Old vs new tech: the march of gaming progress

We know that the PC master race will always look down their noses at the console peasants, while the console gamers will laugh out the outrageous costs and hassle of PC gaming – but how did we even get to this point?

Below we take a look at the machines that started it all, from the likes of pioneers Apple, Intel, and Atari.

Imagine living in a gaming world of 80’s technology:

Hardware	Processing Power	Ram	Storage	Price	Drive	Numbers Sold	Released
PlayStation 4	Semi-custom AMD APU (8 Core)	8GB DDR 5	500GB	$399	Blu-Ray	4.3 Million	Nov-13
Xbox One	Custom AMD APU (8 Core, 1.7Ghz)	8GB DDR3	500GB	$499	Blu-Ray	3 Million	Nov-13
Wii U	IBM PowerPC (3 core, 1.24GHz)	2GB	8GB/32GB	$249	DVD Rom	4.4 Million	Nov-12
Xbox 360	IBM PC 3.2GHz	512MB GDDR3	4GB-250GB	$299	DVD Rom	80 Million	May-05
PlayStation 3	IMB Cell 3.2GHz	XRD Dram 256MB	12GB-1TB	$299	Blu-Ray	80 Million	Nov-06
iPhone 5S	Dual Core 1.3GHz ARM v8	1GB DDR3	16/32/64GB	$499	None	9.75 Million	Nov-13

Hardware	Processing Power	Ram	Storage	Price	Drive	Numbers Sold	Released
Apple 1	1.0MHz	4K,65K Max	Cassette	$666.66	Cassette	200	1976
PC (Intel 8088)	5MHz	16K,640 Max	160KB 5.25” Disk Drive	$1,565	Floppy Disk	50,000	1979
Atari 400	1.8MHz	8K	External Floppy Drive	$549	Cassette	2.5 Million	1979
Apple 2	1.0MHz	4 K,48K Max	Cassette	$1,298	143K Floppy	5 Million	1979
Atari Stacy	8MHz	1MB/4MB	720K Internal FloppyDrive	$1,995	3.5″ Floppy	5 Million	1987
Macintosh Powerbook	25MHz	2MB/8MB	20;40;80MB HDD	$2,299	3.5″ Floppy	100,000	1991

Intel

All PC’s built in early 1979 to 1982 were equipped with the Intel 8088; this 40 pin CPU was capable of a blistering 10MHz clock rate.

In the early 80’s Intel introduced a new 80186 model capable of a 25MHz clock speed. Fast forward to 2014 and we now have Core i7, which is capable of 3.40GHz.

Intel 8088

Apple

Although the Macintosh PowerBook is the most powerful out of the old tech on the list, it was discontinued just a year into release, but not before it could sell 100,000 units in just 3 months.

The Apple II Computer was dubbed as one of the most popular computers ever made, even though it ran the same processor at the same speed, it was a vast improvement over the Apple I.

We now have iMacs – Apple’s all-in-one Computers that come in Intel Core i3/5/7 variants.

Apple I computer, with a home made wooden computer case.

Atari

The Atari 400 was designed as a PC for children, with its “state of the art” wipe clean keyboard and pressure sensitive keys.

The Atari 400 even had a solid metal frame to keep radio emissions under the legal limit; heavy stuff. It really looks like something out of Fallout 3.

Atari 400

Ah, the good old days – when a PC was almost the size of your living room. How far we have come.

Even comparing an iPhone 5S to the old tech, the phone has more of everything in terms of RAM, CPU, and storage space – all in the palm of your hand.

Today’s technology not only looks better but runs 100 times faster.

Just imagine where we will be in 20 years time; looking back and laughing at our “high-end” cellphones and telling people how our PS4’s and Xbox One’s were once cutting-edge, ground-breaking tech.