Why Do Computers Keep Getting Faster? Think Trains!
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[/media-credit]Computers have been steadily getting faster, but why is that? Most people shrug and tell themselves that technology is improving so personal computers are simply getting better. This is true, but have you ever wondered why? This is my feeble attempt to try and explain why personal computers keep getting faster in a way that most people will understand. In my examples I will be representing data as a freight train. Everyone knows what a freight train is and that a freight train carries and delivers cargo from one place to another. The freight train will represent the 1s and 0s that travel around in the everyday computer sitting on your desk.
Speed:
Imagine if you will a freight train traveling from NY to LA at 50 MPH. This freight train will take 60 hours to make the journey. But what if the freight train was hopped up and could now travel 100 MPH by improving the tracks, installing a new engine, and improving the aerodynamics of the train? Then the train would only take 30 hours to make the trip. The load of cargo will get to LA in half the time, or 2 loads of cargo could be delivered in the same amount of time as it originally took.
Increasing the speed of a computer gets data to its destination faster. Modern computers measure speed in gigahertz or GHZ. In practical terms a 3 GHZ computer is running 3 times faster than a 1 GHZ computer. The 3 GHZ computer is moving the same amount of data 3 times as fast as a 1 GHZ computer.
Number of bits 8 /16 / 32 / 64:
Now imagine a freight train traveling from NY to LA loaded with 100 Toyota Camrys. This train may take 3 days to travel that distance. 100 Camrys are delivered in 3 days.
Now imagine 8 parallel train tracks, each with a freight train loaded with 100 Camrys traveling together from NY to LA. You would now be delivering 800 Camrys in 3 days.
Personal computers started out as 8 bit machines, think of eight freight trains running side by side. Today’s 64 bit personal computers have 64 tracks. The extra speed is achieved by the computer by allowing more data to be transferred around because the modern computer has more tracks.
Multi-core Processors:
Maintenance work needs to be done at the train station. The station needs painting, the plumbing needs to be repaired, the grass needs to be mowed, and the station needs a new roof. If Frank does all of this work it will take him 100 hours to do the work. But if Frank had help from Joe then they could split up the work and all of the jobs could be completed in 50 hours.
This is how multi-core processors work. One core can be running your word processor, and the other can be running Twitter. With the jobs split up the overall speed is increased.
Processor Size:
Imagine a map of the United States and on that map NY is 3000 miles from LA. Now imagine if you made the map smaller, NY and LA became closer to each other, now instead of being 3000 miles away from each other they are only 1500 miles from each other. Freight gets to its destination in half the time as it did before. ”Crazy talk!” You may be saying to yourself, but if you looked at the circuitry of a processor under a microscope it would look like a road map with roads and tracks from one place to another. By shrinking the map –thus shrinking the circuitry- speed is increased by shortening the distance between places. This is because data is actually traveling on the microscopic map.
3D Transistors:
If you stacked freight cars on top of each other the 10 freight cars on the train now become 20. They take up as much room on the track but more freight is being transferred at one time.
A new technology called 3D chip technology allows for more transistors in the same space. It’s like having a 3D map that has more stuff crammed in the same amount of space. So it’s like being able to stack freight cars on top of each other.
So there you go, my feeble attempt at simplifying a complex thing. I hope you didn’t fall off of the train and join a hobo camp in the process.
I would describe myself as a father first, and married to a wonderfully supportive spouse that works her butt off for the family. I'm also a writer, techno nerd, and humorist. I always have more things to do than I have time to do them, and have many interests. View My Profile
As far as my writing goes I consider myself an observer of human nature, and a lifelong writing student.
Tags: bits, computer, Dan LaFollette, multi core, processor, speed, trains
Interesting, verrrrry interesting, crazy talk!! But now I know what GHz does, been looking for a new laptop and can’t decided, had no idea what the GHz stood for and didn’t bother looking it up. Been using a Dell Inspiron 6400 for the past five years, only one repair needed but it’s on it’s last legs, dead battery, flickering screen, etc….am considering the Apple Mac Pro due to the good feedback and reviews but still not sure. Do you have any feedback in it D?
