A game console is basically a dedicated computer made for one job and one job only - playing Video Games. It's designed to be easily connected to a TV set by a consumer, and controlled via a limited set of controls on a gamepad, joystick, paddle, keypad, light gun, or whatever else the console has for input. There is no singular standard for console CPU, RAM, Operating System (if equipped as most consoles, especially "vintage" ones, utilize the game's "kernel" as a "operating system"), data storage (cartridge, CD, tape, streamed from the internet etc), or input (everything from a single joystick with one fire button like the Atari 2600 all the way up to something like the XBOX that has a gamepad, two analog sticks, and a bunch of triggers and buttons). While some of these can be modified or configured to do **SOME** of the things a PC can do, they generally will do those things slower, and in a far more limited capacity than a PC will. While there are some exceptions (soft-modded Wiis and Xboxes come to mind, or the Atari VCS - not the 1977 "2600" but the 2020 ARM PC emualtor box one), the majority - especially now (I'm looking at YOU NINTENDO) are very restrictive on what you can and cannot do to the game system you purchase and put in your house, to a point that it raises a lot of complaints about EULA's, software ownership, software licensing, and right to repair laws.

A "PC", and by "PC" I mean any general purpose computer intended to sit on your lap or a desk with a full keyboard, and "pointing device" (trackpad, trackpoint, trackball, mouse, lightpen...etc), and be used for general purpose use whetehr that's gaming, spreadsheets, writing documents, creating graphics, programming software, or surfing the internet - to name the most common uses. So that means IBM Compatible PC's from the original IBM PC 5150 released in August 1981 till whatever's current when you're reading this that barely passes as a "IBM Compatible", or your Macintosh machine that has no ties to it's legacy whatsoever most likely other than the design of the user-interface. Those two standards are different, but still follow (roughly) the same protocol.

And IBM Compatible PC is typically a desktop or laptop computer that uses an Intel or AMD processor chip (or other makers cloning chips by those two manufacturers), and running a Microsoft-based operating system out of the box (DOS or Windows). The IBM Compatible - or now just called "PC" outside of this document - has remained this way since the original IBM Personal Computer 5150 was released in August 1981, to the most recent Core i9 or Ryzen threadripper running Windows 11. PC's of this type also come from many makers including Acer, ASUS, BitWise, BSi/Broadax, Compaq, Dell, Everex, Forex, Hyundai, Hewlett Packard (HP), IBM, Lenovo, NanTan, NEC, Packard Bell, Samsung, Sony, TeleVideo, Wang, and the list goes on and on...

Apple Macintosh is a desktop or laptop computer that has had many processor, bus, and OS Architectures going back to the original Macintosh in 1984. "Old World" era used Motorola 68000 CPUs and was from 1984-1994, and used PDS expansion slots. These ran "System Software" up through version 7. "NuBus" era had IBM PowerPC CPU and started with the PPC601 and ran all the way to the G3 or G4 CPU in the early-mid 2000's, had "NuBus" expansion slots, and utilized Mac OS 7.x through Mac OSX in the mid 2000s. The "Intel Macs" were basically MAcintosh IBM Compatible-ish comptuers that started in 2005 with Core 2 series machines, and ended in 2021 with Core i-series machines, running Mac OSX initially, then the name changed to MacOS in general sometime around version 10 or 12. In 2021, Apple stared using their own Axx series CPU's known as "X" series "Apple Silicon" - which is the same System on a Chip (SoC) as they were using in things like the iPad, iPod, and iPhone, just expanded on it. Same OS Series as the prior generation.

PC tends to be more "Business" focused from a Windows Standpoint, while "Apple" is more of a "trendy" computer aimed at content creators into graphics or audio, and are said to be "easier to use"....

Retro Computing is typically using a computer that is 25 years or older, running either legacy operating systems, or open source clones of legacy operating systems, intended for the purpose of Retro COmputing such as FreeDOS or legacy versions of Microsoft Windows. It also means using Emulation on a modern computer to create such an environment in a VM or Sandbox for security reasons (though real hardware has some security abilities as well).

Modern Computing is typically a computer 10-15 years old or newer, running a CURRENT operating system such as MacOS, Linux, or Microsoft Windows 10/11 as of this writing (5/2025). Most of the games in this area are based on First Person SHooter (FPS) engines like Unreal or Unity, 3D, have "realistic" graphics, digital audio and music at high quality, but also can require a larger amount of financial outlay for more detail, speed, and convenience.

