The evolution of PC hardware is ever changing. Currently, we are seeing larger and larger amounts of memory in computers, larger amounts of storage, and faster processors than ever before. It has never been uncommon to see this type of horsepower in big business server applications, but now you can walk into any PC retailer and purchase a computer with 8 gigabytes of memory and 1 terabyte of storage.
One adjustment that has been made to accommodate these new machines is the development of a seamless 64 bit operating system. The 64 bit design enables users to access up to 128 gigabytes of RAM memory, while 32 bit users have been limited to 3.5 gigabytes of usable memory. Also, multiple threaded applications function better in a 64 bit environment, having more available resources to spread across the workload.
Unfortunately, there are some requirements that need to be met to run 64 bit operating systems. PCs that will have a 64bit OS installed must have a minimum of 1 gb of memory, and must also have a 64 bit (x64) processor installed.
(information from mydigitallife.info, image from here)
Our society is always wanting the biggest and the best of everything. Computers are no exception, even if the bigger portion is the memory. Faster processing and more memory space just continues to propel our society further. We no longer need big giant computers, everything is so small and compact that we would never know that there is 1 terabyte in our computer sat home. To be honest I had to look up what a terabyte was. Computer technology is always advancing and always outdoing itself.
ReplyDeleteI don't even pay attention to actual memory, even though my own PC has lots of it. I find the processor to be the most important component, since processing power determines how many programs and tasks your computer can handle. Don't get me wrong, having all of that free space is important and its a good thing. I just running multiple programs to be of higher priority. For instance, some computers wouldn't even be able to run Second Life, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Word at the same time without almost slowing down to a halt. I suppose it all depends on the person. Someone heavily into art may be more inclined to have multiple programs open at once to help with editing and inspiration, while a scientist may just need tons of free disk space to store data on from experiments and research.
ReplyDeleteAlex your always showing off your computer haha j/k. Mostly all new computers nowadays have or are moving over to the 64-bit architecture. Today's games, video/audio editing,operating systems, and other software can eat up lots of memory to function at a fast rate. Eventually in the future, i'm sure that these types of software are eventually going to require more and more processing to function including more RAM as well. It is a good thing that computers are ready for movements today with the 64-bit architecture. But another big problem with 32-bit computers is that there is size restriction of 2.2 terabytes. In the digital world we live in today and what's to come in the future, this will be easily filled with games, videos, and music. An important fact to realize is that if you have a 64-bit computer and you know that your not going to go anywhere over 3.5 GB of memory or 2.2 terabytes of space, it really doesn't matter if you get the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows.
ReplyDeleteTaking in to consideration how many multimedia files could be saved in personal computers , having a 1 terabyte of storage space is a great development of computers. Most people buy or download music and videos for free from online retailers or public domains which takes many megabytes or even gigabytes of space in the hard drive. Having only limited gigabyte of hard disk space could no longer be enough to meet even the demand of today’s personal computer users, not to mention the hard drive storage needed by large co operations. Instead of using a portable hard drive or other option, it is a good thing to have one huge storage space that is build in to the actual computer.
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