Garry an Apple MAC Pro (starting at $1200) would be a very good machine no doubt. My budget for the laptop that I just purchased was $500. This is what I purchased a Gateway NV55S15u.
One of my main concerns is heat in a laptop, mine has a 4 core processor running at 1.4GHZ. If you check it on a website like Can you run it? it acts more like a 3.5GHZ machine without the heat, because of the use of 4 processing cores.
Plus I’m kind of partial to Gateway / Acer laptops. I’ve had HPs, Toshibas, ThinkPads, Dells, and Gateways. The HPs and Toshibas got hot as hell, the Dell was flaky. The ThinkPads were good when made by IBM, I don’t know about now.
I’ve liked Gateways, and Apple makes very nice slaved manufactured machines.
I’m very happy with this new Gateway. They could have printed the keys with brighter ink but what the hell. Other considerations are how do the keys feel when typing, important for a writer, and the screen size. I happen to prefer 15 inch screens. 17 inch screens feel like tanks to me, and smaller sizes bug me. But I do read Kindle books on my iPod touch with the retena display.
I hope that helps Garry.
Yep the screen size/price of the Apple does bother me, i’ve been using a 15 inch and that’s fine, especially as I watch a lot of films on my laptop..well I did watch dvds but that’s also died (2nd replacement)…if I want a 15 inch Apple I will need to shell out another £440, which seems pretty extortionate for an additional 2 inches of screen…and that’s on top of the £900 for the Apple Mac..there must be additional features on the 15 inch to be able to put the price up that much..and I hear Apple are about bring out a Mac Pro in the Summer/Autumn with a retina screen, they don’t make it easy.
Apple makes so much money they don’t know what to do with it all, and that extra cash for the 15 inch screen seems crazy to me. If they put in the Retna displays on their laptops they will be very nice that’s for sure. The ridiculous price Apple Laptops is the only reason I put up with *spit* Microshaft
Ha ha! Great explanation, Dan. It’s amazing how far computers have come. I’ll expand that to all technology. Wow!
Hey Janene, I often wonder how people who don’t understand computer hardware can choose which one to buy. Nobody really explains this stuff in a way that someone other than nerds like me can understand. And everything is a computer these days everything.
I am sitting in the Train of Technology!! I don’t have a lot of knowledge regarding this, but I always do an in-depth research whenever I need to get something new. Often my little bro helps me out. He knows more than my dad as well!
Currently I am saving up for a new laptop so I can render my illustrations a lot better. And for most people, artists in particular, they say that a Mac is the only way to go. But I’ve also read that a computer with customized parts can render artistic work just fine. I’ve never worked with a Mac before though. Any thoughts on this?
When the time has come to purchase a new one, I know who to turn too
Hey TJ,
The nice thing about a desktop computer is that you can add a ton of RAM, and the most beastly video card you could ever imagine and your artwork projects will be a snap. Could you do them on a very expensive MAC laptop, yes. Or just about any other modern laptop with decent video capabilities. It gets a little tricky in that area when you start shopping around. You need to have decent graphics so when you’re dealing with very big picture files you don’t see lag as you draw on the screen or resize things.
Holy COW!! I think we have the same laptop. YES! So, now I know, not that I didn’t already, who to go to when this thing goes bonkers.
I have enjoyed this laptop and I recall it being on the less expensive side. I write a lot as well and watch A LOT of Netflix and screeners on this piece of machinery. It’s been good so far. 15 months and counting.
Regarding Macs, I know Hollywood people love Macs but I don’t think they are worth the money, maybe. Although I hear the virus problems are FAR less with Macs. (Just start paying attention: in most films and movies -- that apple is on the laptop or computer.) I bought a couple of Dells for my old design business and paid for them three times over in tech fees due to viruses and my lack of knowledge about computers and protecting them. Macs may be a good choice for the novice
Okay, maybe I should switch to a Mac for my next one…
Thank you from the bottom of my blonde heart -- I know absolutely NOTHING about computers…this helped a lot!
