Okay maybe not Moore's Law, maybe I'm just grumpy about PC pricing.
Anders Lindman (whatever happened to him ?) often made the claim that we were rapidly heading towards a technological singularity and that it would happen in the next 10, 20, 30 years depending on the thread and which articles he had read most recently. I used to respond (yes, I'm a SUCKER !!!) and often used to say that if this was true, how come improvements in PCs don't seem to be quite so amazing these days.
I get a new laptop every three years. Back in the '90s I used to get one supplied by my employer and from one generation to the next, the upgrades were appreciable. I started buying my own PCs when we started the company back in 2003 and each time I spend £1,000 - £1,500 on a vanilla medium spec, robust laptop. These days it's mostly word processing and Citrix sessions so there's no need for particularly high performance. I've noted a law of diminishing returns.....
The 2003 laptop was pretty much ready to be junked by the time I bought its replacement in 2006. The 2006 laptop soldiered on for a year or so as a company spare once the 2009 laptop came around. I'm still using the 2009 laptop around the house as an internet surfing/Skypeing machine and it's chugging along fine.
Now it's time to replace the 2012 machine. Last time I made the switch from Toshibas which I have used since the mid-90's to Lenovo Thinkpad. The model I have at the moment is a T410 with a 2.67 GHz Intel i5 processor, 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. With Neoprene pouch this came to a smidge over £1,100 including VAT and delivery.
I was looking on the Lenovo site today assuming that for similar money I could get an i7 model with a gajillion everythings but as it turns out, the same machine with a slightly faster i5 processor but otherwise identical spec would still cost over £1,000 and what I want (i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is well over £1,500. I know cheaper makes exist but the Thinkpad sends the right kind of message to clients. At these prices and specs I may as well hang on for another year or two which will make the FD happy.
Has Moore's Law started to run out of steam or is my expectation that PCs are still getting better at a rapid rate simply outdated ?
Anders Lindman (whatever happened to him ?) often made the claim that we were rapidly heading towards a technological singularity and that it would happen in the next 10, 20, 30 years depending on the thread and which articles he had read most recently. I used to respond (yes, I'm a SUCKER !!!) and often used to say that if this was true, how come improvements in PCs don't seem to be quite so amazing these days.
I get a new laptop every three years. Back in the '90s I used to get one supplied by my employer and from one generation to the next, the upgrades were appreciable. I started buying my own PCs when we started the company back in 2003 and each time I spend £1,000 - £1,500 on a vanilla medium spec, robust laptop. These days it's mostly word processing and Citrix sessions so there's no need for particularly high performance. I've noted a law of diminishing returns.....
The 2003 laptop was pretty much ready to be junked by the time I bought its replacement in 2006. The 2006 laptop soldiered on for a year or so as a company spare once the 2009 laptop came around. I'm still using the 2009 laptop around the house as an internet surfing/Skypeing machine and it's chugging along fine.
Now it's time to replace the 2012 machine. Last time I made the switch from Toshibas which I have used since the mid-90's to Lenovo Thinkpad. The model I have at the moment is a T410 with a 2.67 GHz Intel i5 processor, 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. With Neoprene pouch this came to a smidge over £1,100 including VAT and delivery.
I was looking on the Lenovo site today assuming that for similar money I could get an i7 model with a gajillion everythings but as it turns out, the same machine with a slightly faster i5 processor but otherwise identical spec would still cost over £1,000 and what I want (i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is well over £1,500. I know cheaper makes exist but the Thinkpad sends the right kind of message to clients. At these prices and specs I may as well hang on for another year or two which will make the FD happy.
Has Moore's Law started to run out of steam or is my expectation that PCs are still getting better at a rapid rate simply outdated ?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/17iJyD9
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