Computers have been a noticeable part of our culture for over fifty years. Over the years our perspectives about these tools have changed (slowly), but more noticeable is the fact that computers in general (and CPU’s relating to Moore’s Law) have been changing and increasing in power to such a degree that what would have been a powerful computer used in the Apollo Moon mission is now less powerful than the power my iPhone has…
There are some related notions…as these computers have become ever more powerful, they have similarly become more and more ubiquitous. The computers used in the 1970’s were such that only a comparatively few technically adept programmers were using them…now computers have become smart enough that they can compensate for our shortcomings…
If you try to extrapolate this trend…steadily increasing computer power, computers becoming integrated into more of the little corners of our lives, and proportionally fewer people cognizant of what is happening under the hood…what do you get?
IPad 2 is as fast as an 80′s supercomputer
http://www.slashgear.com/ipad-2-is-as-fast-as-an-80s-supercomputer-10151062
If you sit back and think about how far technology has come in the last few decades it is really mind blowing. The technology used to put man on the moon in the 60′s was less powerful than the average smartphone today and yet America still pulled it off. If you have ever looked at your tech and wondered how powerful it really is compared to the computers of yesterday you aren’t alone. Computer scientist Jack Dongarra is one of the folks that are tasked with keeping track of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
Dongarra is a keeper of the LINPAC computing benchmark that is used to test the mathematical capability of a computer. He and his research group decided to take the iPad 2 and see how it stacks up against the supercomputers of yesterday. As it turns out the iPad 2 is a rival for a Cary Supercomputer that was the top dogs in processing power back in 1985. The iPad 2 performance rivals that of the Cray 2 supercomputer with eight processors, which was world’s fastest supercomputer in 1985.
The researchers also note that the iPad 2 is ten times faster than the original iPad. To make the iPad 2 performance even more impressive, apparently the researchers were only able to test with one of the iPad’s two processing cores. Dongarra expects that the iPad 2 will end up with a LINPAC benchmark of between 1.5 and 1.65 gigaflops. That number would have kept the iPad at the top of the supercomputer performance charts through 1994. That is really impressive.
IPad 2 as fast as the Cray 2 supercomputer, at a fraction of the size
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/05/10/ipad.2.benches.as.fast.as.cray.2.from.1985
Apple’s performance would have been enough to keep it in the Top 500 supercomputer charts up to and including 1994, Dr. Dongarra said.
The tablet also requires much less power and cooling. Cray’s system was power-hungry enough to require a 3M-developed liquid, Flourinert, just to stay cool. An iPad 2′s ARM processor uses less than 10W of power and requires no fans.
