CaedenV
Splendid
- Jun 14, 2011
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That was an odd article. You really could not think of 10? or the normal 20 for these types of articles?
Also, what is this even about? I was expecting something about what would give computers a 'modern' feel compared to computers from a few years ago, but instead we get a 'look back' of things like ISA busses and CRT monitors.
Just for fun, here are my top 10 Ingredients for a truly 'Modern' feeling PC:
1) RAM, having enough ram in a system where you never dip into virtual memory, and where prefetching can keep your most often used programs in memory so that they open instantly. DDR3 also removes a lot of the bottleneck of older DDR2 systems, but even a Core2Duo/quad on DDR2 can feel quite modern when you have enough of it, and it is paired with other things on this list.
2) SSD. Fast to near instant load times on the OS and software. Even a slow SSD will make a system feel more modern than one that runs on a HDD. This is probably the biggest single item that can make a computer feel modern or old no matter what other parts are being used in the system.
3) Silence. Even for the highest end experience there is absolutely no need to have excessive fan or drive noise anymore. And if you are on a 'normal' modern computer it should be absolutely silent under even the heaviest of loads.
4) Form factor and case design. Nothing says 1990s like an over sized case with lots of crazy lights in it. Modern computers should either be nice and compact, or if you need a big machine it should be stylish and sleek. There is a place for lighting in a case (for me it is often the only way I know it is on if my screen is off), but there are lots of very nice looking options that are still inexpensive.
5) Screen. The display is the part of your computer that you will look at for years and years. Having an IPS display with a wide color gamut and good contrast ratio goes a long way to making even an older machine look like it is modern. Touch is not a necessity (not even preferred), but having a screen that looks nice is a modern necessity, and even a newer machine on an old display can make it feel old. I would also say that when high resolution displays are available, then that will also be a requirement for a modern computer. When I look at the display on my phone where I literally cannot see the pixels unless I am holding it less than a foot from my eyes, and then I look at my computer screen where I wish there was a better AA solution for text. Those high phone resolutions just give the display a 'print-like' quality that is really easy on the eyes, and I cannot wait for it to be available and affordable for the desktop.
6) Audio. Desktop speakers have come a really long way over the last 5-10 years. I personally use some really old stereo speakers on my system, but my wife's PC proves that you do not need big ugly speakers (or to even see the speakers at all) to have near theater sound quality. There is no need for a modern system to have big high-profile speakers to attain respectable sound quality, nor is there any excuse to have crap speakers as even relatively cheap 2.0 speakers can have a fairly full sound, and just about all 2.1 systems have a decent tone without a lot of money involved. Audio is 9/10ths of your visual experience, and having tinny audio can be the difference between assuming you are working with an extremely old or new machine.
7) Processor. Having a duel core with HT is a minimum standard to having a modern feeling computer anymore. Straight duel core is simply not enough for even basic multi-tasking these days, and a quad core should be the standard of having a 'good' computer. All modern OSs and web browsers are pretty good about thread management, and can spread the load optimally over 4 cores. Having that 4 thread processing capability is worlds more important than intruction sets or clock speeds when it comes to how modern a CPU feels. Even an older Core2Quad can feel quite modern when paired with the other things listed on this list.
8) A modern OS. WinXP is quick to load only because it is a small OS. The minute you start using other programs under the OS brings a dead giveaway of the age of the platform. Windows 7/8, and even newer builds of Linux go great lengths to try and prepare for your workflow by preloading applicaitons into memory so that when you are ready to open a program most of the legwork is already done. Add to that the support for more modern hardware, security features, and even cloud integration goes a long way over older platforms to providing a modern experience with modern workflows and programs.
9) Browser. If you are not using the most up to date version of IE, FF, or Chrome then you are not getting the most out of your user experience. Personally I like Chrome the best (even though I am working at moving away from the google universe), but the current versions of all 3 browsers are quite usable, and have improved the user experience dramatically over the last year. Most likely a lot of what you do is in a web browser, and it is only going to increase as time goes on.
10) Platform connectivity. While not a 'requirement' yet, things like USB3, wireless RF and WiFi, HDMI, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt are becoming a requirement to make things 'modern'. Setting up my mother-in-laws computer last fall had her blown away that all I had to hook up was the power and HDMI cable. Her audio was via HDMI, internet is wireless, keys and mice are wireless and I had the receiver hooked up inside the machine, and her printer was on the network. While most of the people on this site are not daunted by having lots of cables coming out of their computers, I know that my modern computer has a lot less wires coming out of it today than it had 10 years ago, and each of those wires that do come out carry a much heavier load and are expected to behave like internal parts now where before their slow performance was excusable because they simply were external devices. I would not go so far as to say that everything needs the absolute newest connectivity to feel modern, but I think there is still a pervasive feeling among the general public that fewer but faster wires (or no wires) is a requirement to making a system at least feel like it is modern.
