Will PS4 finally posed a threat to PC?

[gongo]

As cliche as it sounds, could the next generation of consoles start to replace PC finally? Why the thread title states PS4? Because i do not see Nintendo going back to hardcore hardware and MS will not want to harm their Windows market.

It looks like next gen is all about coming together what was promised beforehand....as long as Stringer/Hirai do not change drastically the PS3 strategy. What kind of coming together you ask? IMHO i see the following points, assuming PS4 is released in 2012.

-PS3 was a great possibility if not for the half ass Linux!
-Netbook and smartphone blur the line between what the average joe needs out of his "PC" which are internet checking, online transactions, social network and of course work apps!
-Chrome OS or Linux OS and cloud apps could be better fulfill on PS4, rather than a barren lineup for PS3 Linux..
-PS4 will have 2-4GB of ram, more than "enough" finally. PC are going to be held back by the transition to 64bit, software being even later behind.
-Multicore like ram, is slowing down in the PC world as i have posted a topic on this http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=55242, i hope PS4 will use a variant of CELL and perhaps a IMGTech SGX or AMD Radeon. I prefer one from AMD from a more experienced team. LRB is dead because of the perf issue and i do not think Sony wants to go back to a "weaker" GPU problem. NV Fermi seems to be too big and redundant with CELL. I also hate NV self-serving attitude. In 2012, i guess an average PC will be a quad at 3Ghz, not much of a leap from today..and not much for a CELL2 to catch up with the apps. With GPU computing on a standardised platform, there is going to be more than enough processing power in PS4!
-Hires HDTV is great text viewing and they will be in almost all wired up homes by 2012!
-Motion controls and sensing, the PS Wand will act as a mouse for 1:1 control for your apps and PSEye augment reality will one-up most PC without a webcam, it may even recognise your voice, replacing typing!
-PSN or a DD system is already in place!

What do you think? I hope Sony goes with the set-top box PS4, PS3 after the bad start is turning out alright, the new management may have cut some plans but still doing enough to satisfy the geeks like us, i hope they can at least maintain such plans for PS4. Coz' PS4 looks like something big for Sony. Imagine how much power they can attain if PS4 indeed overtake PC!

 

[rpg.314]

If only it comes with windows preinstalled.

 

[semitope]

Might be interesting to see a beefed up Chrome OS as OtherOS

 

[tha_con]

No.

PC's will always continue to advance and surpass consoles. Consoles are platforms that are meant to last for years, while PC development advances nearly every 10 months (?).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PC's will always continue to advance and surpass consoles. Consoles are platforms that are meant to last for years, while PC development advances nearly every 10 months (?).

Correction - Gaming rigs advance every 10 months. Normal PCs last years, and don't require huge amounts of power. I'm sure a next-gen console will have more than enough performance to do everything a person wants a future home PC to. Heck, current consoles eclipse the performance of netbooks. The only demanding tasks, foreseeable anyhow, will be media encoding, which'll be faster than realtime next-gen.

The only thing stopping PS4 being a computer is the same reason PS3 failed - no one is committed to making it happen.

I'm sure we've had this conversation before. If anyone can find the link, I'll merge.

 

[flynn]

No.

PC's will always continue to advance and surpass consoles. Consoles are platforms that are meant to last for years, while PC development advances nearly every 10 months (?).

PCs will indeed be ahead but I think what the OP means is whether a person could buy a PS4 for movies, gaming and those things he currently does with a PC like browsing the web, checking e-mail and writing some docs.

I'd rather consoles focus on the gaming and multimedia experience than try to become full replacements for computers.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Will PS4 finally posed a threat to PC?

No.

 

[semitope]

PCs will indeed be ahead but I think what the OP means is whether a person could buy a PS4 for movies, gaming and those things he currently does with a PC like browsing the web, checking e-mail and writing some docs.

I'd rather consoles focus on the gaming and multimedia experience than try to become full replacements for computers.

Thats my understanding as well and the answer is an easy yes. For most individuals it could suffice as a PC and the current PS3 came close. All it needs is a functional alternate OS.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

It's not a hardware issue, its a usability issue. Sitting on a couch is great when playing games with a controller, not when you are typing documents with a keyboard on your lap and a mouse on the couch. That is why a console will always fail as a pc replacement because it just doesnt offer the convience a pc does for pc like stuff.

Other than that, do you really want to use your console as a pc? This might be fine if you are living on your own but now for a second imagen living with a family. The console will very likely be hooked up to the tv in the living room. If your console acts as pc basically at any point either everybody can watch tv, 1 person can play games, the rest cant do pc stuff or watch tv, or you can do pc stuff, while the rest cant watch tv or play games.

I can already tell you after 5 minutes people will be fed up with such a system.

Besides that why do consoles need to be a replacement for pc's? why? you can buy cheap pc's, so thats not the issue. So why? I cant think of a single good reason why you want a console to take on the task of a pc.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Other than that, do you really want to use your console as a pc?

Why do people buy macs? For that same reason, a console could offer a completely trouble-free computer, and perhaps a more user friendly interface. It doesn't have to be in the living room either. If I could get a £200 PS3 that works as well on my monitor as a £300 PC only with none of the hassles, it'd be a worthwhile option.

Besides that why do consoles need to be a replacement for pc's? why? you can buy cheap pc's, so thats not the issue. So why?

