Hhmmm... well, I'm kind of in the same boat. I haven't always had the latest and greatest hardware, and the only console I ever bought and liked was the SNES. (I have a Nintendo Wii here... but it kind of s*cks...)
When it comes to PCs, we've been able to have a wider variety of games. We can play Skyrim even on something like a GTS 8800 320MB, on a Phenom II X4 840 Non-Black Edition. (I would know... I've done it before, WITH game mods, and been able to run it, AND beat it. On medium to low settings. With some settings turned up way high. Without overclocking the GPU or CPU.)
And I've been able to outplay other players. A friend of mine, Justyn, was able to play Skyrim on a GTX 560 Ti on a 2500K. Yet I was still able to outplay him in Skyrim often, killing more opponents, without the benefit of a top-of-the-line desktop. I was running on a Gateway machine with an aftermarket GPU from way-back-when, that's it.
I've been able to play competitive online as well, in games like Mount and Blade. Even though my computer, running really old technology isn't competitive enough to run something like Crysis 3 on max settings (or even minimum settings), and even though it can run games only at somewhere between 16 and 25fps on medium to low settings, a gamer can still be competitive. Even at very low resolutions.
Maybe it's luck, maybe it's skill. But I think that there's a lot to be said about the skill of the gamer, and not the machine he runs on. Also, immersion doesn't rely all that much on graphics quality. I've been able to feel immersed in games way back when, in 2005, and even earlier. When stereo was all we had for desktop users, mostly.
Right now I have a Razer Megalodon headset, and even though that was my only really great gaming peripheral, it was enough to be a game-changer in terms of immersion in Skyrim. We often don't understand the impact of surround sound or better quality sound until a few weeks of constant use. Getting used to orienting yourself in-game using surround sound is a bit confusing - I remember I used to look back (physically) whenever I heard footsteps (in Skyrim) through my headset during those first weeks I used to play with it.
Even though I don't have the latest hardware, I know that immersion isn't about having the most expensive stuff, or the best looking games, or the most outrageous graphics mods.
I could actually write a mini-article about that, on how a person can create a great immersive gaming experience on a budget (or how I did it, using really old stuff), what games to play (and how they affect how you feel immersed in the game), how sound impacts immersiveness, how peripherals can impact you, displays, lighting in your room, keyboards, your system's noise, your house's noise... what are hardware and software issues you want to avoid, tips on how to set all this up. What to look for on a budget, what to avoid, what is actually worth spending more onn (and what's just a gimmick). What makes a gamer feel immersed in a game, and how that varies from person to person.
Anyways, I've been wanting to write such an article for a while, but I haven't figured that anyone would be interested. If you and others would be interested, I could write something up (very extensive and detailed, of course).