Head to head

Compare any two computers

Pick two machines from 50 years of computing, or pit one against the phone in your pocket. Every number comes from the atlas catalogue.

Computer A

Computer B

MITS · 1975

Altair 8800

Programmed with front-panel switches. Microsoft's very first product was BASIC for the Altair.

CPU	Intel 8080 @ 2 MHz
Memory	256 bytes
Storage	None (toggle switches)
Launch price	$439 ≈ $2,560 today
In the atlas	Be the first to add it

Various · 2025

A 2025 flagship phone

The computer most people now carry.

CPU	8-core ARM @ 3 GHz
Memory	8 GB
Storage	256 GB flash

The verdict

The A 2025 flagship phone has 33.6 million× the memory of the Altair 8800 and a clock 1,500× faster.

They are 50 years apart. Doubling every two years (Moore's law) would predict about 33.6 million×; the memory actually grew slower than that. Across the whole catalogue memory doubled every 1.9 years.

Memory256 bytes vs 8 GB

Clock speed2 MHz vs 3 GHz

Bars use a logarithmic scale so both machines stay visible.

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