Gaming consoles are a very big part of the gaming community today, it is what some of us grew up playing with. A Lot of people have gaming consoles, some include versions of the Xbox, PlayStation and even Nintendo Switch. These gaming consoles provide a device that gamers can use to easily play the games they love. Although gaming consoles have their pros and cons I feel like rather than getting a gaming console it is much better to get a computer. The pros of a computer is that it is easier to customize, has much more variety,  has much more powerful parts (for the price), and overall it is much better for the money.

These days making changes to the specs/computer hardware has been easier than ever, taking apart the computer to add your parts or remove them can be achieved by only looking at a few tutorials. When I had to switch out the RAM (Random-access Memory) on my dad’s laptop it was a fairly easy process with little bumps along the way. With my desktop computer things get even easier because desktops are a little more spacious on the inside. However when it comes to consoles and changing hardware things get rather tedious. It is not at all like a modern-day computer so everything is much harder than it has to be.

Nowadays everything is optimized for computers, but we can’t say the same for consoles. With consoles, we can only play games and have very little access to the internet. Almost all the games played today can just be searched on the internet and can simply be downloaded for a price or for free on a computer. With consoles whatever is available on there is only what you can only get. Different applications can be accessed through computers, but not so much with consoles though. Things are very limited on consoles, while the internet feels like it is at your fingertips with computers. 

The average computer has much better specs than an average gaming console today. Let's take one of the most popular gaming consoles today, the PS5. The PS5 pales when compared to a modern laptop for the same price (500 USD). A $500 modern laptop today would usually have 1 terabyte SSD (Solid-state drives) and 16 gigs of RAM which is the same as the PS5. A pretty basic CPU (computer processing unit) and GPU (Graphics processing unit) would be a Core i5 with integrated graphics or maybe a mid range GPU. This would be beating the PS5 Specs by a small edge, but you have to consider all the extra things a laptop comes with, like a built-in monitor. An average laptop for the same price as a PS5 would beat it in terms of specs plus all the extra things a laptop comes with. 

Some people say they want to stick to a console because they like it better when playing on a controller or they like the layout of the consoles more, but you can add these to a computer too. I know some people play their games better when on a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse, and therefore stick to a console, but you can easily hook up a controller to a Computer. Some people just simply like the layout much better, they don’t realize that with Windows 10 or 11 they could get an Xbox app and there are much better ways with a computer. These days there isn’t much a console can do that a computer can't.

There is a reason why many people are switching from gaming on a console to a computer. Computers are much more enjoyable and easier to play with. Computers are becoming the more preferred option day by day and it will continue. Overall computers are better for customization, they have much more variety, and they have better specs for the money are all the reasons why computers are better than gaming consoles.