Computer chips are changing more quickly than ever, due to increasing demand. These changes are changing the way that we use computers, and the way of life. Some of the new advances in computers are listed below.
Microprocessing units are advancing more quickly than any other type of chip in recent years. This trend will no doubt continue in the coming years with the introduction of the Intel Pentium 4. This microprocessor will most likely be introduced at 1.4 gHz, and will gradually increase in speed during it's lifetime. If this MPU grows in terms of speed as much as the Pentium III, then it might eventually reach speeds of 3.5 gHz in a couple of years, an incredible speed considering that computers of two years ago had a maximum clock speed of 0.450 gHz in high-end Pentium II MPUs.
Another area of computers that has greatly changed in the last few years is the amount of memory, and the type of memory. When the first personal computers were released, one was able to increase their amount of memory to 256 kilobytes by having a couple of double-sided SIMMs that were the length of the entire motherboard, but now one is able to buy a SIMM of approximately 10 centimetres in length that contains 256 megabytes of RAM. Despite this massive amount of random access memory (over 200,000 times the amount memory of the Intel 1103), some people want an increasing amount of faster memory. There have been several theories proposed of ways to store memory. One idea is MRAM, or Magnetic Random Access Memory. This technology is much similar to the magnetic cores of the past, but would be faster, more reliable, less money, and would have more capacity. This would be achieved by having layers of magnetic film, as opposed to the metal rings of the core memory. This technology would mean that a computer would take only seconds to start, and a system crash would be less devastating because the memory would not be volatile like the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) of today.
Integrated circuits have grown enormously in terms of complexity and performance over the last few years. In the last ten years, the maximum clock speed of a desktop computer has risen from 50 mHz to 1130 mHz, about a 2000% increase in clock speed. In addition, chips are being used in an increasing number of products. These products range from cell phones, to electronic toys, to cameras, and many other consumer products. These chips are used so frequently today that it would be hard to imagine living without them now.