Tech Evangelist Joey deVilla on software development, tech news and other nerdy stuff
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Are there any computers available today that come in that particular shade of blue, with matching chair?
Click the photo to see it at full size. Photo courtesy of retrofuture.
This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.
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Alternate titles for this ad: 150 Receding Hairlines! 150 Giant Foreheads!
Click the ad to see it at full size.
Here’s the text of the ad:
150 Extra Engineers
An IBM Electronic Calculator speeds through thousands of intricate computations so quickly that on many complex problems it’s like having 150 EXTRA Engineers.
No longer must valuable engineering personnel…now in critical shortage…spend priceless creative time at routine repetitive figuring.
Thousands of IBM Electronic Business Machines…vital to our nation’s defense…are at work for science, industry and the armed forces, in laboratories, factories and offices, helping to meet urgent demands for greater production.
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Here’s an idea sent to me by a friend of mine who’s not a computer programmer, but a “suit” working at a Bay Street firm in Toronto (for those of you not from Canada, “Bay Street” is Canadian for “Wall Street”).
Consider two systems, with specs as shown below:
| Component | System A | System B |
| Processor | Intel 1.6 GHz w/ 533 MHz bus | Intel 1.6 GHz w/ 533 MHz bus |
| Memory | 1 GB RAM | 512 KB RAM |
| Hard drive | 160 GB, 5400 RPM | 80 GB, 5400 RPM |
| Display | 1024 * 600 WSVGA | 1024 * 768 WSVGA |
| Graphics card | 3D-capable graphics card, also capable of extending the screen onto an external monitor | 3D-capable graphics card, also capable of extending the screen onto an external monitor |
| Networking | 802.11b/g wifi | 802.11b/g wifi |
| Operating system | Windows XP (and probably runs Windows 7 just fine) | Windows XP (and probably runs Windows 7 just fine) |
Although the systems are quite similar, they are from two different generations of portable computer:
Which one is System A and which one is System B?
It turns out that System A is the current-model netbook and System B is the 5-year old laptop.
My friend writes:
Netbooks are nothing other than stripped down laptops stuffed into smaller boxes. You wouldn’t buy a 5 year old notebook with the expectation that it would perform like a new one, would you?
The analogy I used when I bough a netbook is that it is like the second vehicle. I use it to run around town and do the small errands. It’s small, convenient and easy on gas but for the heavy lifting or processing, I use my laptop SUV/Minivan.
Previous entries in the Netbooks Suck series of articles:
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![Old Apple ][ ad featuring Ben Franklin: "What Kind of Man Owns His Own Computer?"](http://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/apple-ben-franklin-ad.jpg "Old Apple ][ ad featuring Ben Franklin: \"What Kind of Man Owns His Own Computer?\"")
Click the ad to see it at full size.
From roughly the same time as the Honeywell “What the Heck is Electronic Mail?” advertisement I showed you earlier, comes this Apple ad for the original Apple ][ computer. You have to remember that this was a time when most people didn’t have a computer at their desk; in fact, if an office had a computer, it had just one. And the desktop computers of that era had far less processor power (they typically has 1 MHz 8-bit chips like the Z80 or 6502) and RAM (maximum address space was 64K; machines typically maxed out at 48K RAM) than even the cheapest of today’s mobile phones. And yes, that’s a standard TV set being used as a monitor – its highest resolution was 280 by 192 pixels.
The tricky part about creating such an ad is trying to convince people of that era that they needed a computer. Remember, in those days computers were relegated to their own rooms, the fax machine was still new, mobile phones were toys for the rich and were carried in their own briefcases and when office and even legal documents were typed or written out in longhand. I’ve been trying to think of a present-day analogue for a late 1970s/early 1980s computer ad, but I’m drawing a blank.
Here’s the text of the ad:
What kind of man owns his own computer?
Rather revolutionary, the whole idea of owning your own computer? Not if you’re a diplomat, printer, scientist, inventor…or a kite designer, too. Today there’s Apple Computer. It’s designed to be a personal computer. To uncomplicate your life. And make you more effective.
It’s a wise man who owns an Apple.
If your time means money, Apple can help you make more of it. In an age of specialists, the most successful specialists stay away from uncreative drudgery. That’s where Apple comes in.
Apple is a real computer, right to the core. So just like big computers, it manages data, crunches numbers and prints reports. You concentrate on what you do best. And let Apple do the rest. Apple makes that easy with three programming languages – including Pascal – that let you be your own software expert.
Apple, the computer worth not waiting for
Time waiting for access to your company’s big mainframe is time wasted. What you need in your department – on yourdesk – is a computer that answers only to you…Apple Computer. It’s less expensive than timesharing. More dependable than distributed processing. Far more flexible than centralized EDP. And, at less than $2500 (as shown), downright affordable.
Visit your local computer store
You can join the personal computer revolution by visiting the Apple dealer in your neighborhood. We’ll give you his name when you call our toll-free number…
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