I want to play Uncharted 2. That requires a £200 console. I then want to create a presentation. That requires another £300 or whatever. Yet in buying the console I have already bought hardware capable of doing all the PC work I want. It's like having to buy one car to go west and another to go east! Why not one box that does everything? Just as people appreciate having more functionality in a mobile phone than just phoning people, and handheld games are now becoming part of the mobile phone responsibility because there's no point having two devices when one can suffice, two computers is redundant. It's a fairly silly waste of resources for me to have a PS3 here and yet only use it for games when I could benefit from its processing power in other areas.

 

[fearsomepirate]

No. What consoles have accomplished is splitting up the cost of gaming and home computing. You can buy a functional home PC (e-mail, manage your photos, type papers, do your taxes, etc) without paying for a fancy graphics chip, game controllers, or an online gaming service (and yes, you do pay for PS3 and Wii online...when you buy stuff at retail). And on the console side, you can buy a functional gaming machine without paying for an office software suite, a fancy do-it-all OS, and lots of RAM (because you don't need to have eight browser tabs, Excel, and Power Point open at the same time!).

 

[specwarGP2]

Other than that, do you really want to use your console as a pc? This might be fine if you are living on your own but now for a second imagen living with a family. The console will very likely be hooked up to the tv in the living room. If your console acts as pc basically at any point either everybody can watch tv, 1 person can play games, the rest cant do pc stuff or watch tv, or you can do pc stuff, while the rest cant watch tv or play games.

It wouldnt have to be the main PC. It could be in the bedroom. I can totally see PS4 replacing a media center PC in the living room.

 

[NRP]

I'm with Tongue_of_??? on this one.

Not sure why anyone would want this. A device intended to be a "Jack of all trades" would almost certainly end up as a master of none.

 

[Tahir2]

PS4 with integrated keyboard and mouse.

Amiga and Atari days all over again FTW!

 

[Acert93]

While consoles can adopt some "turf" formerly "PC only" (see: the host of mobile devices gaining use for tasks previously only-PC) the PS4 is in no position to pose a serious threat to the PC. With netbooks at $200 and mobile devices now even carrying WinXP the PS4 is left to compete on the PC's shrinking markets (e.g. high end gaming).

 

[fehu]

if people buy in mass atom netbook, whay can't enjoy brosing web and checking email on a console?

 

[Acert93]

Because my netbook goes anywhere I want it to go and includes a standard OS, runs all my existing apps, and comes with a display and keyboard at a price point much lower than most consoles?

Totally different animals.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

If, PS4 came with Windows I may consider it. I'm REALLY not eager to go back to the days when the computing landscape was very much fractured with competing OSs. And no computing platform had everything you needed. No Thank You...

Wait now that I think about it, even with Windows I wouldn't consider a console for PC tasks other than possibly streaming media (and personally I still prefer a HTPC for that).

I "can" currently browse the web, type up documents, check e-mail on my TV (I have an HTPC), but I don't do any of that there. Why? It's far more pleasant to do it at a proper desk, in a propre chair, with a proper keyboard, on a proper desk.

Typing with a keyboard on your lap is a royal pain. Using a mouse from the couch is a royal pain. Unless you sit close to your TV, you need large fonts, which reduces the available space to display information.

Having done computing on a TV compared to a traditional setup. I'll NEVER go back to using a TV for anything but media and games.

It's a neat gimmick, but nothing more IMO.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Not sure why anyone would want this. A device intended to be a "Jack of all trades" would almost certainly end up as a master of none.

That's missing completely the idea of programmable computaional hardware!! The whole purpose of a PC is to be jack-of-all-trades. And a machine doesn't have to master them all. A machine that's better at long-battery-life web-browsing won't be able to game particularly well, while a fabulous gaming rig isn't going to work so well as a quiet, low-power media PC for a low budget.

The thing with computers is they are as versatile as the code you put on them. They are intrinsically jacks-of-all-trades, which explains why they are everwhere. Now if you have a suitable processor and some RAM with some IO, you have a machine that is fully programmable and by it's nature a jack-of-all-trades machine. Why then gimp it to only do one job (unless it's an embedded processor!)? The hardware in your gaming console is capable of running a word-processor or email client or powerpoint-type presentation system. It's not going to be rubbish at these jobs because it is a games console. In fact that's made the Amiga so great. Amiga set out to create the best games machine ever, but the hardware they added made for some amazing productivity potential at the time.

 

[V3]

If, PS4 came with Windows I may consider it. I'm REALLY not eager to go back to the days when the computing landscape was very much fractured with competing OSs. And no computing platform had everything you needed. No Thank You...

Wait now that I think about it, even with Windows I wouldn't consider a console for PC tasks other than possibly streaming media (and personally I still prefer a HTPC for that).

I "can" currently browse the web, type up documents, check e-mail on my TV (I have an HTPC), but I don't do any of that there. Why? It's far more pleasant to do it at a proper desk, in a propre chair, with a proper keyboard, on a proper desk.

Typing with a keyboard on your lap is a royal pain. Using a mouse from the couch is a royal pain. Unless you sit close to your TV, you need large fonts, which reduces the available space to display information.

Having done computing on a TV compared to a traditional setup. I'll NEVER go back to using a TV for anything but media and games.

It's a neat gimmick, but nothing more IMO.

Regards,
SB

Well if people are going to buy next gen console for PC replacement, they probably would put it on their desk with a monitor.

PS3 with Linux was quite functional. I was really dissapointed when Sony canned OtherOS feature with the pancake PS3.

So I doubt PS4 would have OtherOS feature. Shame really, when I reckon next gen consoles will all have enough grunts to run Linux, Windows and Mac OS.