Hey Katy,
Wow, the same machine! I think it will do fine as long as you periodically run superantispyware, defrag your hard drive once a month, and make sure you have a virus program loaded like Microsoft Security essentials that is free. I had a couple of Dell Laptops provided to me at places that I worked and they both had issues, one gave me the blue screen of death several times a week. It’s made me sort of steer clear. MACs are very good machines as I have said before, they are just very expensive. I’m very happy with my Gateway, I bumped it up to 8GBs of RAM and run a ton of things at once on it. I like the feel of the keyboard, and I enjoy typing on it.
Defrag??? Oh pray tell how do I do THAT?
Click on the big Blue Ball at the bottom left of screen.
Click on All Programs.
Click on Accessories.
Click on System Tools.
Click on Disk Defragmentor.
When the program load you can defag your drive now, or schedule it for sometime when you aren’t doing anything else.
Here is a good explanation of why you should defrag and what it’s doing: Why defrag?
Just looked -- it’s set up to run automatically, YEEHAW!!
Thanks!
Had the blue death screen many times on this Dell computer until I put it in for repair. But it has lasted well I think considering it’s been in use for around 12 hours per day almost every day for five years, and only cost £450.
Dell has fairly good support for their products. A lot of small IT departments like to buy from them because of that.
My first computer was a Commodore 16 and I dreamed of the day I would be able to step up and get a Commodore 64. My son’s first computer was a 32GB iPad. My how times have changed…
Hey Bob,
I started out with a Sinclair ZX-80 with 1K RAM. I remember the Commodore 16 I think it came out after the Commodore 64 as an elcheapo version of the 64
I had a C-64 and a C-128 and I loved my Commodore Amiga 500 that I purchased when I was stationed in Germany a few years after the the C-64. I was happy when Windows 95 came out because it was the first time Microsoft made anything resembling my Amiga. Yes times have changed, and they will just keep changing and changing.
And for all of those people that can’t handle change… I’m sure there is a little pink pill for that problem.
Cool post
I read somewhere that future computers will be more like tablets than the computers we use now. Imagining stuffing all of that technology into a little 5x7 machine blows my mind.
Several generations from now will be able to computer with their minds.
Jen, there are some technologies on the horizon that at some point will replace silicon and seriously expand the limits that we currently have with it. You’re right about tablets, and we are basically already there. Many people are using iPads with keyboards to do such things as word processing that was previously done with laptops. People can already do most of the communication they need on the Internet with their smart phone, AKA little computer.
This is the reason Microsoft is scrambling to not make themselves obsolete by changing their operating system to match their crappy smart phone interface. They have always used their prominence of having the operating system most of the world uses to get what they want, and they are loosing that now in the tablet space. It’s going to interesting to watch what they do in the next few years. Microsoft is NOT an innovative company, but they have been good at taking over other people’s ideas. GUIs, web browsers, word processing, etc. They are never the first at anything. They are sneaky bastards and a part of me would love to see them fall flat on their face.
It’s going to be interesting to watch everything unfold, at least for me
My kids shamed me into getting a faster computer with all the bells and whistles. I think it is really fast, but one of them said recently, “Mom, it’s still a little slow.” So what? So am I!!!
Judie, if you kids think this one is still a little slow then show them the way to Best Buy to buy themselves a faster one. If it’s working for you then don’t worry about it.
My dad used this hand-me-down computer from my sister for over 10 years just so he could check email. I had replaced some of the parts, and some other people had helped him out over the years and it did what he wanted it to do. It wasn’t until he couldn’t get the latest version of AOL to run on it that he decided to replace his computer with a new laptop and install high speed Internet. He only lived about a month after that, but he had email up until then.
We all have our own reasons for upgrading our technology, just don’t let your children dictate it to you.
Ann Landers, signing off.