Huge call Stainless......that would want to be some computer 5yo ago! (looking at your picture of your current computer I guess it would have been!)

Don't get me wrong guys, clearly PC is the way to go for the "best" - especially if you know what you are doing! But for the other 90% not "right" into games but still enjoy them (and don't want to spend $$) then a console is still an excellent option and preferable for excellent 'plug-and-play'.....

Anyway, I might give this Skyrim a go - haven't played an RPG in years! (too many action/racing/sport games jave taken precedence....ha ha)

I've never played this type of game before but still managed to get stuck on it for about 8 hours last night. Bloody addictive

Huge call Stainless......that would want to be some computer 5yo ago! (looking at your picture of your current computer I guess it would have been!)

Don't get me wrong guys, clearly PC is the way to go for the "best" - especially if you know what you are doing! But for the other 90% not "right" into games but still enjoy them (and don't want to spend $$) then a console is still an excellent option and preferable for excellent 'plug-and-play'.....

Anyway, I might give this Skyrim a go - haven't played an RPG in years! (too many action/racing/sport games jave taken precedence....ha ha)

I've always been in to PC's and I've never owned a Console. I do appreciate that they're good for more casual gamers and those who don't have mounds of dough to burn. I guess the reason I've avoided Consoles is because (rightly or wrongly) I think PC is the superior platform and I'm not going to funnel money in to the 'enemy', haha. I'd rather give the PC devs my money to make better PC games although it's taken until Crysis, BF3, Portal, etc. for them to actually make really good PC games (not really Portal) that take advantage of the PC's power.

I mean a mid range pc today will play tomorrows games on console settings no problem.

PookeyM, understand where you are coming from. You are right, not enough games take full advantage of the PCs capabilities which is why so many just buy a console instead (rightly or wrongly), but if you want the best and are happy to pay for it, go for it (like anything in life)

Stainless - I paid 1.6k for my laptop 6mths ago (Toshiba). I cant even play Assassins Creed Brotherhood on the minimum setting (too jerky, constantly refreshing etc) and that's a 12-18 mth old game!! Surely 1.6k is middle range just for non-PC gurus and you would expect it to play a game 18mths old on the minimum setting!! (my mates laptops struggle also just to keep up let alone come close to a PS3) Trust me, average PCs (unless tweaked for gaming) doesn't play at console level........

I actually completely agree with you on the laptops. I blame Apple for the laptops not working properly after 12 months (I'm not anti-Apple, I just think this was caused by them). Ever since the Macbook Air and Macbook Pro started becoming more popular, along with the iPhone, consumers have clamoured for 'sexy' designs and good quality workmanship/displays. Basically, what they can see. Apple has convinced many people not to care what is inside a device and to judge it by the exterior. These high quality, high resolution displays and aluminium casings, etc. cost a lot more than what Dell/HP/Lenovo used to spend on their displays and casings. Obviously people don't want to pay more for this stuff so its forced them to compromise on the internals of laptops.

The end result is that they stick budget graphics cards and processors in (as another problem is that everyone wants 100 USB ports, VGA, HDMI, eSATA, Ethernet, Card Readers, etc in their laptop) and they are desperately struggling after 6-12 months. Every Laptop/PC used to be sold based on its specs (higher is better) where they're now sold on their looks and 'features' (biometric fingerprint scanning and other rubbish I never use on mine for example).

As an example, our Desktop PC dad bought 7 years ago is a Pentium 4 machine. Its had its graphics card upgraded twice (after 2 and 4 years) and it can still play any game designed for XP on Consolish settings, even Crysis. The one I have now is ~18 months old or something and plays BF3 on second highest settings (I can do the highest but it glitches up a little in heavy scenes). As per the old machine, I'll probably get a new Graphics card (if I don't move to the new X79 platform) sometime in the middle of next year. The old machine was ~$2,500 I think (plus the new graphics every 2 years) and my current one was about $2,250. Unfortunately, to get that sort of power in a laptop, you're looking at double the cost. My mid-$2K budget is at the lower end of the real serious (like Stainless) who spend probably double on their machines. His 3 screens alone are ~$700 each plus $500 for each of his two graphics cards is $3,000 and that's at todays prices. Compared to my mid-$2K for a whole machine, screen and all.

here is my laptop, $2400 when I bought it, salary sacrificed, so even less out of my own pocket. I would love to have an epic gaming pc, but I cannot slary sacrifice a desktop computer!

http://rog.asus.com/...uct.aspx?PId=39

Edited December 2, 201114 yr by TRA1NR

a high end laptop < midrange pc

Edited December 2, 201114 yr by STAINLESS

I spent around the price of an intercooler on cooling for my pc.

Correct Ben. But it is my tax dollars at work.