60 Years of Progress
Comparison
Though the principle behind the design of computers hasn't changed much over 60 years, the performance and efficiency has increased dramatically. You can compare the performance of the processor in your phone by racing the baby.
| The Baby | Modern computer embedded in a phone (ARM 11) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Size: | 5.23m x 2.26 m | 1mm x 1.5mm |
| Weight: | 1 tonne | <1g |
| Power Consumption: | 3500W | 99mW (0.099W) |
| Speed: | 100 kHz (100,000 per second) | 320 MHz (320,000,000 per second) |
| Data Width: | 32 | 32 |
| Storage Capacity: | 1024 bits | 128,000 bits[1] |
| Cost: | About £4,000,000 | <£0.50 |
| Number Produced: | 1 | > 1,000,000,000 |
[1]not including additional storage in other chips. Desktop computers tend to have much more memory (at least 4,000,000,000 bits).
| The Baby | Modern phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Display: | 32 x 32 dots (1024) 2 colours, one lightbulb | 320 x 240 dots (76,800) 16,777,216 colours |
| Total Storage: | 1024 bits | 68,719,476,736 bits |
| Interface: | Individual keys to enter data bit by bit | Keyboard for letters of alphabet, predictive text, graphical menus, touch screen, voice recognition, multiple cameras |
| Extras: | GPS calculates position to 5m anywhere in world, video, sound, runs Java programs, word processor |
Although it is very expensive to design a new processor (multi-millions), they are cheap to produce because of the volume of sales (many millions). Embedded processors sell in massive volumes due to their versatility (see Computers Everywhere) because they can be programmed to perform many tasks in a range of applications. It is this re-programmability that was the pioneering feature of the Baby.