In 1965 Gordon Moore one of the co-founders of micro-processor manufacturer Intel forecast that computing power would double every 18 to 24 months for the foreseeable future. Whilst recent research has shown this to be not quite true, the increase has still been pretty dramatic in the forty odd years since.
Normally, increases in power like this are accompanied by corresponding price hikes but advances in manufacturing and greater competition have stopped this from happening. Although the processor (the power of which Moore was referring to) is only one part of a typical computer, the other components – memory, disks, screen etc – have also followed the same price/power trajectory. Continue reading “There’s never been a better time to buy hardware”