QOTD: What's the Most Influential Hardware?

[Purrorritt]

My thought on the subject is semi-conductor RAM. I remember back in the day when 0.5 Megs of RAM cost you the space of about 3 file cabinets. That was for an IBM 360. Ten years later you could get 4M on a single 19" card (as for rack mount). These days you can't buy a 4M memory module. They just don't make them that small. And everything has RAM in it.

 

[The Schnoz]

I don't think motherboards get their due. A great motherboard can make a good chip even better. That and a good cooling system. Give it up for heat pipes and fans as well. Of course if i had to choose one thing it would be the GPU. From powering our graphics and physics, and soon competitng with the CPU itself, the GPU has really proven to be a driving force in the industry. Much love to 3DFX and OpenGL for bringing 3d PC gaming to the mainstream and kicking off a revolution.

 

[Guest]

I agree with the mouse. It is a single piece that is designed for a computer to use only. Color monitor, wow, big difference from black/white to color TV. Keyboard, nothing more than a keypad use in all other stuff you use daily: remote control, buttons on your car, etc. 3D graphic cards? Buy a playstation, it's the same. They change what you do with your computer, but not the way you use it.

 

[Cuddles]

IBM Antitrust Judgement

 

[rooket]

3DFX.

 

[kittle]

I think the origional article post had it right -- the mouse is the most influential hardware - but the modem is a really close second.
Just try having your internet be out for a week or so and watch what happens.

 

[nachowarrior]

i am going to have to go with the 3d rendering cards, if not now, then within the next few years, because they have such amazing capabilities and video cards as we know them today are changing the world, literally. EG: breast exams no longer are painful and the machines only cost 5k instead of 5mills, not to mention 45 minutes of turn around time instead of several weeks. also not to mention the fact that they have bolstered an industry that everyone mocked in the past as a passing of the time rather than serious business. now you can even get your pr0n in 3d. so there it is. ftw, video cards.

 

[Snuffles]

NASA started it all

 

[7amood]

[citation][nom]scsidude2[/nom]The full color graphic monitor. Not much of a world if you can't see it. With the monitor you can see any picture ever taken.[/citation]

I think so...

 

[Luscious]

c/k interface

 

[Cuddles]

Dauh... Hardware would be a toss between the Mouse and Keyboard. With the mouse, keyboard, monitor, and basic components as a given then I would have to say the AMD Clone CPU's as a key piece of Hardware that most influenced a great change in Desktop and Workplace Computing. The Apple II was also a huge piece of Hardware that influenced modern Computer Design. The Cooler Master Computer Case (don't remember the exact name) most influenced modern Computer Design (it was the first Case not to be beige). Of course the 3dfx Graphics Card and Creative's Soundblaster Card heavily effected their area of expertise. There is the All In Wonder Pro that gave Consumers the ability to record and watch TV on their Computers. The 56k Modem for bringing the Internet to the Masses. Currently... I would say the X64 CPU and Touch Panel as going to be the most influential piece of Hardware for it's time.
As the most influential it would have to be the X86 CPU.

 

[lancec]

I say the good old cathode ray tube. people can use computers without monitors but for the last 20 years no one would have.

 

[secolliyn]

Kalogagatya you think it's the user? well i think it's the Monitor mainly b/c without the monitor we wouldn't need faster cpu's or GPU's or mice a basic text editor in DOS is all anyone really needs to write letters and even send them though the internet the user complicates things and breaks them so Techs like me can fix them

 

[Dave_69]

mobo.

 

[moofachuka]

Internet... although it's not a hardware haha

 

[PLATTERMAN]

Those 6 foot round disc hardrives from way back that were like 25GB, that are now used as coffee/tables to what we have today for storage. Nano technology is the new frontier.

 

[gertrude_007]

The printing press.

 

[cowasaki]

[citation][nom]stryk55[/nom]The USB port. Besides the keyboard and mouse, no other piece of hardware has lived up to the expectations set out for it as well as USB. Almost any external imput device connects this way. It truly is a UNIVERSAL connector.[/citation]

We got by without USB and there are alternatives but you couldn't do without the CPU ! So Intel thanks Xerox's collection of ideas - mouse, gui, laser printer etc Television display - thanks... Whoever actually invented it (it wasn't baird or farnsworth!)

 

[Guest]

The S3 Virge/Trio 3d Accelerators...They were actually probably one of the worst 3d accelerators ever made...and the first probably. The cards actually made 3d games run slower. An array of visual problems were resolved however. Implementation of compressed video acceleration, perspective correction and bilinear filtering I'm sure were all very welcomed features...even though the cards ran terribly using such features. I think 3d graphics have come a long way and we've come to the point now where even operating systems are taking advantage of advanced 3d features. S3 back in the day came out with the best lead-in technologies, but ATi, NVidia, 3dfx, Matrox, all those companies really took it to the next level

If you talking about input devices...the mouse is clearly the best invention

Peace

Paul L