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.

Apple · 1998

Apple iMac G3

Translucent "Bondi Blue" plastic, USB ports and no floppy drive.

CPUPowerPC G3 @ 233 MHz
Memory32 MB
Storage4 GB hard disk, CD-ROM
Launch price$1,299 ≈ $2,500 today
In the atlasBe the first to add it
VS

Apple · 2020

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

No fan at all, and faster than most laptops of its day.

CPUApple M1 (8 cores) @ 3.2 GHz
Memory8 GB
Storage256 GB SSD
Launch price$999 ≈ $1,210 today
In the atlasBe the first to add it

The verdict

The Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020) has 256× the memory of the Apple iMac G3 and a clock 14× faster.

They are 22 years apart. Doubling every two years (Moore's law) would predict about 2,048×; the memory actually grew slower than that. Across the whole catalogue memory doubled every 1.9 years.

In today's money the Apple iMac G3 cost $1,290 more at launch.

Memory32 MB vs 8 GB
Clock speed233 MHz vs 3.2 GHz
Launch price, today's dollars$2,500 vs $1,210

Bars use a logarithmic scale so both machines stay visible.

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