The PC becomes a ‘brainier’ magic box of tricks

So you think your PC provides enough “oomph” for you today.

Why would you need extra performance anyway?

Well, look back over time and you’ll have your answer.

Could you wait 30 minutes to load one application?

Would you cope with having to hit four keys just to underline a word or start a new paragraph?

Could you do without video, music and wireless access to the internet?

Many of the things you take for granted today would prove painful or even impossible on a three to four year old PC.

Watching High Definition (HD) internet TV and video with smooth playback or running multiple programmes at the same time might prove to be some of those things you take for granted.

Back in the days in 2006, video streaming and HD did not matter that much.

These days a lot of information we exchange is image-based.

Today’s multi-media computers bring this virtual world to colourful life.

On today’s PCs based on an Intel Core i7 mobile processor HD video is over three times faster than its distant cousins of 2006.

Your life does not move at one constant pace.

If you’re not racing against deadlines at the office, you might be helping the children finish homework or sharing photos and videos from vacation on Facebook and Twitter.

The dramatic changes the PC has undergone in the past four decades are the result of the exponential growth of the computer’s “brains” called the microprocessor.