04-09-2012, 03:21 PM | #16 | |
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04-09-2012, 03:43 PM | #17 | |
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04-09-2012, 04:37 PM | #18 |
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Wehaven't seen anything yet. The power of computer chips is increasing at an exponential rate (while prices continue to crash), so what we consider high-end today will be even more laughable 40 years from now. As computer chips increase in power and drop in price, it becomes easy to sell a cheap device with even more features than the previous high-end, there's always more room for extra features people didn't know they wanted, especially when those extra features come in a device that's cheaper than their old device.
Last edited by Ninjalawyer; 04-09-2012 at 04:41 PM. |
04-09-2012, 05:01 PM | #19 | |
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It's just that a high end PC is very much higher end than it was in 1985. Actually the prices are decreasing, but only in terms of the dollar not being worth as much today as it was then. |
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04-09-2012, 05:10 PM | #20 | |
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I especially enjoyed Mr. Welles' line about "the premature arrival of the future." That's even better than the monologue at the beginning of Plan 9 from Outer Space: "We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. . . ." Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 04-09-2012 at 05:13 PM. |
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04-09-2012, 05:27 PM | #21 |
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Prices for computers really have plummeted. I remember in the 1990's reading articles speculating about computers costing less than $1,000. Inflation makes the price drop even bigger. Ite IBM PC sold for $1,565, which would be nearly $4,000 today.
http://inventors.about.com/od/comput...t/a/Ibm-Pc.htm |
04-09-2012, 06:17 PM | #22 |
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Not exactly exponential anymore. For most folks, we already have excess CPU power available for desktop computers and laptops. Outside of benchmarking and specialized applications, you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference between a $1000 hexa-core Core i7 Sandy Bridge-EX and a $50 dual-core Celeron Sandy Bridge. The move in x86 right now is more towards integration and lower power consumption.
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04-09-2012, 07:40 PM | #23 |
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I was dithering on the ereader issue for a few months and finally bought the Nook Touch last Thanksgiving. I'm happy enough with it and am more than happy with the ebook experience in general. My only "want" is that my Nook to play audiobooks. There are plenty of Overdrive audiobooks that aren't available in ePub. I should have done a little research into it as I now know there are ereaders out there that do play audio. It's not a huge issue (I won't be switching anytime soon) but it's something I'll keep in mind when I do buy another one.
I have a Sandisk music player but I can no longer access it when it's hooked up to my computer. It still works and the battery still charges but since I can't access its hard drive, I can't hook it up to Overdrive. I have my music on a 16gb SDHC microdisk but Overdrive won't work with it. In any case, it would be nice to have all the books-e and audio on one device, my ereader. |
04-09-2012, 08:19 PM | #24 |
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I think that the 6 inch black and white eInk reader is a classic design not in much need of improvement.
In ten or twenty years, it should be possible to make them so they never need battery charging, even if mostly kept in the dark. That will be nice. Lower prices combined with more durability (gorilla glass?) would be undoubted pluses. But I don't think improvements are urgent. And I think that the device changes we are likely to see will be be more helpful in making purchases from the like of Amazon than in actually improving the experience of reading long texts. |
04-09-2012, 09:30 PM | #25 |
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As far as just reading books (fiction and non-fiction) is concerned, the current crop of e-ink readers is more than good enough for me. I would, however, like to have a tablet with a better screen technology. Perhaps a future generation of Mirasol or similar. An all-in-one device of reading books, magazines, websites, and newspapers; that is also fast enough to play videos and with a long lasting battery.
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04-09-2012, 11:24 PM | #26 |
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I didn't upgrade my K3 to a K4 because I don't care that much about touch. But if they had introduced a meaningfully improved screen (say, the same improvement as there was between the k2 and k3), I would have definitely upgraded. E-ink screens still have quite a bit of room for improvement.
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04-10-2012, 04:25 AM | #27 | |
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04-10-2012, 08:03 AM | #28 | |
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04-10-2012, 08:37 AM | #29 |
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Improvements that would get me to buy a new ereader would include:
But, tis not to be. So, I'll settle for my K3 with just a few books on it and do my reading at home. |
04-10-2012, 09:17 AM | #30 | ||
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Those increases in transistor density, married to falling costs, haven't just made desktops better either. They've made modern cellphones and entire other branches of technology possible, which by the standards of 1985 would be computational wonders. Just like finding the forest when you're surrounded by a bunch of dumb trees, it's hard to see the revolution when you're in it, and the computer revolution never ended. Quote:
Last edited by Ninjalawyer; 04-10-2012 at 09:21 AM. |
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diatribe, gadget, ramble, upgrade |
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