Remember when Atari users used to shell out big bucks for very little?

[- Ω -]

Now days, relatively speaking you can get a whole computer...

[RickR]

There you go.  "The good old days" weren't always so good.  Only in rose-colored glasses.

PS - what horrible marketing.  Can anyone read this out loud without spitting all over the page?

[Jinroh]

In hindsight yes, but the technology was new and the knowledgebase was small, so not much competition.

I look at it like if we want an RTX4090 today, how many companies can make a competing GPU that can run CUDA and crunch Transformer Matrices like an NVIDIA card.

Which is why we have to pay ~$1200 for 24GB of VRAM. Other companies are crunching their chips atm, so eventually it'll even out. LIke by the time of the ST, all the expensive peripherals became more niche, and the printer port and RS-232 Interfaces became standard. 🙂

 

Edited July 3 by Jinroh

[MistaMaddog]

Don't forget that a double-density drive w/ printer port will cost more than a standard (at the time) single-density drive.  And even that was expensive because of the built-in drive controller...

[socrates63]

In 1990 (or 1991?) shortly after the release of the 486, I paid $1500 for HP LaserJet III and $3000 for Northgate 386/33 (high end specs). Seven or eight years later, I remember getting the Casio Cassiopeia. I played Doom on both the 386 and the Casio, and the Casio was 1/10 the price and fit in my pocket (sort of). I'm just glad that the hardware prices of computer stuff have come down over time.

[CrossBow]

On 7/6/2024 at 10:10 PM, socrates63 said:

In 1990 (or 1991?) shortly after the release of the 486, I paid $1500 for HP LaserJet III and $3000 for Northgate 386/33 (high end specs). Seven or eight years later, I remember getting the Casio Cassiopeia. I played Doom on both the 386 and the Casio, and the Casio was 1/10 the price and fit in my pocket (sort of). I'm just glad that the hardware prices of computer stuff have come down over time.

Except for video cards... 

I remember when I was buying PCs in the mid 90s and then building my own that the most expensive stuff used to be the CPU and the storage. Now the GPU for a good one is going to set you back half the cost for the entire build easily.

 

[socrates63]

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

Except for video cards... 

I remember when I was buying PCs in the mid 90s and then building my own that the most expensive stuff used to be the CPU and the storage. Now the GPU for a good one is going to set you back half the cost for the entire build easily.

Very true -- that's the reason why I got into console gaming with the Xbox360 and PS3. I could buy a console for the price of a video card, and with consoles, I wouldn't have to worry about hardware upgrades for many years.

[CrossBow]

On 7/8/2024 at 10:23 PM, socrates63 said:

Very true -- that's the reason why I got into console gaming with the Xbox360 and PS3. I could buy a console for the price of a video card, and with consoles, I wouldn't have to worry about hardware upgrades for many years.

In the past I was always convinced (myself) that the best graphics were on PC. But after the DC was released and I saw Shenmue for the first time, I was quickly brought down off that high horse and made to realize that at least on a CRT, that consoles were nearly on par with the PC in the game graphically and catching up quick.

I think part of the reason I haven't sought to get a PS5 or Xbox Series console is because my PS4 Pro is still providing graphics I consider pretty much or really close on par with what I'm getting on my PC with my RTX 2070 super. Obviously the PS4 can't do ray tracing, but then the 20series RTX cards can barely do ray tracing either.

I might get a PS5 once the pro is released because I should be able to play all of my physical PS4 games on it as well since the current PS5 is able to play pretty much 98% of the PS4 released games from what I've read?

 

[socrates63]

53 minutes ago, CrossBow said:

In the past I was always convinced (myself) that the best graphics were on PC. But after the DC was released and I saw Shenmue for the first time, I was quickly brought down off that high horse and made to realize that at least on a CRT, that consoles were nearly on par with the PC in the game graphically and catching up quick.

I think part of the reason I haven't sought to get a PS5 or Xbox Series console is because my PS4 Pro is still providing graphics I consider pretty much or really close on par with what I'm getting on my PC with my RTX 2070 super. Obviously the PS4 can't do ray tracing, but then the 20series RTX cards can barely do ray tracing either.

I might get a PS5 once the pro is released because I should be able to play all of my physical PS4 games on it as well since the current PS5 is able to play pretty much 98% of the PS4 released games from what I've read?

Yes, console gaming has come a long way and reached parity with the PC years ago. I think one thing that rooted me in PC gaming in favor of consoles was FPS games, namely Doom. Sega and Nintendo consoles didn't have games like that back then, and early console FPS couldn't beat the keyboard-mouse controls of the PC. I was definitely a PC elitist gamer on a high horse for sure. Many of us derided the original Xbox when Microsoft decided to make it. For me, the Xbox 360 and PS3 era consoles provide the level of graphics that I am very happy with. I still play Halo Reach, a 360 game, almost daily on my Xbox One X.

