Keep Above
Console or gaming PC
The console-or-PC argument usually runs on feelings; this page runs it on arithmetic. Each side takes its purchase price, its yearly running costs, and how long one would last before being replaced — counted over the same years, with every replacement bought again at the price you entered. Both land on a cost per year; no winner is ever declared, and no brand is named.
Not counted while this is $0
Not counted while this is $0
Put in what each one would cost to buy and to run. Nothing here is read from your accounts, and nothing is saved.
| Option A | Option B | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid up front (one unit) | — | — |
| Times it would be bought | — | — |
| Buying, all-up | — | — |
| Running, all-up | — | — |
| Total over 10 years | — | — |
| Cost a year | — | — |
This is one of the tools built into Keep Above
Keep Above is a budgeting app where you enter your bills and income and it works out the balance you need to keep — so you can see what's safe to spend. No bank connection, no ads on your data.
About this calculator
What goes into running costs a year here?
Whatever playing that way would cost per year where the two sides differ — an online-play subscription that one side needs, what the games themselves tend to cost you per year each way, and for a PC any parts you'd expect to replace along the way. The same kinds of costs belong on both sides, so the comparison stays like for like; a box at $0 simply isn't counted.
Why are replacements counted?
Because a cheap thing that lasts 3 years inside a 10-year window is bought 4 times, and that is usually the whole story. Every replacement is counted at the price you entered, as a step in the cumulative total — only the first unit is money paid today.
What is the crossing year?
The first year the two cumulative totals would cross, replacements included. It is phrased symmetrically and names no side — a position in the arithmetic, nothing more.