3 ms·

To use a good point of reference that I've seen others also start using lately, an installation of Windows 95 is roughly 40MB, so in loading that page you've do

To use a good point of reference that I've seen others also start using lately, an installation of Windows 95 is roughly 40MB, so in loading that page you've downloaded approximately one Windows 95 installation. Then another 10+ times with the 500MB more that came after.

dehrmann 7mo ago
That's not a fair comparison. A desktop wallpaper could be 8 MB for a modern OS just because of screen resolution. A 4-minute music video would probably be 100 MB.
- abustamam 7mo ago
  But PC gamer isn't downloading 8mb wallpapers or 100mb 4k music videos. They're downloading ads and and other nonsense. Plus, if I decide to download a music video, that's on me. I chose to download a 100mb file. If I just want to read what amounts to a few paragraphs of text with some branding, I don't think it's fair to say that I'm also choosing to download 40+mb of nonsense that isn't text. Maybe in this new modern web, that is a conscious decision I make by clicking on any link anywhere, but I think the point of the article is that it shouldn't be the case.
  - pas 7mo ago
    not using an adblocker is also on the user yes, it would be better if all ads were text only, so there wouldn't be this adtech fucking warfare for people's attention
    - userbinator 7mo ago
      I don't mind small non-animated banners either, but anything animated or even audio is a hard DO NOT WANT.
    - abustamam 7mo ago
      The casual user likely doesn't know what an ad blocker is, and many who do likely have one of those ad blockers that may reduce the number of ads displayed but collect everything about your browsing habits. It's very likely that ad providers expect that.
    - deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
  - joquarky 7mo ago
    They need to have more ads so that they can afford to pay for the bandwidth used by all of the ads.
- userbinator 7mo ago
  It's still useful for comprehending the scale of volume. The useful part of the article is a few KB.
Aurornis 7mo ago
I don’t think comparisons to native compiled code for old low resolution computers are all that valid for multimedia websites. I can take a single photo with my iPhone that is larger than a Windows 95 installation depending on my output settings.
- edoloughlin 7mo ago
  And that’s fine because that photo (probably) has some utility to you. The 39.99MB of ads accompanying the 2KB of text you want to read possibly has less utility to you.
  - jojobas 7mo ago
    As you might be aware, you're not the one paying for it so your utility is not really on the table. Also consider the utility of an ad blocker.
    - toast0 7mo ago
      A lot of people are paying for their data. If a web page uses 40 mb and you have 4GB of data quota per month, you can only load 100 pages per month. Apparently the article text describes the page actually using 500 MB over 5 minutes, which means a 4GB quota can be used for less than an hour of reading. Maybe it's different if advertisers or publishers are paying viewer's data costs. But some amount of restraint might be nice. Personally, I don't use a lot on my phone when I'm out and about, other than chat apps, hn, text NPR and lite CNN, cause I used to be on a plan with a hard cutoff. But then, I have unmetered networking at home.
      - jojobas 7mo ago
        I mean, the utility that matters is the utility for PC Gamer of showing everyone the ads vs some people refusing to read them over data concerns. You might be paying for data, but you're not paying PC Gamer for reading them, so your opinion only starts to matter when you quit reading them over how much data they use.
throwaway5465 7mo ago
Windows XP + Encarta. The future is today!
- reaperducer 7mo ago
  Encarta You can still subscribe to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. It's one way of avoiding AI garbage.
- vitaflo 7mo ago
  Windows XP install disk is 600 MB, so pretty close to that on this website already.
- qmr 7mo ago
  Mind maze!
zahlman 7mo ago
Put another way, the initial page would barely fit (by itself) on the first hard drive I ever used.

dehrmann 7mo ago

That's not a fair comparison. A desktop wallpaper could be 8 MB for a modern OS just because of screen resolution. A 4-minute music video would probably be 100 MB.

abustamam 7mo ago
But PC gamer isn't downloading 8mb wallpapers or 100mb 4k music videos. They're downloading ads and and other nonsense. Plus, if I decide to download a music video, that's on me. I chose to download a 100mb file. If I just want to read what amounts to a few paragraphs of text with some branding, I don't think it's fair to say that I'm also choosing to download 40+mb of nonsense that isn't text. Maybe in this new modern web, that is a conscious decision I make by clicking on any link anywhere, but I think the point of the article is that it shouldn't be the case.
- pas 7mo ago
  not using an adblocker is also on the user yes, it would be better if all ads were text only, so there wouldn't be this adtech fucking warfare for people's attention
  - userbinator 7mo ago
    I don't mind small non-animated banners either, but anything animated or even audio is a hard DO NOT WANT.
  - abustamam 7mo ago
    The casual user likely doesn't know what an ad blocker is, and many who do likely have one of those ad blockers that may reduce the number of ads displayed but collect everything about your browsing habits. It's very likely that ad providers expect that.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
- joquarky 7mo ago
  They need to have more ads so that they can afford to pay for the bandwidth used by all of the ads.
userbinator 7mo ago
It's still useful for comprehending the scale of volume. The useful part of the article is a few KB.

Aurornis 7mo ago

I don’t think comparisons to native compiled code for old low resolution computers are all that valid for multimedia websites. I can take a single photo with my iPhone that is larger than a Windows 95 installation depending on my output settings.

edoloughlin 7mo ago
And that’s fine because that photo (probably) has some utility to you. The 39.99MB of ads accompanying the 2KB of text you want to read possibly has less utility to you.
- jojobas 7mo ago
  As you might be aware, you're not the one paying for it so your utility is not really on the table. Also consider the utility of an ad blocker.
  - toast0 7mo ago
    A lot of people are paying for their data. If a web page uses 40 mb and you have 4GB of data quota per month, you can only load 100 pages per month. Apparently the article text describes the page actually using 500 MB over 5 minutes, which means a 4GB quota can be used for less than an hour of reading. Maybe it's different if advertisers or publishers are paying viewer's data costs. But some amount of restraint might be nice. Personally, I don't use a lot on my phone when I'm out and about, other than chat apps, hn, text NPR and lite CNN, cause I used to be on a plan with a hard cutoff. But then, I have unmetered networking at home.
    - jojobas 7mo ago
      I mean, the utility that matters is the utility for PC Gamer of showing everyone the ads vs some people refusing to read them over data concerns. You might be paying for data, but you're not paying PC Gamer for reading them, so your opinion only starts to matter when you quit reading them over how much data they use.

throwaway5465 7mo ago

Windows XP + Encarta. The future is today!

reaperducer 7mo ago
Encarta You can still subscribe to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. It's one way of avoiding AI garbage.
vitaflo 7mo ago
Windows XP install disk is 600 MB, so pretty close to that on this website already.
qmr 7mo ago
Mind maze!

zahlman 7mo ago

Put another way, the initial page would barely fit (by itself) on the first hard drive I ever used.