> now have powerful microcomputers small enough to fit into a USB plug Like 20 years ago? 32 bit micros were actually not that far behind low end CPUs until th

> now have powerful microcomputers small enough to fit into a USB plug Like 20 years ago? 32 bit micros were actually not that far behind low end CPUs until they start to fall off dramatically in the 90, and post-90nm age because perf was good enough. After nineties, CPU improvements were guided as much by software getting worse, slower, and more shoddily written, than genuine need for more raw computing power.