I agree with this but the convenience is still in favor of console. I tried to go to gaming PC because the performance of games is incredible and I don't spend much time configuring games. With that said a bunch of little things drove me crazy and I eventually went back to console gaming.

1. Hacking. Man hacking is insane on PC. I played R6 all summer with my cousin and every single day we logged in our ranked was adjusted up and down because we either played against hackers or had hackers on my team. I remember one time watching a guy on our team shoot someone through a wall on accident. He even apologized I couldn't believe it.

2. Party/game system. It's such a PIA to join a party chat with my friends while in a game. I never realized how convenient this is on Console until I couldn't do it the same way with a controller on PC.

3. Full controller support still isn't there as far as doing everything with a controller.

4. One day I spent almost all day trying to get Arkham city working on my PC. Spent a whole day trying to get it work. Finally did after a windows reinstall but updating all my drivers killed it. This wouldn't have happened on console and while this is ultimately my fault I still wasted most of my gaming day just trying to fix this game.

5. This was the final issue when I said enough. I had constant issues with my xbox one controller disconnecting. I even bought a new adapter and controller and it worked for like a month straight then disconnected. Then I would have to uninstall the drivers, reboot, and then the controller would work. I was done after that and went back to console.

I love PC gaming when the game is running and I'm playing with a controller. Everything after that becomes a PIA if you just want to play on your couch.

Consoles do offer multiple optimized modes. On PC it tries to give you working settings, yet when I played Halo Infinite I had to dive into settings when getting to the open area. Tweaking settings for an hour to get it to stop stuttering, trying to figure out which was the bottleneck.

If you leave the console in rest mode updates are done while you're not playing. (Not the controller though, had to do that too last night, took 10 seconds)

You can also delete games instead of opening up the PS5, put a new SSD in and copy everything over ;)


Fact is, if I want to resume playing FS2020 now, I have many big updates to install, then reconfigure all the graphics settings to get it to run acceptably again or discover it's now to heavy to run on my gaming laptop. At least on console I've never been patched out of the game. Happened with Elite Dangerous on my prior gaming laptop. Big update, CPU turned out to be too slow for the new planetary system map update :/

The gap is definitely smaller. Yet it's still there.

There is also the gap between 'fun box' and 'work box'. It feels great to shut down my laptop, then go play on console. No more distractions.

PC can be a PITA.  Hogwarts all summer long was a disaster.  Finally was patched and isn't crashing non stop.  

I do think the gap continues to get smaller.  Consoles are really looking more like PCs these days.  I wouldn't be surprised if generations go away.  Meaning ps5 and beyond play the same games, just a matter of settings.  

It just sucks that the gap is getting smaller by consoles becoming more like PCs :/ First installs, then frequent patches, then graphical settings, then compatibility issues (HDR/VRR displays) More options, more complications. Hence Switch is now the most popular console, the one that still just works.

Settings are fine, yet Astrobot proves optimizing for one hardware profile can still produce flawless games. Unlike Black Myth Wukong where none of its modes hit the mark.

There is something lovely about 1st party switch games.  Pop in the cart and just play.  Echoes is going to be a joy.  

DF has a nice article on the Pro versus base, for Rebirth. Pretty significant jump. Makes me excited thinking about what the 5000 series is going to bring to the table.

It is a console, these are not directly comparable. I would rather compare to premium console experience of last gen.
PS4 pro has about 3 times more computing power than PS4, launched at the same launch price as the og PS4 3 year latter.
PS5 pro is 200$(~300$ or more depending on the region) more expensive than PS5 launch, and it is not a complete product (lacking vertical stand and disk drive).

A PC is a tool for work which just happens to be able to play games. I make money with the damn thing and I can write the cost off my taxes.

Comparing that to the cost of a console is like comparing the cost of a tool to a toy. Sure, the plastic chainsaw from Toys R Us is far cheaper than a 500-dollar-thing from Makita or something, but I can't do anything with it besides playing around mindlessly. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but comparing a PC to a console doesn't make any sense at all. The only exception would be if you would buy a PC solely for playing games, but that sounds kinda stupid. =P

Are there mini PCs comparable to the power output of a PS5 Pro? Genuinely curious about this.

Depends what you mean by mini.  I built a 4070 rig for my daughter that is using a fractal Terra.  Kind of the size of two gamecubes.  

A 4070 is probably still ahead of the Pro.