Have Computers Reached Their Peak?
A big question in society today is have computers reached their peak? It’s an interesting question because there’s really no way to be sure all we can do is analyze the information we have and make an assumption off that. Computers are a unique device in the sense that each person has their own use for it, we can split these users into three categories. The first category would have basic/home users, this type of user uses their computer for basic things such as browsing the internet, typing on some word documents and maybe sharing files. The second category of users consists of office/work users, these users are working with the whole office suite and often time using other programs such as Quickbooks and more. The third category consists of advanced users, this category can includes people with professions such as programmers, video editors and more. these users use tools such as video editors, code simulators and overall heavy RAM use applications.
Computer Advancement History
To understand if computers can have further advancements it’s important to take a look at previous advancements, for example in 1976 the Apple I was created, it was the first single board computer and was considered an enormous advancement at the time but 40 years later in 2016 Apple released the Macbook Air. In comparison the Macbook Air was far mar advanced then the Apple I which was just a single board computer, the Macbook Air is a sleek small and fast computer that has not just a keyboard but also a display.
This shows how computer advancement can’t be predicted because we don’t know what an advancement can be considered until we experience it. When that single board Apple I was released no one thought that there could be anything better. It was the height of computer advancement but in reality that wasn’t true because we experienced more and more advancement (Zimmermann, “History of Computers: A Brief Timeline.”).
Computer Battery Life Advancement
One aspect of computer’s that has a lot of area to improve is the battery. Computers have had improving battery life since their original creation, throughout the 2010’s batteries have gone from charging our phones and computers to our cars and houses, since this happened battery manufactures alongside the demand for lithium ion batteries has increased.
Batteries have started to become more and more important in all aspects of our life and as that continues to happen the need for more efficient and longer lasting batteries is increasing.This need for more better batteries will lead to the creation of better batteries and and that will bring forward computer advancement. An example of an advanced lithium ion battery would be Tesla’s electric car batteries, these batteries are used to power fast electric cars and have only been possible because of advancement in the lithium ion battery field, these batteries wouldn’t be possible 20 years ago.(Stevens, “The battery decade: How energy storage could revolutionize. industries in the next 10 years”).
Computer Advancement In Relation To Moore’s Law
One of the most essential things of a computer is its processing power which is in relation to transistors. What is a transistor?, a transistor is a semiconductor device that can amplify, control and generate electrical signals. Moore’s Law states that “the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years, as their cost goes down” this increase in transistors means a steady increase in computer advancement. More transistors essentially means more processing power and as computers have more processing power its easier to incorporate new features and abilities.
According to the law if I were to buy a computer today for $700 and in two years I decided to buy a new computer it would cost the same, for example the Commodore costs $500 when released in 1982 and a regular 64 bit laptop in 2012 cost the same amount while being a lot more advanced. The price stays the same because of the cost of the transistor decreasing as the quantity increases (“What Will Computers Look Like in 30 Years?”).
Conclusion
In conclusion it’s very hard to accurately predict if computer advancement has reached a peak, however taking information such as computer advancement history, battery life advancement and computer advancement in relation to Moore’s law it seems pretty evident that computer advancement has not reached it’s peak and it won’t for the foreseeable future.
Works Cited
Zimmermann, Kim. “History of Computers: A Brief Timeline.” Live Science, 7 Sept. 2017, https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html. Accessed 28 Nov 2020.
Stevens, Pippa. “The battery decade: How energy storage could revolutionize. industries in the next 10 years” CNBC, 30 Dec. 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/battery-developments-in-the-last-decade-created-a-seismic-shift-that-will-play-out-in-the-next-10-years.html. Accessed 28 Nov 2020.
“What Will Computers Look Like in 30 Years?” FutureForAll, https://www.futureforall.org/computers/computers.htm. Accessed 28 Nov 2020.
