries after, scholars are still trying to decipher this seeming paradox. And with good reason, as both platforms have huge advantages and disadvantages.
To celebrate the new (albeit slightly underwhelming) generation of consoles, we focus on the upsides of ready-made gaming stations today. However, PC fans can rest assured, it will never replace the feeling of booting your self-built rig for the first time. We might even do a follow-up with the advantages of gaming PC’s… Anyways, with that out of the way, let’s go!
Does more, costs less
One of the biggest advantages of console gaming is the initial cost. Buying a console is almost always cheaper than a gaming PC. In fact, unless you get really lucky and find an insane deal on Craigslist, a new console is certainly more bang for your buck.
As Apple’s classic slogan says, a Series X console generally costs less than a gaming PC, but does more in terms of computing power. Relatively speaking that is, as the power ceiling for a PC is basically nonexistent.
As an example, I often mention my recent purchase of the RTX 2070 Super. It’s a high-end graphics card that costs as much as the entire Xbox Series X, including a controller and a game. In terms of graphical prowess, the Series X and RTX 2070 Super are similar, but the additional thousand bucks worth of gaming equipment required to make use of my newly acquired graphics card beg to differ..
Marginal Maintenance
When the build is finally complete, PC gamers aren’t done yet. Not by a long shot. Even if everything runs smoothly, there is always maintenance to be done. There is always a new driver available, always more tweaks to be performed, always another step to achieve excellence; building and optimizing a PC is never done.
Till a certain extent, that’s also true for console, though it’s undoubtedly simpler. New version of anything? ‘Here it is friend, just wait till it’s done and you’re all good.’ You can’t do much in terms of tweaking either. If you purchase a console, you know you’re set for at least a few years.
No hassle
Besides money, time is probably anyone’s most precious resource. And building a gaming PC costs a lot of time. Comparatively, getting a console to run is as easy as plugging in two cables. Let it download a patch or two, and you’re off in an alternate universe having fun. There barely is any hassle when it comes to console gaming; it’s plug and play!
Built to blast
That feature is only possible because consoles are bread for a singular purpose: playing videogames. Sure, Microsoft (and to a lesser extent Sony) try to move towards a multimedia station with their consoles. Still, consoles are built for gaming.
But unless you have two PC, it’s likely that you do many other tings on your PC besides gaming. All those additional programs, functionalities and options do make it’s use more complicated. So you’re always juggling multiple uses of your rig, complicating and maybe even hindering a smooth ride.
Optimally optimized
That perfectly segways into our last point: optimization. We can imagine developers have nightmares about the fact that they have to build games for literally millions upon millions of different PC configurations. Even the slightest change of hardware (each with different versions of drivers) could turn a fully functioning video game into a smoldering heap of useless ones and zeros.
Contrary to PC’s, consoles are insanely consistent across the board. Sure, Sony might bounce between two different PlayStation 5 fans, but that’s about it. That means developers can fully focus on optimizing their game for just a handful of hardware configurations. No comparing specs, figuring out if you can run it; When you buy a console game, you know it’ll run (relatively) smoothly on your machine.
So these are just some of the advantages of a console over a gaming PC. Let us know if you agree or would still prefer a gaming rig in the comments below, or on our bustling Facebook page.