10 ms·

So the idea that performing the same daily tasks on modern hardware feels about the same speed as before (and sometimes slower), doesn't have a ring of truth to

So the idea that performing the same daily tasks on modern hardware feels about the same speed as before (and sometimes slower), doesn't have a ring of truth to you?

djur 5y ago
No. Modern computers seem considerably faster to me than the ones I was using in the '90s and early '00s, especially computers that are 4-5 years old running recent software. I remember a lot of choppiness and spinning hourglasses which are much less common today.
- loonster 5y ago
  We have SSDs now. That alone made a huge improvement.
- normac2 5y ago
  That's how I remember the late 90's and early 2000's specifically, which I think was an especially dark age for the speed of the overall software + hardware combo. but if we go a bit more recent (say 2005 to today) I mostly haven't perceived a gain in speed. That said, I think in the last very few years it's turned around a bit, mainly due to SSDs. In my experience most times that software is painfully slow (in any era) it's because you have too many things open and you're swapping. And SSDs provide acceptable speed even when swapping. In other words, I find modern machines to be roughly as slow as ~2005, but only up to the very recent years when SSDs have become the norm. Now I'm starting to finally feel things being faster overall.
- randomswede 5y ago
  My daily-driver linux UI (fvwm something or other, whatever the fvwm that comes with Debian 10) is noticeably slower than my daily-driver linux UI as per 1997-2002 (gwm). Which is somewhat ironic, as gwm was basically an interpreter with a bunch of built-in X11 manipulation primitives. But, back then, getting the "desktop context menu" up too approximately no perceivable time, whereas these days I notice time passing. I don't think that is because my reflexes have improved massively in the last 20 years.

10 ms·

So the idea that performing the same daily tasks on modern hardware feels about the same speed as before (and sometimes slower), doesn't have a ring of truth to

by normac2 5y ago

So the idea that performing the same daily tasks on modern hardware feels about the same speed as before (and sometimes slower), doesn't have a ring of truth to you?

djur 5y ago
No. Modern computers seem considerably faster to me than the ones I was using in the '90s and early '00s, especially computers that are 4-5 years old running recent software. I remember a lot of choppiness and spinning hourglasses which are much less common today.
- loonster 5y ago
  We have SSDs now. That alone made a huge improvement.
- normac2 5y ago
  That's how I remember the late 90's and early 2000's specifically, which I think was an especially dark age for the speed of the overall software + hardware combo. but if we go a bit more recent (say 2005 to today) I mostly haven't perceived a gain in speed. That said, I think in the last very few years it's turned around a bit, mainly due to SSDs. In my experience most times that software is painfully slow (in any era) it's because you have too many things open and you're swapping. And SSDs provide acceptable speed even when swapping. In other words, I find modern machines to be roughly as slow as ~2005, but only up to the very recent years when SSDs have become the norm. Now I'm starting to finally feel things being faster overall.
- randomswede 5y ago
  My daily-driver linux UI (fvwm something or other, whatever the fvwm that comes with Debian 10) is noticeably slower than my daily-driver linux UI as per 1997-2002 (gwm). Which is somewhat ironic, as gwm was basically an interpreter with a bunch of built-in X11 manipulation primitives. But, back then, getting the "desktop context menu" up too approximately no perceivable time, whereas these days I notice time passing. I don't think that is because my reflexes have improved massively in the last 20 years.