I'm still on the fence about the PS5 and Xbox Series X. I'm likely not going to get one as I've already decided to go back to the PC for gaming. It seems like console exclusive games are a thing of the past and most of the modern games are available on the PC. Shifting away from modern consoles should also help me focus more on playing on Atari platforms and the older stuff like Intellivision and Vectrex.

[- Ω -]

On 7/6/2024 at 8:10 PM, socrates63 said:

In 1990 (or 1991?) shortly after the release of the 486, I paid $1500 for HP LaserJet III and $3000 for Northgate 386/33 (high end specs). Seven or eight years later, I remember getting the Casio Cassiopeia. I played Doom on both the 386 and the Casio, and the Casio was 1/10 the price and fit in my pocket (sort of). I'm just glad that the hardware prices of computer stuff have come down over time.

Market saturation will do that.  Supply and demand is only one aspect though.  Most computers are so fast now that for the average person they are more than enough, so one doesn't need to replace it with a new one every 18 months like the old days.  I know  some people that get by with only a cell phone or Chromebook... yeah depressing but true.  Early adopters and high-end niche gamers that always want faster, faster, faster are the ones that pay through the nose.  $2,000.00 will get you a box with respectable specifications that should easily get one by for seven years, which averages out to approximately $285 per year or $23.75 per month... pretty cheap for entertainment if you ask me.

[Smell Dawg]

11 hours ago, socrates63 said:

Yes, console gaming has come a long way and reached parity with the PC years ago. I think one thing that rooted me in PC gaming in favor of consoles was FPS games, namely Doom. Sega and Nintendo consoles didn't have games like that back then, and early console FPS couldn't beat the keyboard-mouse controls of the PC. I was definitely a PC elitist gamer on a high horse for sure. Many of us derided the original Xbox when Microsoft decided to make it. For me, the Xbox 360 and PS3 era consoles provide the level of graphics that I am very happy with. I still play Halo Reach, a 360 game, almost daily on my Xbox One X.

I'm still on the fence about the PS5 and Xbox Series X. I'm likely not going to get one as I've already decided to go back to the PC for gaming. It seems like console exclusive games are a thing of the past and most of the modern games are available on the PC. Shifting away from modern consoles should also help me focus more on playing on Atari platforms and the older stuff like Intellivision and Vectrex.

Thank you for this perspective - I enjoyed reading it. Definitely easy to agree with the mouse/keyboard controls being most intuitive for anything in the first person.  My last (but likely not final) hurrah into the gaming PC scene was 2011 (as one might imagine, it's not so good at being a gaming PC these days!). 
 
Now, here's my arbitrary defense of why consoles have primarily taken over in my situation:  Modern console controllers have, what, some 20-odd inputs these days, and each input is comfortably available immediately - in many ways, they don't function as handicapped (compared to keyboard, that is) as prior generations.  Knowing that a person can [easier than ever before!] link in a controller to a PC, though, this point is probably moot.  The overwhelmingly largest anecdotal reason I typically choose console?  After sitting in front of my PC for work all day, it's simply not something I want to do in my off-time - let me at least enjoy the couch!

[socrates63]

1 hour ago, Smell Dawg said:

Thank you for this perspective - I enjoyed reading it. Definitely easy to agree with the mouse/keyboard controls being most intuitive for anything in the first person.  My last (but likely not final) hurrah into the gaming PC scene was 2011 (as one might imagine, it's not so good at being a gaming PC these days!). 
 
Now, here's my arbitrary defense of why consoles have primarily taken over in my situation:  Modern console controllers have, what, some 20-odd inputs these days, and each input is comfortably available immediately - in many ways, they don't function as handicapped (compared to keyboard, that is) as prior generations.  Knowing that a person can [easier than ever before!] link in a controller to a PC, though, this point is probably moot.  The overwhelmingly largest anecdotal reason I typically choose console?  After sitting in front of my PC for work all day, it's simply not something I want to do in my off-time - let me at least enjoy the couch!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, SD. That mental and physical break away from the work PC makes total sense.

For me, the Mac has been my work machine for the past ten years and I moved away completely from gaming on a computer (PC or Mac) once I got the Xbox 360. I only recently got back into using a PC after buying a rebuilt PC from a local gamer. Reacclimating myself to the PC and Windows went smoother than I expected since it's been so long. Windows 7 was the last Windows OS that I used heavily and this coming from a guy who worked on Windows 8 😂.

When I went to the console for gaming full time, the idea of gaming from a couch on a big screen was a big draw. The console serving as the media center (remember that concept?) was another big plus. Those are still very relevant features to me today as my Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are connected to the 65" 4K TV. My current PC setup is a hybrid. The PC is connected to an old 32" Sony smart TV (that had been sitting in the closet for unused for years). The TV is small enough to use as a desktop monitor and yet just big enough to distance myself a little from the screen for watching videos or playing games with a wireless game controller.

It's wonderful to have options today to suit various life styles and situations.