Back in 1987, computer processors were going through somewhat of a major evolution. While software was still stuck in the land of 16-bit, the Intel x86 series processors were reaching 32bit performance. In the case of the Intel 386, there wasn’t even any software for it – the raw speed alone was enough for people to want to upgrade to the new processor.
Imagine today if you could purchase a processor for your computer that you could just pop in and boom – you would get triple the speed of what you are currently running. That was the nature of things back then, where raw speed and computational power was growing in far more direct ways than they do today.
Don’t get me wrong, thing are still getting better – processors are getting more power efficient, are running more complicated calculations more quickly, and are increasing in speed, certainly, but the improvements aren’t as drastic at first glance as they were back 30 year ago.
Before we get to the Computer Chronicles episode, I gotta warn you, this episode is incredibly boring. There isn’t anything too special in this episode when you compare it to some others, even from this era, but it’s still worth sharing and discussing considering this was the state of computers 30 years ago, and the Intel 386 was a very important processor in computing history.
Enjoy