Rhombus: Sorry, I can't agree. For a start, you're doing fairly specialist stuff, of a type that requires similar capabilities to a gaming rig anyway. It's not a fair example.
A PC these days, for me, that can do all the non-gaming things I want to do, is a near- or truly-ZERO COST PURCHASE. People are LITERALLY throwing them away. My workplace, for example. I don't know what it is about an Active Directory network that causes modestly-powered PCs such a headache, but I saved a couple of our "legendarily crap" (and 6-ish year old) machines from the stack going to a recycler. With permission and a promise to dispose of them correctly once they were spent, wiped the hard disks and installed (legal, as per their CoA's) copies of WinXP Home and Openoffice. One went to a family friend whose own PC had conked out, the other is a spare currently sat in my garage. They run beautifully smooth and fast now they're not dealing with network wierdness. Office, internet apps, etc, they breeze through. Could probably even have a good hack at SD video production, and I know they're alright for audio editing and video playback at LEAST up to DVD-class MPG4.
(oh, and if you don't have a PC & monitor at the moment, BUT an HD TV? VGA cable. Can probably get it thrown in for free, along with a slightly dirty keyboard and mouse & power lead, with the machine. They just end up clogging up the place otherwise. No need to buy a seperate monitor. And a switchbox to flip between VGA-out from your console and the PC (assuming you haven't hooked up the console with component or HDMI anyhoo) is about $25 on Amazon including delivery - I know because I've ordered one for workplace purposes)
I mean, my ultraportable laptop of near 5 years vintage is still going strong. What will eventually make me chop it in is additional features or super extended battery life, rather than improved performance, as it doesn't chug noticably for anything ... except 3D-heavy games (and probably dwarf fortress, were i to try it).
If they were on sale, rather than handouts, I'd be offended at being expected to pay more than $100 for either (well, ok, $200 if the laptop had a brand new battery).
However to get a gaming-class PC (...or something suitable for pro-grade CAD and modelling) I'd definitely have to upgrade them out of all recognition, or just replace them with a pricier model. Free or extra-cheap PC + X360/PS3 from gamestop is far more cost effective than any current-game class desktop computer, and definitely way cheaper than a gaming laptop, the prices of which make my eyes stand out on stalks. My current CAR cost me less than one of those bastards.
Hell, if you absolutely can't stand to buy used, a netbook + a further $25 or so on a cheap usb keyboard, mouse, and a long-ish VGA cable is still pretty cost effective.
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twm: Yup... and you get this in other fields as well of course. Fronters gotta front. People need a cause, and an identity to cling to, particularly the insecure ones ;-)
I see it with cars and motorcycles too. I'm quite happy with my cheap jalopy (which thanks to the surprisingly perky engine, probably classifies as a "sleeper" by the standards of ~15 years ago) and economy commuter bike... there's a lot of people, particularly in the 2 wheeled community, who can't figure out why I don't want the latest hyper-mega-blasterizer turbo with laser wheels and all that guff. You're not a proper biker unless you can do 0-200mph in five seconds and flip off at least ten old ladies on each trip, etc.
Well actually I bought something light, nimble, and not particularly fast because I use it to pick through the traffic each day and get to work at twice the speed, using one third the fuel. Sometimes I take it up the motorway, and get passed by two or three cars, but not actually so many. People seem to stick to the speed limit a lot these days. (When I drive on 4 wheels I'm likely the fastest one on the road and a hell of a target...)
It's not a status symbol, it's just something I do to get the job of travelling done. And occasionally I'll hoon it down a country lane or backstreet pretending to be Barry Sheen, or flying a fighter jet... just the same as I could on a 600 supersports. Not making a big showy impression to anyone, but having just as much fun.
My bike, I guess, is an XBox, and to a lesser extent so is the car XD