-I did not put the GPU as a requirement for a 'modern' feeling PC because for a normal non-gaming PC I have found the iGPU to be adequate for desktop and multimedia needs for over 5 years now, and if you are playing games, then even the most basic aftermarket GPU can bring quality visuals to life, and anything more than that is just icing on the cake, but does not really make the overall system feel 'modern'. that is more an issue of capability rather than the smoothness of the system.
-While I did not add it to this, I think that 'soon' (within the next 2 years) it will be a requirement to have some form of touch/kinnect/leapmotion style capability to make a system feel modern. No, I will NEVER touch my computer screen, but when leap motion becomes available I will absolutely use it to add multi-touch and gestural support to my desktop. Things like pinch to zoom, and rotation are just easier to do with your hands than a scroll wheel, especially if you have the 1:1 afforded by a touch screen or leapmotion setup that you simply don't have with a mouse. And (like it or not) these types of interactions are going to become more pervasive as smartphones and tablets become more popular, so it will not be long before your PC will at least need the capability to have these types of input, even if they are not your primary input.
-Lastly, the tech is not available yet, but the minute that natural language speech control is naively available at an OS level, then it will be a requirement to have on a 'modern' computer. Voice control that we have today feels like glorified doss in a vocal format. It is akward, it is not intuitive, and it is difficult to know what options are available at any given time. The minute we can use voice control to give casual, conversational, and native commands to a computer, rather than using voice to select options on the graphical interface like we do today (which is often easier done with a mouse or keyboard), then I think it will open up a lot of opportunities for new ways of doing things and multi tasking on the PC. Sadly, I think we are a long long way away from this type of interaction.
The biggest problem with this type of natural voice integration is that the computer needs to be aware of the intent of your words rather than just simple word commands, and also the OS needs to be deeply aware of the capabilities/features of the software and hardware of your machine in order to follow these commands without asking you 100 questions to narrow down your specific workflow that you want the computer to follow. It will transform the end user experience from our current process of Idea->How->Result, to one of Idea->Result where the computer figures out the 'How' which is often the part that holds most users back.
Like I said... while todays speech recognition is actuially quite good, we are a long ways away from the computer moving from recognizing words, to understanding words in any meaningful/productive way.
Also, what is this even about? I was expecting something about what would give computers a 'modern' feel compared to computers from a few years ago, but instead we get a 'look back' of things like ISA busses and CRT monitors.
Just for fun, here are my top 10 Ingredients for a truly 'Modern' feeling PC:
1) RAM, having enough ram in a system where you never dip into virtual memory, and where prefetching can keep your most often used programs in memory so that they open instantly. DDR3 also removes a lot of the bottleneck of older DDR2 systems, but even a Core2Duo/quad on DDR2 can feel quite modern when you have enough of it, and it is paired with other things on this list.
2) SSD. Fast to near instant load times on the OS and software. Even a slow SSD will make a system feel more modern than one that runs on a HDD. This is probably the biggest single item that can make a computer feel modern or old no matter what other parts are being used in the system.
3) Silence. Even for the highest end experience there is absolutely no need to have excessive fan or drive noise anymore. And if you are on a 'normal' modern computer it should be absolutely silent under even the heaviest of loads.
4) Form factor and case design. Nothing says 1990s like an over sized case with lots of crazy lights in it. Modern computers should either be nice and compact, or if you need a big machine it should be stylish and sleek. There is a place for lighting in a case (for me it is often the only way I know it is on if my screen is off), but there are lots of very nice looking options that are still inexpensive.
5) Screen. The display is the part of your computer that you will look at for years and years. Having an IPS display with a wide color gamut and good contrast ratio goes a long way to making even an older machine look like it is modern. Touch is not a necessity (not even preferred), but having a screen that looks nice is a modern necessity, and even a newer machine on an old display can make it feel old. I would also say that when high resolution displays are available, then that will also be a requirement for a modern computer. When I look at the display on my phone where I literally cannot see the pixels unless I am holding it less than a foot from my eyes, and then I look at my computer screen where I wish there was a better AA solution for text. Those high phone resolutions just give the display a 'print-like' quality that is really easy on the eyes, and I cannot wait for it to be available and affordable for the desktop.
