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Comment by theWatcher37 | Hacker News Reader

I have less free time than most here and somehow I find a way.

"Maintaining" a PC is super easy...

Go watch some of the major streamers on Twitch. They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up. The illusion that the PC-Master-Race folks like to push is that maintaining and building PCs is easy. Having built many, and owned a computer repair shop, I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer.

> I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer.

I don't see how you can state that it's any easier to troubleshoot a console. Usually your only feedback is a generic error code which if you Google refers to 20 different problems all with the same error, or an LED blink code which is equally vague.

Sure, PCs have their own unique problems that consoles don't suffer from (e.g. malware on Windows) but I find that PCs typically have much more descriptive error codes, and usually lack the kind of design flaws present in consoles (e.g. Xbox 360 RRoD due to insufficient cooling).

See that's the thing. I've been a console gamer since the NES and I don't remember ever really having to troubleshoot one.

And since the hardware is fixed games don't have incompatibilities. None of the "this version of the driver causes this but that version of the driver causes that" issues. No worrying about system requirements. If it sold for the system, it will play.

I can't remember that I ever had the problem of not having the right driver since windows 7 or so. Since Windows 10 drivers are also "automatically downloaded and installed through Windows Update" ("for many devices").

> They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up.

But consoles drop frames as well, people just don't care. You can also not care on PC, like lots of people do.

And hardly no one uses SLI or even recommends it, precisely because it's annoying.

Upgrading a PC is a one time thing you need to do once every few years. You'd be "upgrading" your console by putting it in the bin and buying a new one, so I'm not sure what the argument is against PC gaming here...

There is a convenience factor. You dont have to think if you will be able to play 'xxxx' game on your ps4, if its a ps4 game. That plays heavily in keeping me away from PC gaming. I just dont want to have to even consider can I play the game or not.

Right. If I was using a PC all the time at home for something else it wouldn't be such a big deal, but given that I was only using it for gaming and most games I wanted to play were on the console it was just easier to give up.

Like you said, it's an appliance and I never have to think about it. You buy a game for the PS4 and it works on your PS4 and that's all there is to it.

Until the Pro and One X have been out for a bit, then the question might come up. Or "Pro only games", which they've said won't happen, but I can see any way around that other than "well you'll just have to accept the awful performance".

It is about where you play your priorities.

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