Need For Compute Speed Going Away
from the the-end-of-the-upgrade-cycle dept
We’ve written about this before, but the NY Times has an article talking about the fact that computers these days are fast enough for just about any application, and people see fewer and fewer reasons to rush out and get a more powerful computer. It used to go without saying that, somehow, applications would pop up that made use of the additional processing power, but that may not be true any more. Computer and chip makers, though, say this is just a temporary dip, and people will start coming up with more applications that require more powerful chips. Some, though, say the computer industry is going to become more like the car industry. Certainly some people will still want to get newer, better, faster machines. But, plenty of people will be willing to ride old clunkers that are perfectly functional for many many years.
Comments on “Need For Compute Speed Going Away”
Bloatware to come
I’m sure MS will add some significant bloat to WinXP version 2. Gone are the days when programmers took pride in writing the smallest code possible. Now the pride is writing software that is too big and cumbersome to run on any computer older than 6 months. I guess that’s what the customer… I mean, leasee, wants. Thanks for listening!
No Subject Given
Two of my hobbies are games and 3D animation. I don’t expect computers to get fast enough to satisfy me until they are fast enough to run a personal holodek with eye limited resolution in real time.
computers still waaay too slow
This is silly. There are hundreds of paradigm shifts that could finally come about with faster computers. Fully interpreted code bases. Virtual machines. Real time digital audio is still a joke on even the fastest machines out there with constant bouncing of tracks and juggling of effects and virtual synths. The problem is that our systems are too slow right now for really ambitious work but fast enough for the last generation.
Your Last TV
“Good Enough” is where the North American tech industry is at right now. Both professional and personal technology is good enough to get almost any job done, except maybe in bleeding edge graphics and games. A new video card still costs less than a whole computer. If a machine that you bought a while ago can still check email, surf the web, and do MS Office at a reasonable speed then you don’t *need* a brand new one every year. The “reasonable speed” question now has a lot more to do with dial-up vs. broadband than processor speed vs. RAM, and the computer industry sees the writing on the wall. The price/performance ratio is all that matters now, with a heavy emphasis on the price part.
Think of it this way: When did you buy your last TV? It still works even though its not digital or HDTV, right? When are you going to buy that 60″ Plasma flat screen? Its obvioulsy better technology, so what’s holding you back? I won’t buy one until they get to a sub-$2000 price or my last one breaks – and either event is possibly 5-7 years away.