Why low powered PC hardware matters

It feels like such a long time ago that we could count on exponential improvements in computing power. The leaps between one generation of consoles in the early days was massive, just as it was between graphics cards in the PC space. However, it is becoming clear that those days are long gone. The computer hardware industry has been ransacked by Grand Theft Autocomplete (AI), collusion by DRAM manufacturers and other geopolitical issues. We’re now in the odd position where computer parts actually appreciate over time. We are then left with a choice –pay well over the odds for hardware, or make do with what we’ve got. Brute force The trouble with rapidly advancing hardware performance is it allowed developers to skip the part of the development process which ensures their product will actually perform at an acceptable level on the customer’s machine. It was assumed that it may run badly now, but new hardware will fix it later by sheer force. This idea seems at odds with the reality of…