After all, doesn’t a PC contain all of the same components as video game consoles? (Hard drive, GPU and CPU, etc.)
In: Technology
You might have noticed that when you download software to your computer you can choose between 64-bit and 32-bit types. This has to do with the structure of your CPU (the brain of you computer). Most PC:s come in 64-bit and 32-bit variations of either x86 or AMD-64 type processors. What differs between these is essentially how your computer handles and processes the most fundamental from of data. We call these instruction set architectures and some types are more useful than others in certain applications. Your phone has a different architecture from what your computer has and your computer different from what your router has, etc.
This also applies to consoles. They all handle their information differently and a program, like a video game for example, already has its predetermined data-structure that it wants to feed whatever hardware is trying to run it. Fruit Ninja on iPhone would not work on your computer for that reason, the program is not structured to be interpreted by the CPU of the PC. An emulator however, can create a virtual hardware in which a program can function correctly. It emulates the desired architecture type (among other things) so that it can run smoothly. Emulators can also help you run multiple operating systems at the same time using this principle.
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