I'm thinking about making a PC my next console, still...
"Are PCs more powerful than consoles while still cost efficient?"
"Sure! You only need to look for X, Y and W while not buying at A or B and don't buy C because it has weaker performance than D and conflicts with E."
..That's a problem.
As it stands, i see the difference between consoles and PCs similar to the Difference between Android Devices and Apple iPhones and iPads. You can buy Android Devices that are much more powerful than an iOS Device, and it is a much more open platform, but at the same time there is a risk that you may have a worse experience than others for reasons that you may have to research, or because of a common problem of that specific hardware that can't really be fixed. With an iPhone, you get just about the same experience as everyone else, wich is much more restrictive but also safer and more intuitive.
Only that of course, Consoles are also chaper than PCs.
And if you want to turn a PC into a living room game console, there's a bunch of additional problems. Building a HTPC (as in a PC in a small, living room friendly case) or buying a Laptop (wich is small and highly portable, but also negates a bunch of advantages of the PC) costs much more than a normal PC and no matter how, even with Steam Big Picture and everything, if you want to play all the current games you'll have to put up with multiple User Interfaces that are not very living room friendly.
And last but not least: Consoles are still a lot more open when it comes to DRM. Less so than they used to, with Digital Downloads, Online Passes and all, but i can still take my copy of Gears of War and play it on the 360 of a friend.
As it stands, preferring Consoles over PCs hasn't only something to do with being to lazy as to put some effort into the initial setup, but having to deal with a lot of compromise when it comes to just about everything.
"Are PCs more powerful than consoles while still cost efficient?"
"Sure! You only need to look for X, Y and W while not buying at A or B and don't buy C because it has weaker performance than D and conflicts with E."
..That's a problem.
As it stands, i see the difference between consoles and PCs similar to the Difference between Android Devices and Apple iPhones and iPads. You can buy Android Devices that are much more powerful than an iOS Device, and it is a much more open platform, but at the same time there is a risk that you may have a worse experience than others for reasons that you may have to research, or because of a common problem of that specific hardware that can't really be fixed. With an iPhone, you get just about the same experience as everyone else, wich is much more restrictive but also safer and more intuitive.
Only that of course, Consoles are also chaper than PCs.
And if you want to turn a PC into a living room game console, there's a bunch of additional problems. Building a HTPC (as in a PC in a small, living room friendly case) or buying a Laptop (wich is small and highly portable, but also negates a bunch of advantages of the PC) costs much more than a normal PC and no matter how, even with Steam Big Picture and everything, if you want to play all the current games you'll have to put up with multiple User Interfaces that are not very living room friendly.
And last but not least: Consoles are still a lot more open when it comes to DRM. Less so than they used to, with Digital Downloads, Online Passes and all, but i can still take my copy of Gears of War and play it on the 360 of a friend.
As it stands, preferring Consoles over PCs hasn't only something to do with being to lazy as to put some effort into the initial setup, but having to deal with a lot of compromise when it comes to just about everything.