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

Commodore · 1977

Commodore PET 2001

An all-in-one with screen, keyboard and tape deck in one steel case.

CPU	MOS 6502 @ 1 MHz
Memory	8 KB
Storage	Built-in cassette
Launch price	$795 ≈ $4,120 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 1 million× the memory of the Commodore PET 2001 and a clock 3,000× faster.

They are 48 years apart. Doubling every two years (Moore's law) would predict about 16.8 million×; the memory actually grew slower than that. Across the whole catalogue memory doubled every 1.9 years.

Memory8 KB vs 8 GB

Clock speed1 MHz vs 3 GHz

Bars use a logarithmic scale so both machines stay visible.

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