I think the point of getting more powerful processors is not just for everyday use, but increasing the overall computing power in the world. Imagine getting back the results from Folding@Home in a week, rather than a couple years... sequencing genomes etc... There are very valid purposes for computationally powerful machines, just because WE don't know of any (in our daily lives), doesn't mean that there aren't any (hehe, agnostic argument).
If someone were to say to me, that the number of kids on computers today doing the things they do was not directly related to computational power, I wouldn't believe them. The more power, the further the abstraction from what computers really are underneath, hence the broader user base.
If my old computer that my mom uses were 100x as powerful, it would be smart enough to go look online as to why it's having errors printing, and I'd never have to venture out of my cave in the basement:-) Good enough reason for me.
On the question of cheaper cameras versus the more expensive ones, I helped buy my girlfriend a Minolta Dimage 5, 3 megapixel, all sorts of super settings, and recently got my father a cannon S30 3 megapixel also, but compact. The S30 is about 300$ less, and pops out perfect pictures everytime, the Dimage 5 is more a conundrum than anything. Bill
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I think the point of getting more powerful processors is not just for everyday use, but increasing the overall computing power in the world. Imagine getting back the results from Folding@Home in a week, rather than a couple years... sequencing genomes etc... There are very valid purposes for computationally powerful machines, just because WE don't know of any (in our daily lives), doesn't mean that there aren't any (hehe, agnostic argument).
:-) Good enough reason for me.
If someone were to say to me, that the number of kids on computers today doing the things they do was not directly related to computational power, I wouldn't believe them. The more power, the further the abstraction from what computers really are underneath, hence the broader user base.
If my old computer that my mom uses were 100x as powerful, it would be smart enough to go look online as to why it's having errors printing, and I'd never have to venture out of my cave in the basement
I just wanted to say I share similar sentiments.
On the question of cheaper cameras versus the more expensive ones, I helped buy my girlfriend a Minolta Dimage 5, 3 megapixel, all sorts of super settings, and recently got my father a cannon S30 3 megapixel also, but compact. The S30 is about 300$ less, and pops out perfect pictures everytime, the Dimage 5 is more a conundrum than anything. Bill