x-box 360 or new PC

[ADC]

I need some help guys. I'm in two minds which direction to go.
I was thinking of of purchasing a new PC for around the 800 pound mark to replace my laptop. Now i'm thinking keep the laptop and buy an xbox 360 and a hi def screen to play it on. What would be the difference in graphics etc be between a PC at around the £800 mark or the 360 and medium size hi def screen. Please help me

 

[leeb]

£800 won't get you a top of the range PC and even a top of the range PC hasn't the power of the 360 so I'd personally go for the 360! Just what I am doing.

 

[nick501]

First off i'm not a fan of PC gaming...(to much trouble if you ask me)

If you are a gamer then get the 360...as it's cheaper and will not have to be upgraded every five minutes. surely a decent graphics card will cost as much as the 360 anyway?

As for a hd screen you're spoilt for choice really....I have a Toshiba 27WL56 which i am chuffed with or the 26" samsung which people like?

and if you got the 360 you still have your old laptop too for non gaming which i'm sure it's fine for anyway.

 

[Miyazaki]

If you already have a pc then great. If you were going to get a new one just for games you'd be crazy. The xbox 360 will pee all over any pc for at least a year, and for a fraction of the cost.

 

[brain_stew]

You'd struggle to get a PC to match the 360 at the £2000 mark nevermind at £800, your PC would be obsolete in regards to gaming within a year if you bought one now for £800. So that means you'd have to spend atleast another grand during the 360's lifespan, I would think to keep up with it. There really is no comparison in my eyes, for £280 (or even £210) you can get a system that will last you a good 5 or 6 years or get a PC at three times the cost to last you just a year or two.

 

[Munkey Boy]

^^ what he said, plus you'll be playing on a larger 16:9 HD screen rather than a small 4:3 monitor. No competition!

 

[ADC]

Thanks for the swift reply's people. The 360 it is.

 

[Michaelknell]

Anyone know if the 360 will work as a PC? By that I mean will I be able to use internet explore/messenger etc. Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't find the answer anywhere.

PLus, any keyboards or mouse avalible with the 360?

 

[Munkey Boy]

Anyone know if the 360 will work as a PC? By that I mean will I be able to use internet explore/messenger etc. Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't find the answer anywhere.

PLus, any keyboards or mouse avalible with the 360?

No, it definitely won't be able to run PC applications like you mention. You can however plug in a USB keyboard for texting in FFXI, but not as a control for games.

 

[zAndy1]

I thought you could integrate msn messenger somehow with the live dashboard?

 

[Triggaaar]

If it's just for games, I would say the PC is only really better for simulation games - flight sims & driving. It's also good at many more.
PCs obviously cost a lot more, and do a lot more besides games.
However you could build a PC for £800 that wouldn't need upgrading in a year.

 

[Munkey Boy]

I thought you could integrate msn messenger somehow with the live dashboard?

The cross compatability between Messenger and the 360 hasn't been shown yet AFAIK - there were rumours that communication between Messenger and a 360 would be alot deeper than the present set-up. But I've seen no details yet...

 

[Triggaaar]

Although it looks like you've chosen the 360 (which is probably the right decision unless you love sims), have a looks at this thread over in the PC section - looks like a fast PC will be built for £850. Sure it will get out-dated, but it will still do a decent job of playing games in a couple of years.

 

[CAS FAN]

Easy one this, 360 all the way! Reasons...

1) A PC base unit to even rival the 360 would cost around £1,000 to £1,500 (the CPU & Graphics card alone would each cost around £400-£500 each).
2) PC tech updates so quickly so you can expect annual update costs of around £500 if you wish to keep your machine as a high end unit.
3) The 360 will last for a good 4-5 years at least.
4) The 360 is less fiddly and is easy to set up and play. PC's even now need a degree of technical know how to keep then running well.
5) The 360 has not only X-Box live but a fully updated and improved version of the greatest online gaming platform available. All games are fully integrated with live and as all boxes are live enabled (Silver level) then we should see an online community develop of the like never seen before.
6) The 360 now has HDTV gaming and can even be run over a PC monitor at the full range of PC resolutions.
7) The 360 is purely designed and optimised for gaming where as a PC is a multi task machine. A PC therefore has to be much more powerful to produce games of similar quality. Even then games have to cater for a range of PC capabilities and need to be programmed to be scalable. This means that obvious compomises have to be made with PC games where as 360 games can be made to make the most of one spec only.

Basically PC's aren't specifically designed for gaming, they are adapted for gaming. A 360 is designed purely for gaming reasons. The choice is to either buy a 360 or to buy a machine costing around 4 times as much (+ continual upgrade costs), which isn't specifically designed for the job you wish to use it for and doesn't even perform as well as the 360.

Like I said at the start, the choice is easy in my eyes.

 

[tscotsman]

360 and Panasonic 42Pv500 for me all the way, I have a fairly high-end PC but even that doesnt match up to the Power of the Xbox360. Eventually Pc's will be better again, but the 360 is ahead of it probably for about the next year, maybe a little less.