There’s the conventional wisdom out in the street that if you want the best in gaming, you should get a PC, specifically a custom-built Windows PC running the latest hardware and software. I’m here to tell you that it’s wrong and why you’ll get more from your money buying a console than a PC. How consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is better than the PC? Let me count the ways.
Performance
Yes, you read it right. Performance. Console performance is much better than a PC. PC master race nerds will shout about their RTX 4090 with 24GB or onboard video memory, a superfast PCIe drive that loads up things in an instant and displays with refresh rates in the hundreds of Hertz.
But here’s the thing: for less than $500, the PlayStation 5 has a custom-built CPU/GPU combo, 16 GB of memory, and 1TB of storage running on NVMe with options to expand using the M.2 slot. You can play games at 4K (8K is possible) and have a 10.3 TFLOPs graphic card.
Now try to build a PC with a similar spec at $500. The Mac Mini M2, a $500 “PC” has graphic cards with only 3.6 TFLOPs. You can cheap out by buying an older RTX 3060 that eeks out 12.5 TFLOPs but you still need money to build other things in the PC.
The reason why PlayStation is quite powerful for the price is because of two reasons. One, console makers subsidize the price of the console because they get their money back through games and secondly, the console is supposed to last for the run of the generation. So Sony is expecting the PS5 to still run well in the 2030s with decent performance.
Price
The console business model is different than the PC, so they have an unbeatable starting price as a result. Right from the box, the console has a better interface that is more suited for gaming or content consumption than a PC, an interface that is more suited for content creation.
It used to be the console ecosystem is limited. Now, the things that consoles can do are getting longer. Keyboard/mouse gaming input? Check. 120Hz 4K gaming? check. Stream 4K or even 8K video? check.
Convenience
The major draw for the console is how convenient it takes to get into the action. In the older days when things were in a solid state, you just turned on the console and you were already ready to play. Boot-up times for the console are a bit slower today, but it’s far faster than a PC can.
Yes, the PC can serve up massive assets so your game looks photo-realistic, but imagine all the time you save loading up your game.
Conclusion
The console is very good at what it does: gaming and content consumption. The interface is optimized to be viewed from a distance on a large display and you, the reader, relax in front of that huge display. There’s a reason why despite PCs outperforming the consoles all the time, many more people are playing on console and mobile instead of the more powerful and versatile PC.
Plug
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| Base | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| iPhones | iPhone 16 / iPhone 16 Plus - (Amazon) | iPhone 16 Pro / iPhone 16 Pro Max - (Amazon) |
| Watch | Apple Watch SE (Amazon) / Apple Watch Series 10 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 (Amazon) |
| AirPods | AirPods 4 (Amazon) | AirPods Pro 2 (Amazon) / AirPods Max (Amazon) |
| iPad | iPad 10 (Amazon) / iPad Mini (Amazon) | iPad Air M2 (Amazon) / iPad Pro M4 (Amazon) |
| Laptops | MacBook Air M3 (Amazon) | MacBook Pro M3 (Amazon) / MacBook Pro M3 Pro/Max (Amazon) |
| Desktop | Mac Mini (Amazon) / iMac (Amazon) | Mac Studio / Mac Pro |
| Displays | Studio Display (Amazon) | Pro Display XDR (Amazon) |
Other Ecosystem Items