27 Jul
2001
27 Jul
'01
5:42 p.m.
Isn't it funny how computers seem to have kicked
into some kind of de-
evolution? The Sinclair ZX-anything was small, cheap and silent. So was just
about every micro "back then".
The standard home PC nowadays is a bulking tower case with one buzzing HDD,
one humming CDD, one fan for the PSU, one on top of the heatsinks on the CPU
and one or more on top of the heatsinks on the graphics card. I don't think
anyone 20 years ago, or even ten years ago, would have expected modern
computers to be so noisy and prone to over-heating. It's obviously a syndrome
of PC speed demons dictating every aspect of computer development.
There are quiet systems out now though. Most of Apple's
machines currently are pretty low key when it comes to noise. My
G3/450 sitting next to me is very quiet and it has 2 hard disks, a
DVD, and the one system fan all turning. At ~15 watts, the G3/G4
doesn't need the huge cooling fan/heatsink combos that the Pentiums
do at ~40 watts.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757