From room‑sized to pocket‑sized – the evolution of computers
What was your first contact with a computer? For some, it might have been a bulky desktop at school, a gaming console in the living room, or even a first smartphone that seemed impossibly small yet powerful.
Computers used to fill entire rooms. The earliest mainframes were massive, slow, and expensive, yet today, the smartphones in our pockets are millions of times more powerful. How did we get from those giant machines to tiny, high‑speed devices that fit in your hand?
Rather than summarising decades of technological leaps ourselves, here’s an excellent visual explainer from Branch Education. The video explores the evolution of computers over the past 80 years and looks ahead to the future of computing and AI processors – from transistor counts to fundamental shifts in technology.
What’s your strongest memory of a computer or gaming system? For me, it has to be one Christmas morning when I found a Nintendo already set up in the living room. Goodbye to the static Game & Watch devices, and hello to the 8‑bit world. The same feeling hit me in the early ’90s when my old NES gave way to a Super Nintendo – each leap felt like stepping into a whole new world. It wasn’t just about more pixels or better sound; each generation transformed everything and sparked a lifelong interest in computers and technology.