Vintage Hardware - Vintage hardware provides two major advantages in that you get the real experience of using the real machine as it was intended back in the day, often with the fringe benefit of improved specs compared to it's time. The other advantage is that it is the most compatible route. All of the software was programmed and designed to run as intended on these platforms. And the further back you go, the more likely it's going to work. The disadvantage is it can be expensive (sometimes very depending on what kind of computer you want), can require learning some new technical skills (which is a double edged sword and includes things such as electronics repair and possibly designing yourself new hardware as the options for replacements on the third party channels dissappear), and takes up a LOT of space, especially if you want to use DESKTOPS. Also, there are some limitations in the old hardware, because of what was popular or affordable when built to a price point, that limits your options. While some newer "Retro" options are being put on the market, due to the wide-range of PC out there, it makes it incredibly hard to make a one-size-fits-all solution. Hence why things like the POcket386 or HandXT or whatever, came to be, but are still limited. Might be a need for a PocketXP or Hand98 in the future as more generations of PC and Mac become "Retro". Also, it gets expensive in money and space when you are running a wide swath of software like I do, at the very least, I need a Tandy 1000 and a 486 to run everything I like to run. They don't make color Tandy 1000 Laptops, and my 486 Laptops all have some form of trade-off that I have to pick depending on what I want to play on them, so for the best experience I run desktops for those two platforms.

Emulation - Emulation provides three major advantages, it can be cheap as free, it can be easy to obtain, and it takes up less space. However, don't think it's just a "plug and play" solution either. You might need multiple emulators to cover all the different platforms and generations of computer you want to emulate. Myself I have DOSbox, and then I use VirtualBox VMs for everything else. Those VMs take up GIGABYTES of space for some of my configurations for later systems. You also will need more skills than a COnsole Gamer since there are a LOT of systems - just in the BIM Compatible Genre alone. Some games might have looked and played their best on a Tandy 1000, while others are so old an IBM PC or IBM XT is the best choice, and you may need to configure your emulator or VM accordingly. Even worse, if you are using an older computer for this stuff, you are truly limited by WHAT you can emulate. For Example, DOSbox is Adequate - not perfect - Adequate out of the box for my needs on a Core i5 Linux box with 16GB of RAM, but on a Nintendo Wii running Homebrew, DOSBox struggles hardcore to even run Ultima 6 as well as a 286. Then there's all the configuration file editing, file permissions, all the technical stuff behind it to really tune it to it's best. And what you save in physical space, you use up with disk space.

For starters, the hardware itself. It seems AA game designers, and a LOT of these liminal space game designers, really want to squeeze every last drop of performance out of a PC for the most "immersive realism". The people who agree with this approach tend to want to fight with people like me who are willing to take a couple performance hits and some detail hits to enjoy a truly great experience even if it's not 100% perfect to their design. Not everyone wants to forego the money for rent, food, bills, and all that other jazz, just to build some giant, $3000, water cooled, high performance gaming rig. That's why I've pretty much settleed on 2nd/3rd/4th hand PCs that I can put together with cheap 2/3/4th hand parts and build something decent out of.

Microsoft Windows is the preferred platform for gaming, and what 99.7% of all games released are designed and made to run on, even if offered on one or two alternative platforms. Because of this, Windows is a real pain in the ass if you're trying to run on another platform via emulation or a compatibility layer for a modern system. And sometimes, it won't even work at all, at least, not without a lot of research, and tweakery.

Apple Macintosh is probably the most limited O/S in the three. It's version of STEAM does not offer any form of "Apple RUntime" or "Proton" compatibility layer like Linux does, leaving you at the mercy of running games that are only native to MacOS. To further rub lemon juice in the wound, Apple has traditionally been very selective who it lets' develop for it's platform, and many people, due to the closed architecture of Apple products (ie, can't get specs from the manufacturer to work with) don't want to jump through the hoops to become an "Apple Dev" or waste the brain cycles trying to cater to Apple anyway. To add to it, it would be so easy for devs and Apple to have things from Linux run on their platform because MacOS IS a Linux/Unix/NextStep derived operating system, but Apple has so much "secret sauce" to their software that it prevents standard Linux functionality from properly working without some form of special tweakery to make it work. The best compatibility trick for Apple is to get "Parallels" or on a older Mac, Bootcamp, and do a dual boot with Windows if you want to game on Mac. Even then, the hardware is not like a PC where you can just open up the case with a screwdriver at worse and attach hardware to it. Instead, you have to sometimes cut/pry open screens and break seals to do hardware upgrades....and risk going near high voltage sections of the computer to do stuff.

Linux has improved massively, and is what I use these days personally. Linux supports steam, it can run Windows applications either in a VM, in WINE (which is finicky and a PITA), things like Lutris or PlayOnLinux, or it can use compatiility layers such as Linux Runtime or Proton in STEAM. It's not "Easy" though,, nothing with a computer is "easy" in teh traditional sense. It becomes "easy" when you do it enough to have learned the how and the why.