Over the last few weeks I have seen a few TV advertisements for dual core computers. The scene is usually some cheerful and uncharacteristically helpful saleswoman helping some thirty-something male buy a new computer for “Work and music”. The line that seems to come up in them all is “This ones dual core, meaning you can run two programs at once. Like checking your email whilst listening to music.” Or something like that.
Okay, I’ve studied computer architecture enough to understand how processors deal with tasks. The more cores, the more operations it can perform simultaneously - but not since the Acorn BBC we used in primary school have I had any trouble running multiple applications at once. In fact, I have a single processor machine and I am currently browsing the Internet, checking my mail, running a web server, connected to MSN, downloading Podcasts and listening to music in iTunes, simultaneously.
The target audience of any television advertisement for computer hardware are those that don’t know enough to be able to say “That’s BS!” - and suggesting to them that in order to multi-task then you must purchase a more expensive dual core computer. It’s fair enough to say that this is the way that computers are going, and that they dramatically improve performance, but anyone taken in by such a statement probably wont be running After Effects.
I hate computer retailers.
