3 ms·

Please. They have always been meaningless. In the 80s we were trying to compare Amigas, PCs and Macs. Well the PC had faster scrolling in its word processors,

Please. They have always been meaningless. In the 80s we were trying to compare Amigas, PCs and Macs. Well the PC had faster scrolling in its word processors, because it used text-mode graphics (the entire screen was 4KB, so it could scroll fast). The Amiga and Mac had wysiwyg, but rendered slower because of that. You picked what you felt was important; UX or compatibility. What was the point of comparing 80x86s with 68000s. What was the point of comparing RAM when the software using the ram was different. Or how about screen resolutions? I had a PC with 1024x768 pixels which was more than the Amigas, but hardly any software used the resolution or supported it. My friends' amigas had tonnes of software -- That all ran of floppies. In the 90s it was PowerPC vs. Pentium debate. We never found out which was faster, and we didn't really care. Specs are useful if the software/system running on it is identical. They didn't become any more meaningless or meaningful than they were 20 years ago. What we want now is the same thing we wanted 20 years ago. Responsive software! The specs will not tell you if it is responsive or not, but it can often give you a hint as to which of two devices with identical software is more responsive. It is just that you cannot easily compare apples and androids, just as you couldn't compare Macs and PCs, or even cars from different brands using specs. ... This is nothing new! But perhaps people are just realizing it... again!

mikeleeorg 15y ago
I was just about to say the same thing. If you look outside the innovator & early adopter markets - to the early & late majority markets - you'll find a lot of confusion over specs. They'll glance them over, then make a choice by: 1) The brand 2) The price 3) The look & feel of it 4) A friend's recommendation 5) A salesperson's recommendation They might glance at specs, not to make a hard analytical comparison, but to rule out what they fear might not be a good machine. Then, with their top choices, it's other factors that influence their purchase decision.

mikeleeorg 15y ago

I was just about to say the same thing. If you look outside the innovator & early adopter markets - to the early & late majority markets - you'll find a lot of confusion over specs. They'll glance them over, then make a choice by: 1) The brand 2) The price 3) The look & feel of it 4) A friend's recommendation 5) A salesperson's recommendation They might glance at specs, not to make a hard analytical comparison, but to rule out what they fear might not be a good machine. Then, with their top choices, it's other factors that influence their purchase decision.