Explain Like I'm Five

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Why is gaming so dependent on IBM PC compatible hardware now? (self.explainlikeimfive)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by url8 to c/explainlikeimfive

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Ultra-low-end business laptops from 2015 with a mobile Intel Core i3, 4 GB of RAM, and integrated graphics still have a dramatically better gaming experience than the Pixel 7 Pro. Why?

By the way, this is even with the help of emulators. Without emulators, gaming would outright be impossible for most people

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

The 10 year old PC has a much much bigger power budget than a phone. It wasn't until really recently that ARM got anywhere close to x86 performance.

While the phone technically possibly could be better, it would also drain in an hour or two if it was maxed out. And most people have crappy phones that can barely hold 60fps doing nothing so mobile games usually target the lower end devices to maximize the amount of potential players, while also remaining battery conscious.

There's also just not that much demand. Nobody has space on their phones for a 120GB game, and nobody wants to play a AAA game on their phones because gaming on a phone sucks ass and if you're going to dock the phone you might as well get a console.