PC users not buying new faster machines

karavite

karavite

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Interesting article in the NY Times today on how PC shoppers see no need to upgrade to faster new machines. More speed doesn't help them do what they are doing now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/30/technology/30SPEE.html
IMO, software has a long way to go to catch up with hardware, though much less so with the Mac than the PC. It seems that Apple could take advantage of this trend - get PC users to switch to a new Mac based on functionality, reliability, security and usability. Even better is less new PCs means less new copies of XP, Office... you name it! I wonder what nasty trick MS will come up to handle this one?
 
I totally agree with this observation. Here @ my work, I intergrate Dell laptops and Desktops into the network. I make the descisions as to what specs the computers need and order them.

3 years ago I was trashing 90mhz Dells and replacing them with new 450mhz boxes. This year I am replacing 200 - 300 mhz boxes with 2ghz machines.

Even now there are some users that are quite happy with the performance of their 450mhz boxes I gave them 3 years ago. Imagine if I gave them the 2ghz boxes. They will never want to upgrade again!! These users use their machines for everyday office work and don't need the latest and greatest to play games or render pictures.

The life-cycle of newer pcs are increasing greatly more and more each day and it will become too difficult to persuade the general public to give up their functional machines for faster ones.

I use a 1.5ghz pc at home and have no intentions to upgrade it anytime soon.

If my network is any indication to what other businesses are like, there will not be many pc purchases for next couple of years (no major purchases at least). Microsoft will no doubt update their OS and Office apps to only work correctly on newer hardware and that will be their sneaky way of getting people to upgrade their hardware.
 
That's exactly what I've been saying when people cry about the "new 3 Ghz something or other" and how IE on one platform is 1 second faster than the other... yeah, so? I guess they think they're going to save the world in 1 second... :p
 
Hopefully this will dawn a new era in speed improvements in computing. Not in processors, but all the bottle necks along the path.

Imagine what computing would be like if the processor @ 2ghz was the bottleneck. I want hard drives to get beyond their sorry state and get up to par. Hopefully manufacturers will make some breakthroughs in the existing technologies or some sort of exotic technology will take the place of current platters. Anyways, thats my 2 cents.
 
Hopefully this will dawn a new era in speed improvements in computing. Not in processors, but all the bottle necks along the path
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That's a really interesting point - but if DDR RAM prices are a glimpse in this future, I'm not sure I want it! :)

The thing that gets me is what tormente and bubbajim are syaing - that there are many people who equate speed with progress. The whole Moores Law thing applied to the idea of "progress." So, if a computer processor is 2x as fast as it was a year ago, we are now somehow 2x better at everything??? - 2x more productive, 2x more advanced, have 2x more the capabilities... unless we are all spending our days rendering 3D objects, this line of thinking is completely flawed, even if you ignore how software bloat seems to wipe out almost every hardware speed advantage that comes along (windows of course, not so much our beloved Macs and OS X). Does it make us type our emails 2x faster, create text documents 2x faster, find information on the web 2x faster, write html 2x as fast... sure the computer is 2x faster at its tasks, but what about ours?

I don't want faster computers, I want smarter computers that make my life easier! I think that means better software and it seems to me that software has a long way to go to catch up with hardware.
 
Faster computers only allow you to find out how wrong you were that much quicker. Which at least means you have the ability to stop something and get it right before the client sees it...

This came from the IT man at a company I am aquainted with, not an exact quote, but this was the gist: "We're not going to buy faster machines (Apples, faster PC's) because our clients know how long it takes to prepare something on the equipment we have and that gives us an advantage".

That '1 second' mentioned by tormente, and the comments from karavite are something that indicates a larger problem. Outside of, shall we say, 'top-level business understadings' (I know what I mean), one is expected to take advantage of faster processor speed and deliver the same quality that much sooner.

For myself, and others in the publishing/advertisng/web production biz, we can only produce as fast as our brains, colleagues etc. can work, develop projects and our software skills will allow. Faster computer processing power doesn't mean faster minds. When someone is leaning on you, it generally results in shoddier work, but try getting that through to a someone who only sees you as an extension of the computer!

That's the perception trap we fall into. To someone or a company that only expects more and faster results, we are ALL faceless geeks and "why can't you do the job quicker, you've got faster machines now". The thousands of pounds or dollars and thousands of learning hours of investment to service them as best as we can are meaningless.

I do certainly get more work done quicker with Macs and OSX, but that doesn't alter the message.

My dear colleagues, fellow Mac (and PC) users, the bottlenecks don't reside in the processors, but in being born into, or in my case before, this pressured generation.

Ahem... it has definately been 'one of those days' when I've had this and a similar argument face to face at two meetings today, so, I'm sorry if this post is going off the deep end.:( :(

I am thinking of changing my sig to 'Cheers, garbled'.
 
My dear colleagues, fellow Mac (and PC) users, the bottlenecks don't reside in the processors, but in being born into, or in my case before, this pressured generation.
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Amen Lazzo! - this is yet another really big and relevant issue. Although this is somewhat academic, it sounds like you might want to check out this book:"In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power" by Shoshana Zuboff.

Zuboff is a Harvard business professor and she saw all this coming in the 80s. Her book looks at how different work environments changed with the implentation of automation and technology - from banks to paper mills. She basically narrows it down to two things: automation and infomation. Automation takes the human equation out of the pitcure - in a nutshell it turns your work into that of a mindless drone. Infomation refers to using technology to give the worker more information that he/she can apply their expertise to - making their work more effective, efficient and maybe even enjoyable.

Managers and other executives are rarely aware of the details of work and/or how to harness the knowledge of their employees that would essentially make the job of a manager and executive that much easier. As a result they make decisions about technology that seem good for the bottom line, but often fail to take advantage of their most valuable resource - the people who know how to do their jobs!

Do I sound like a communist? No way - if everyone was as smart and observant as Zuboff, life would be a lot better for everybody. My point is the "big picture" guys have it easy - ("We need to increase our customers level of satisfaction by making them more satisfied."). It is all the little pictures that are the foundation of making the big picture become clear. To merge the two, you need better communication and coordination vertically as well as horizontally - technology can help with that, but only if it ios applied smartly.
 
Karavite quote:
"To merge the tow, you need better communication and coordination vertically as well as horizontally - technology can help with that, but only if it is applied smartly."

Amen back to you!

To lower the tone of this thread, that unfortunately seems to me to state that those in the vertical line-up above AND below oneself, or employed by one's customers must NOT be d'heads. Horizontally, you can shout and be understood. As for the Verticals(TM) - out of my control? Yes.

It's a quarter past midnight here and I've stopped answering the phone to the Verticals(TM) in order to be kind to them. And myself.

I will look for that book, though it may be difficult to come by over here - I hope I can find it as I absolutely love going all intellectual and introducing 'The Big Picture' at meetings!

Large companies cannot see 'TBP', but the small, fresh ones have the future coming out of our ears and it's based on ability, tech is only a TOOL, darn it!
 
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