# How much better is the iPod touch than your first computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318 "2009-02-03T22:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/1 "2009-02-03T22:13:39Z")
My first computer was purchased in 1995 for about 800 dollars, and had a 200mb hard drive. The middle-of-the-line ipod touch 2nd gen today costs 300 dollars, and has a 16gb hard drive, making it about 80 times better than my first computer. I can’t find specs for processing or video output power for the iPod touch, but I’m estimating they’re at least 10, and possibly up to 20 times better than my first computer. The device is about 30 times smaller than all the internal components of my first computer, and probably 200 times smaller if you include the peripherals like keyboard and speakers and power/input cords, but don’t include the case or monitor. If you compare size multiplied by power, my new iPod is 80x200 = 16,000 times better than my first computer from less than 15 years ago, and cost less than half the price, which is probably closer to 1/3 of the price after factoring in inflation. So how does your first computer hold up to the 2nd generation iPod touch? ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/2 "2009-02-03T22:18:51Z")
My first computer was a Commodore 64. Processing power was about 1 Mhz Ram was 64 Kb It didn’t have a hard drive. It had 5.25" floppy discs that programs were run from. The resolution was a crappy CRT tv that had a single coax input. But it DID have a printer. Suck it Ipod! ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/3 "2009-02-03T22:27:42Z")
My first computer was a Mac Plus. I remember buying [Ultima III](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_III:_Exodus) for that thing and thinking that it was the coolest game on the face of the earth. Now, a practically infinite number of games several orders of magnitude cooler than Ultima can be had for free on an iPod Touch. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/4 "2009-02-03T22:47:17Z")
Pah! The first computer we had had home (until my dad sent it back) was a Sinclair ZX80 which had 1kb of RAM. It couldn’t do decimals, so 10/3=3. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember how many MP3s it could hold. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/5 "2009-02-03T22:53:53Z")
My first computer was a Timex/Sinclair 1000. I had the awesome upgrade of 16K. Of course, if you moved just right, the extra memory would fall off and crash the computer. After running for a while, the keyboard was quite toasty. I bet no iPod has a hand-warming feature. Forget comparing the T/S to an iPod. My wristwatch has more computing power than my old computer. My car’s onboard computer has more power. Still, I whiled away many hours with the ol’ T/S. (Lots of those hours were spent waiting for software to load from the tape recorder!) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/6 "2009-02-03T22:54:18Z")
I don’t even remember the specs of my Apple II, but my first Mac (Classic) had no hard drive, and could only take 800K floppies. Later, I upgraded to a 40MB HD. I remember being impressed that Zip disks could hold twice that and then some. I now have a 30GB iPod and the G1, which accepts 16GB miniSDs. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/7 "2009-02-03T22:58:32Z")
Ha! My first computer had a tape drive, so was more comparable to a Sony Walkman. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/8 "2009-02-03T23:05:09Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Now, a practically infinite number of games several orders of magnitude cooler than Ultima can be had for free on an iPod Touch. Ciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/9 "2009-02-03T23:11:13Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Now, a practically infinite number of games … can be had for free on an iPod Touch. Ah, but does the iPod Touch have the convenient “spend half a day typing in code from magazine” feature as a means of loading games onto it? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/10 "2009-02-03T23:15:09Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > My first computer was a Timex/Sinclair 1000. I had the awesome upgrade of 16K. Of course, if you moved just right, the extra memory would fall off and crash the computer. I had to duct tape my memory module (it was so big, a better name might be “brick”) to the back of my T/S1000, and even then, I had to be careful… especially given the way you had to type on that damn membrane keyboard (I had to “press and roll” my finger on each key). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/11 "2009-02-03T23:27:52Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > Pah! The first computer we had had home (until my dad sent it back) was a Sinclair ZX80 which had 1kb of RAM. It couldn’t do decimals, so 10/3=3. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember how many MP3s it could hold. I just checked PulledItOutOfMyAssipedia. The Sinclair ZX80 could hold -98,566,876 MP3s. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/12 "2009-02-03T23:29:56Z")
I had a VIC20. A picture of an iPod is more powerful. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/13 "2009-02-04T00:04:48Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > Pah! The first computer we had had home (until my dad sent it back) was a Sinclair ZX80 which had 1kb of RAM. It couldn’t do decimals, so 10/3=3. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember how many MP3s it could hold. Depends on the bit rate, among other things. But an average 3 1/2 minute MP3 on my computer encoded at 192 kbps takes up 4931 KB of memory. So your PC would have held 1/4931 of an MP3. Or 0.0002. Or 1/25 second of music. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/14 "2009-02-04T00:09:54Z")
The figure I’ve heard for processor speed on the Touch is 500 Mhz or so. I had a T/S 1000 as well. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/15 "2009-02-04T00:20:24Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > Pah! The first computer we had had home (until my dad sent it back) was a Sinclair ZX80 which had 1kb of RAM. It couldn’t do decimals, so 10/3=3. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember how many MP3s it could hold. My ZX80 came as a kit that had to be assembled. A lot of work for 1K of RAM and 4K of ROM. And you had to hook it up to a b&w TV (not included). ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/16 "2009-02-04T00:25:59Z")
I had played with other computers, but the first one I ever owned was an Amiga 1000. And, honestly, the Amiga has it all over my iPod Touch in some ways. There are entire classes of software that have never appeared on the iPod Touch - or on Windows or Mac for that matter. If I could find a genlock for my iPod Touch so I could overlay it’s graphics on live video, or a digitizer so I could sample and process video… But on the other hand, the Touch fits in my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/17 "2009-02-04T00:46:05Z")
My first computer was a low end Tandy that I bought because my kid’s school had logo, but there was a long wait for a little time on the computer. This thing could run logo. It had to be upgraded before it could do square roots, though. I forget if it was this machine or an early game machine that gave the boys serious giggles one day. Whichever it was, you gave it instructions and if you didn’t give it a recognizable one, it printed out: “I don’t know how to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” One of them got frustrated after repeated tries and typed in a bad word. They were entranced with the result and sat around giggling and thinking of more things that the machine could say it didn’t know how to do. Innocent times. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/18 "2009-02-04T00:52:40Z")
I know my C-64 had 40 columns of display. Looking at the spec sheet, I don’t think my iPhone has ANY. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/19 "2009-02-04T01:41:13Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > Ah, but does the iPod Touch have the convenient “spend half a day typing in code from magazine” feature as a means of loading games onto it? nope, that’s actually one of the things against the Apple terms of service. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318/20 "2009-02-04T02:25:09Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > Ah, but does the iPod Touch have the convenient “spend half a day typing in code from magazine” feature as a means of loading games onto it? My dad did that on our VIC-20 when I was a kid. That’s also how we got our first word processing program, Speedscript. It didn’t even have automatic line wrapping, if I remember correctly. Which was kind of an issue when you were trying to figure out how many words fit into an 80-column line on the printer using a 22-column screen. Today Cornetto is giving away cheap MP3 players in ice cream cones. I could literally go to the store today, buy an ice cream cone, get an MP3 player with orders of magnitude more power than that VIC-20, _for free_…and my reaction would probably be “I just got cheated out of a bite of ice cream”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-better-is-the-ipod-touch-than-your-first-computer/484318.md?page=2)