6) Audio. Desktop speakers have come a really long way over the last 5-10 years. I personally use some really old stereo speakers on my system, but my wife's PC proves that you do not need big ugly speakers (or to even see the speakers at all) to have near theater sound quality. There is no need for a modern system to have big high-profile speakers to attain respectable sound quality, nor is there any excuse to have crap speakers as even relatively cheap 2.0 speakers can have a fairly full sound, and just about all 2.1 systems have a decent tone without a lot of money involved. Audio is 9/10ths of your visual experience, and having tinny audio can be the difference between assuming you are working with an extremely old or new machine.
7) Processor. Having a duel core with HT is a minimum standard to having a modern feeling computer anymore. Straight duel core is simply not enough for even basic multi-tasking these days, and a quad core should be the standard of having a 'good' computer. All modern OSs and web browsers are pretty good about thread management, and can spread the load optimally over 4 cores. Having that 4 thread processing capability is worlds more important than intruction sets or clock speeds when it comes to how modern a CPU feels. Even an older Core2Quad can feel quite modern when paired with the other things listed on this list.
8) A modern OS. WinXP is quick to load only because it is a small OS. The minute you start using other programs under the OS brings a dead giveaway of the age of the platform. Windows 7/8, and even newer builds of Linux go great lengths to try and prepare for your workflow by preloading applicaitons into memory so that when you are ready to open a program most of the legwork is already done. Add to that the support for more modern hardware, security features, and even cloud integration goes a long way over older platforms to providing a modern experience with modern workflows and programs.
9) Browser. If you are not using the most up to date version of IE, FF, or Chrome then you are not getting the most out of your user experience. Personally I like Chrome the best (even though I am working at moving away from the google universe), but the current versions of all 3 browsers are quite usable, and have improved the user experience dramatically over the last year. Most likely a lot of what you do is in a web browser, and it is only going to increase as time goes on.
10) Platform connectivity. While not a 'requirement' yet, things like USB3, wireless RF and WiFi, HDMI, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt are becoming a requirement to make things 'modern'. Setting up my mother-in-laws computer last fall had her blown away that all I had to hook up was the power and HDMI cable. Her audio was via HDMI, internet is wireless, keys and mice are wireless and I had the receiver hooked up inside the machine, and her printer was on the network. While most of the people on this site are not daunted by having lots of cables coming out of their computers, I know that my modern computer has a lot less wires coming out of it today than it had 10 years ago, and each of those wires that do come out carry a much heavier load and are expected to behave like internal parts now where before their slow performance was excusable because they simply were external devices. I would not go so far as to say that everything needs the absolute newest connectivity to feel modern, but I think there is still a pervasive feeling among the general public that fewer but faster wires (or no wires) is a requirement to making a system at least feel like it is modern.
-I did not put the GPU as a requirement for a 'modern' feeling PC because for a normal non-gaming PC I have found the iGPU to be adequate for desktop and multimedia needs for over 5 years now, and if you are playing games, then even the most basic aftermarket GPU can bring quality visuals to life, and anything more than that is just icing on the cake, but does not really make the overall system feel 'modern'. that is more an issue of capability rather than the smoothness of the system.
-While I did not add it to this, I think that 'soon' (within the next 2 years) it will be a requirement to have some form of touch/kinnect/leapmotion style capability to make a system feel modern. No, I will NEVER touch my computer screen, but when leap motion becomes available I will absolutely use it to add multi-touch and gestural support to my desktop. Things like pinch to zoom, and rotation are just easier to do with your hands than a scroll wheel, especially if you have the 1:1 afforded by a touch screen or leapmotion setup that you simply don't have with a mouse. And (like it or not) these types of interactions are going to become more pervasive as smartphones and tablets become more popular, so it will not be long before your PC will at least need the capability to have these types of input, even if they are not your primary input.
-Lastly, the tech is not available yet, but the minute that natural language speech control is naively available at an OS level, then it will be a requirement to have on a 'modern' computer. Voice control that we have today feels like glorified doss in a vocal format. It is akward, it is not intuitive, and it is difficult to know what options are available at any given time. The minute we can use voice control to give casual, conversational, and native commands to a computer, rather than using voice to select options on the graphical interface like we do today (which is often easier done with a mouse or keyboard), then I think it will open up a lot of opportunities for new ways of doing things and multi tasking on the PC. Sadly, I think we are a long long way away from this type of interaction.
The biggest problem with this type of natural voice integration is that the computer needs to be aware of the intent of your words rather than just simple word commands, and also the OS needs to be deeply aware of the capabilities/features of the software and hardware of your machine in order to follow these commands without asking you 100 questions to narrow down your specific workflow that you want the computer to follow. It will transform the end user experience from our current process of Idea->How->Result, to one of Idea->Result where the computer figures out the 'How' which is often the part that holds most users back.
Like I said... while todays speech recognition is actuially quite good, we are a long ways away from the computer moving from recognizing words, to understanding words in any meaningful/productive way.
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